I've been speaking to a few of the more established startups in the Bay Area that built apps on Rails and have started migrating the performance hotspots to the JVM. There's definitely a pattern I've seen.
1) First version of the app is built in Ruby, Python, or PHP and the lightweight stack helps the business stay nimble as it finds its market position/niche. During this time, there are a LOT of inexperienced, younger engineers working on the code.
2) Once the right market position is found, the app takes off and scaling problems abound as the lightweight stack starts to fall down at massive scale.
3) Funding is secured and more experienced, older talent (the Guild) is brought in (at much higher salaries) to help fix the hot spots. This is usually done using a combination of using the JVM or unmanaged C/C++. The engineering demographic often switches here as you see a lot of 30-something veterans from Yahoo, Google, etc come in and bring their tools with them.
4) Scaling isn't an issue anymore, but the culture has changed a bit as the business has become more established. Many of the early folks have moved on or gone into leadership roles. A few have been absorbed into the Guild and will move on.
It's very interesting. I've worked mostly in the midwest and the South during my career, and this lifecycle of talent is not something I've really observed outside of the Valley.
I've worked mostly in the midwest and the South during my career, and this lifecycle of talent is not something I've really observed outside of the Valley.
I suspect that this "lifecycle of talent" is a part of SV's secret sauce. As manufacturing becomes even more amenable to rapid prototyping, this sort of culture could be applied to that domain. (Is it already?)
I suspect that this "lifecycle of talent" is a part of SV's secret sauce. As manufacturing becomes even more amenable to rapid prototyping, this sort of culture could be applied to that domain. (Is it already?)
I've wondered the same thing about whether this is a differentiator that makes SV companies successful. Observing it is part of the reason I'm even interesting in speaking to these companies, despite the unrealistic outlook I have on actually living there.
I do wonder if the Makerbot/3D Printing thing will lead to the same thing. I certainly think it could, but it'll be hard to make shippable products using 3D Printing at home. The production cost for volume will be too high to leave it to the consumer based machines.
I've observed this phenomenon/pattern in both California and Massachusetts. Also by direct experience, I've found that there are certain niche subfields of software engineering that seem to be practiced long-term only by people of this "Guild" sort.
Comments
I've been speaking to a few of the more established startups in the Bay Area that built apps on Rails and have started migrating the performance hotspots to the JVM. There's definitely a pattern I've seen.
1) First version of the app is built in Ruby, Python, or PHP and the lightweight stack helps the business stay nimble as it finds its market position/niche. During this time, there are a LOT of inexperienced, younger engineers working on the code.
2) Once the right market position is found, the app takes off and scaling problems abound as the lightweight stack starts to fall down at massive scale.
3) Funding is secured and more experienced, older talent (the Guild) is brought in (at much higher salaries) to help fix the hot spots. This is usually done using a combination of using the JVM or unmanaged C/C++. The engineering demographic often switches here as you see a lot of 30-something veterans from Yahoo, Google, etc come in and bring their tools with them.
4) Scaling isn't an issue anymore, but the culture has changed a bit as the business has become more established. Many of the early folks have moved on or gone into leadership roles. A few have been absorbed into the Guild and will move on.
It's very interesting. I've worked mostly in the midwest and the South during my career, and this lifecycle of talent is not something I've really observed outside of the Valley.
I've worked mostly in the midwest and the South during my career, and this lifecycle of talent is not something I've really observed outside of the Valley.
I suspect that this "lifecycle of talent" is a part of SV's secret sauce. As manufacturing becomes even more amenable to rapid prototyping, this sort of culture could be applied to that domain. (Is it already?)
I suspect that this "lifecycle of talent" is a part of SV's secret sauce. As manufacturing becomes even more amenable to rapid prototyping, this sort of culture could be applied to that domain. (Is it already?)
I've wondered the same thing about whether this is a differentiator that makes SV companies successful. Observing it is part of the reason I'm even interesting in speaking to these companies, despite the unrealistic outlook I have on actually living there.
I do wonder if the Makerbot/3D Printing thing will lead to the same thing. I certainly think it could, but it'll be hard to make shippable products using 3D Printing at home. The production cost for volume will be too high to leave it to the consumer based machines.
I've observed this phenomenon/pattern in both California and Massachusetts. Also by direct experience, I've found that there are certain niche subfields of software engineering that seem to be practiced long-term only by people of this "Guild" sort.