Anyone else seeing this culture shift?
Has anyone else noticed the shift in culture across the tech industry lately? It feels like things are getting pretty unsustainable. Deadlines are becoming more and more unrealistic, and people are being pushed to work 12-hour days just to keep up with the fast pace of teams at FAANG companies. The focus seems to be all about quick fixes and short-term solutions, which ends up just creating more technical debt down the road.
And don’t get me started on the management. It’s become top-heavy, with lots of micromanaging, while the same managers are always saying they’re “too busy” with other meetings—meetings they don’t even attend or get involved in. Daily stand-ups, often disguised as other meetings, have become routine, but all they do is create a more competitive environment that pressures teams into prioritizing speed over quality and sustainability.
To top it off, headcounts are shrinking as people are poached for AI projects or shrunk because of tightening budgets. It’s all contributing to a pretty toxic work culture, where unrealistic expectations, poor management, and fewer resources are making it harder to maintain long-term quality. The whole vibe of the industry seems to be more focused on hitting short-term goals than on building a healthy, sustainable work environment for the future.
An "accelerating situation". Jay Forrester [0] spoke about system dynamics and how, if you focus on rate of change (at different orders) you see distinct linear or non-linear situations.
If systems are linear, then if they go wrong you can correct them. When systems exhibit non-linear (accelerating) behaviours... watch out. Tech always had a non-linear growth (Moore). I suspect tech is entering a new non-linear phase, going south, as many accumulating factors come into play.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Wright_Forrester