Jakub Jacob Slezák OFFICIAL

Bonus-centric self-organizing firms work on cycles. The key synchronizer is the firing/bonus/company vacation season. Everything is tuned to that tempo.

Let’s say you and your work-friends are acquired by a self-organized firm. Congrats! On the downside you are a marked person. Once the firm absorbs your tech or game you will be fired more often than not. They will identify the key devs and let the rest go within 1-2 years or so.

Please note that most of the things I’m talking about at self-organizing companies occurred 5-10 years ago. It’s ancient history now, and these places do learn from their mistakes. Ask about the bonus situation if you interview at one.

At a self-organizing company be very careful what you say to the corporate arm and their friends. If you casually disclose some weakness (say you owe a large debt, back taxes, or a divorce battle), they’ll know you are more prone to being manipulated.

How to spot a “Baron” at a self-organizing company: They hang out with somebody from the corporate arm. Or they are long term buds. They’re in their clique. If you buddy up to them and make their lives easier you’ll benefit.

So ironically, the better and more skilled the recruit the less probable it is that they’ll get the job. Current employees don’t want any more competition for their bonuses.

I watched all this happen multiple times. This is how a “self-organizing” company actually works in practice. If you’re told anything else it’s just fairytale developer marketing. If you complain you can forget your bonus or even your job.

At a self-organizing company you can easily spot the strategic hires made by the corporate arm. If they didn’t need to be interviewed, or the interview was purposely watered down, the corporate arm is making an exception.

I came in one day and my coworker (let’s call him Bob) disappeared, his desk wheeled into the hall to be picked clean. “Where did Bob go?” I asked. I got replies like “Bob who?” or “don’t talk about Bob”. I realized then that I had no idea what I had got myself into.

At self-organizing companies you must be very social. Early on you need to identify who is closely interacting with the corporate arm, who their friends and cliques are, and what they find valuable. If you fall outside this group’s favor be prepared for pain.

On a competitive team within a self-organizing company, avoid asking for help unless you absolutely, positively need it. Any information you receive may be purposely distorted in some way. If you do ask for help, gather consensus from multiple devs.

At self-organizing companies with bonuses, workers will watch for rivalries between other coworkers to exploit. They will team up with one dev to bring the other (disliked) dev down a notch in some way. (I’ve seen this several times.)

If you’re at a place like this, you must learn who the corporate managers are, who are their friends, and the cliques. They are the ones with real power and everything else is an illusion.

I’ve seen this happen first hand. The company was moving into a new field. They made the temp strategic hire then fired her a year later with no warning after they had hired up her friends and their friends.

If you’re at a company and mysterious unexplained things start happening, and some people start leaving randomly with no explanation: you may be facing a mass layoff soon.

If somebody says to you “Only through me/us can you achieve success”, walk away. This is a common manipulation tactic.