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Former Valve dev talks about firings, productivity, cliques, bad management, office

diffusionx

Gold Member
Maybe he doesn't work well on this environment and this sort of workplace likely has its drawbacks, but complaining like this about work conditions in Valve of all places is silly. Room temperature? Please.

Umm temperature has a huge effect on productivity.

And the idea of "Valve of all places" is the whole point. You may think that place is the nectar of the gods, but in the real world, it has its drawbacks like everywhere else.
 

Xpliskin

Member
I said it once and I will say it again:

People who have never worked at Valve criticizing a guy that actually has.
He's been working 5 years, only after leaving did he start shooting shit.

Definitely not a decent person to be around, hypocrisy and all that.

Sounds like the guy who would greet you smiling only to be tearing you apart behind your back at lunch with other colleagues.
 
He's been working 5 years, only after leaving did he start shooting shit.

Definitely not a decent person to be around, hypocrisy and all that.

Sounds like the guy who would greet you smiling only to be tearing you apart behind your back at lunch with other colleagues.
It's not hypocritical to not criticize your current employer publicly while they are, you know, your current employer and will most definitely fire and sometimes sue you if you shit talk them without a hard proof.

What were you expecting, leaving the first day because the open office is "clearly" horrible?
 

Sou

Member
He's been working 5 years, only after leaving did he start shooting shit.

Definitely not a decent person to be around, hypocrisy and all that.

Sounds like the guy who would greet you smiling only to be tearing you apart behind your back at lunch with other colleagues.

What makes you so sure he did not make efforts to change things when he was still employed there?
 

Trouble

Banned
I would would for North Korea if it meant I got to see Half-Life 3 everyday.

2 weeks later and you'd wish you hadn't. Sometimes you just don't want to watch the sausage being made. Trust me, I have experienced this at more than one place I've worked. It's fascinating at first, then you realize the ugly truth and you'll never be able to look at <thing> the same again.
 

haxxarn

Neo Member
I can recommend you to read "Quiet" by Susan Cain she talks a little about why open space offices is not a good idea for introverted people, and some other stuff some of you may relate to.
 
He's been working 5 years, only after leaving did he start shooting shit.

Definitely not a decent person to be around, hypocrisy and all that.

Sounds like the guy who would greet you smiling only to be tearing you apart behind your back at lunch with other colleagues.
I can't tell if you're joking or not.
 
2 weeks later and you'd wish you hadn't. Sometimes you just don't want to watch the sausage being made. Trust me, I have experienced this at more than one place I've worked. It's fascinating at first, then you realize the ugly truth and you'll never be able to look at <thing> the same again.

But... HL3.

:D
 
http://richg42.blogspot.hu/2015/01/microsofts-digs.html

Sorry, but he's totally right on this. Hopefully Gaben is paying attention - it would suck to work in Valve's offices, even though it's Valve.

What? The Microsoft shots are of recreational/rest spaces and meeting spaces, not work spaces (at least I hope so, working sitting in a cafeteria stool or sofa is not my idea of comfortable). The Valve shot, though chaotic, at least looks like a place people could work in. Hardly a valid comparison.

I think people aren't really thinking what it would be to work in each of these environments, and are instead rating them on how they aesthetically look.
 

Alx

Member
There's a link to the complete set of pictures, with work stations appearing in some of them.
http://www.home-designing.com/2012/07/interiors-of-microsofts-building-4-in-redmond-campus

Seems nice.
Work-pods.jpg
 
What? The Microsoft shots are of recreational/rest spaces and meeting spaces, not work spaces (at least I hope so, working sitting in a cafeteria stool or sofa is not my idea of comfortable). The Valve shot, though chaotic, at least looks like a place people could work in. Hardly a valid comparison.

I think people aren't really thinking what it would be to work in each of these environments, and are instead rating them on how they aesthetically look.

I can tell you with certainty that many, and perhaps all employees at Microsoft have their own offices. The difference is that they have a huge campus without many local regulations preventing them from expanding.

When you've got more employees than space there's only so much you can do ya know?
 

dLMN8R

Member
I can tell you with certainty that many, and perhaps all employees at Microsoft have their own offices. The difference is that they have a huge campus without many local regulations preventing them from expanding.

When you've got more employees than space there's only so much you can do ya know?

I work at Microsoft - I do have my own office, but newer buildings are being created with open floorspace in mind.

In my previous building we were in cubes, but the cubes were large enough to be considered offices, had high enough walls to give some semblance of privacy if you needed to isolate yourself, put on headphones, and without distractions. But some friends are working in much more condensed workspaces.


It's different depending on building. This set of pictures is accurate but only for a smaller set of buildings:

http://www.home-designing.com/2012/07/interiors-of-microsofts-building-4-in-redmond-campus

Older buildings have more traditional offices with normal doors, some buildings have cubes, some have open workspaces, etc. Each has its own pros and cons. The offices I'm in now are nice because of privacy and isolation when I want it, but the cubes I used to be in were much better for collaboration.


Separately, I also know some people who work at Valve. It doesn't seem like the insanely cramped conditions described by this guy are the norm. Since people can all choose where they want to work, and who they want to work with, and what they want to work on, it seems like a result of too many people wanting to work on Dota 2 and not having the right amount of floorspace dedicated to it.
 
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