Why I Quit Netflix

I must not have made it clear enough, but Papa Jeff Wagner brought me back into Netflix after I left. I am still at Netflix, just in case there's any questions. But I certainly did quit, but it's good to be here.

"I took down the production a few times" actual true definition of fun job for dev

It's surprising to hear even a big company like Netflix are letting staff become so overburdened. Even my small company realises that you can't put too much on 1 person or team. Hire more people, cut features or lengthen deadlines.

I've realized over the years that being open and honest in situations like that can really turn things around. Though painful, they are certainly growth opportunities both professionally and individually. Great story!

Something definitely changed for me when I went through a little burnout in a previous team and it's maybe because i saw it happening in parallel with someone else. I realised that the people I work with are humans and for the most part care about me a lot more than the company I work for to whom i'm mostly just a number or statistic. That's perhaps a bit pessimistic but I always need to remind people to look after themselves because the company isn't gonna do it for you.

That was some real good piece of advice that I had thought similarly of multiple times the last year but did not had the perfect wording/condition to try to put out there. Thanks for putting it out there 👍

I really appreciate this. I'm on the verge of putting in my two weeks at my current position and this brought some great insight.

A couple of years ago, I was in a situation where I got the chance to affect change, and took it, and it wasn't even for my team. We have this C++ project (that I'm not part of) that was stuck at using C++98, because the project lead refused to upgrade for "compatability reasons". Everyone who knows C++ knows that this is a dog water tier argument, because unrelenting backwards compat is the bane of C++ nowadays. Now, they ran into so many problems that would have been so incredibly easy to solve with modern C++. One example, where I also helped someone on the project out, was that they needed to be able to remove arguments from an array, and it needed to be done as efficiently as possible, because it was a super tight bottle neck, so him and me implemented the erase-remove idiom by hand, since we didn't have modern STL to help us. Now, my coworkers aren't 'computer scientists' or otherwise 'profesionally learned programmers / software enginneers'. They're scientists, and they just want to get the work done. When I learned of the situation of that team, for weeks I spoke up for and to them, encouraged them to push their project lead to at least upgrade to C++14, told them why that would be a good decision... and they did it. It was still quite the battle, apparently, and I don't know if they even used any of my arguments, but they did it.

Been going through some of this at my job and spending time with the people on my team having the hard, sometimes uncomfortable conversations is the thing that turns it around for everyone. As tech focused individuals most take solace in the tech side but the people side can be really rewarding too :)

Just came across your channel today bro 👍🏻 I myself had a decade of experience under my belt and still felt like I struggled. Here 2 years later I’m still struggling BUT I’m able to build huge projects like a social media. I love your take on programming and I now have to consume all your content. Your awesome dude 👍🏻

Really appreciate the honest reflection of professional failures and struggles for everyone to see and learn from. You're a damn good egg, sir. Also, "I took down production a few times and it was fun" I can only assume will be a forthcoming "Storytime with Prime" video.

I think this kind of advice is priceless for all the junior engineers out there. Thank you Prime for sharing your experience!

Very interesting perspective! As someone who just started their career, I don't feel like I completely understand but when you mentioned the two options that made a lot of sense. That advice to see if you can fix the situation before leaving is great for other things in life too (sport teams, relationships, etc).

this SERIOUSLY is a great video mr. primeagen. i feel like i got so many parallels to your earlier career, e.g. doing open source, invest tons of personal time to try to make cool stuff happen, but also have a non coding manager and really hate it sometimes...really good tips and it takes serious work to learn and internalize those emotional lessons

Great, relatable story that has earned you a sub :). Out of prolonged frustration and anger, we all too often tend to pick option B without considering option A for a second. Easier said than done, and this video definitely comes as a great reminder to all of us :)

I truly sympathies. I too went through something very similar, but my boss didn't want to know. He was such a crap, back stabbing, scheming idiot that I left. I was so motived that I started my own business in an unrelated field. I can now work on what I want, when i want. I now code, not for a job or a boss, but for pure pleasure - it is the ultimate gift for which I'm eternally thankful.

Thanks for an inspiring story. This pretty much sums up the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace (which is not easy to acquire) and also the value of (honest) self-reflection. Often our work is not just coding or working with peers, but also just simply 'being there' and having supportive conversations during tough times in a project. The best managers are attentive to these issues, and manage it well (= good outcomes).

At a similar crossroads right now. All these tech courses, videos, articles, docs etc... None of them teach or cover the people side about being in the industry. So am grateful for some perspective here, and have really taken something away from this. Thanks

Having only seen you on FM and twitter, I was very pleasantly surprised by the seriousness, honesty and transparency in this video. Thank you for sharing. GREAT advice for us who aren't working in big tech but dealing with the same issues.

Thanks for sharing. Recently found your channel and loving it. Thanks for mentioning the time about a former coworker. I had a coworker commit suicide while at work. I had no idea he was struggling. It’s important to prioritize people and relationships over projects and deadlines. I would like to find or start a company that lives these values.