Engineering

“It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” That’s the first sentence of C. Northcote Parkinson’s essay in The Economist, November 1955, better known as Parkinson’s law. His example is an “elderly lady of leisure” who spends a whole day sending one postcard to her niece at Bognor Regis, a job a busy man would finish in three minutes. Fun fact: that sentence isn’t even the law. The rest of the essay is about why government offices keep growing, with rules like “Officials make work for each other.” I never needed an official. I made work for myself just fine. ...

Startups can be exciting arenas of innovation, filled with ambitious goals, rapid development cycles, and the allure of shaping the future. But when the pace becomes unsustainable, and personal values clash with company culture, the dream can quickly lose its luster. My recent experience at a machine learning inference startup taught me invaluable lessons about overwork, alignment, and the balance between idealism and pragmatism. Why I Decided to Leave The decision to leave wasn’t easy, but it became necessary when I realized that the environment was not compatible with my personal and professional priorities. ...