Sourcerer negativity
When we posted about our waitlist on Linkedin to find early adopters for the alpha release we received a ton of support from friends, former colleagues, and other engineers in our circle. This was highly motivating and we appreciated the response given to us. Our alpha is on track and early access participants should be receiving word on next steps soon.
While the positive support was critical for us to see, what I found the most interesting in fact was a negative post challenging our assumptions at Sourcerer. Somebody sent me the following:
Can you explain why you are doing this? Do you think this is going to make the life of software engineers better? Our work is already so scrutinized, we should be working on whatever project we want in the goal of making it successful and not use every commit for self promotion. I am sorry but I don’t wish your company success.
This clearly expresses a very strong emotion. I tried to comprehend it, and decide for myself if this sentiment taps into a legitimate fear. We certainly have a running list of concerns that we collect during our interviews with software engineers, and while fund raising. For example, we often heard something like “what if employers ban Sourcerer from their engineering teams?” Such concerns are understandable, and require careful product design, proper messaging, and a working feedback loop. We feel like we have a good plan here. But the sentiment above seems to go much farther, so what is it?
It appears to me that it reflects the pressure we feel when our work is closely watched. If all my commits are being judged by an invisible algorithm and make a show of my private world, I can certainly see how this can unnerve many people. Let it be known that Sourcerer is not here to judge you. I’d like to put such fears at rest with this post. In brief, we don’t show your commits, we don’t copy your commits from your machine, we don’t make your Sourcerer profile public, and we don’t put anything on your profile without consulting with you first.
But let me also address the specific questions that were raised in that critical message.
Let’s start with the first question — “Can you explain why you are doing this?”.
We believe that our service at Sourcerer will make a software engineer’s life better. Our technology will not only allow us to see how the engineers we admire actually work but more importantly what their magic is. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see what makes John Carmack or Adam D’ Angelo who they are as engineers. Everything from the languages they’ve used in their careers, the latest technologies they are playing around with, to their habits and preferences when writing and committing code.
This data is out there and our plan is to index it all for not only every engineer’s personal benefit but for the larger community in general. This data is extremely valuable in our eyes. Imagine going to Sourcerer to decide what CI system to use: you will see what engineers you respect think likewise. Imagine checking latest trends in deep learning among the people you know. Or, imagine asking yourself the question: what do I need to do to double my salary?
Do you think this is going to make the life of software engineers better? Our work is already so scrutinized, we should be working on whatever project we want in the goal of making it successful and not use every commit for self promotion.
Absolutely! To be clear, we at Sourcerer are not looking to put more pressure on engineers. We are a small team of engineers ourselves that really believe in the possibilities here.
The profiles we are developing will not judge an engineer nor scrutinize them. Engineers always maintain control of the information we discover and can choose to present themselves as they please. Much like a LinkedIn profile, a user decides and chooses what information they want to utilize to promote and represent their work experience. With Sourcerer, finding and listing this information is automatic, verifiable, and uniquely specific for engineers. After all, an engineer is so much more than just a list of places they’ve worked at.
In conclusion, feedback like this is extremely valuable as it challenges us to build the right product. We are just at the beginning of this journey of wanting to tap into this incredibly strong signal and elevate engineering using the collective knowledge of technology and social connections. Our DNA is software engineering, and we are building a place where engineering is more efficient, easier to master, and more enjoyable.
References
xkcd.com Negativity [Cartoon]. Retrieved from https://xkcd.com/1773/
