diff --git a/assets/_/2023/7-years-new-mexico.jpg b/assets/_/2023/7-years-new-mexico.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc30e4e Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/_/2023/7-years-new-mexico.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/_/2023/7-years-portland.jpg b/assets/_/2023/7-years-portland.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..494b631 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/_/2023/7-years-portland.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/_/styles.scss b/assets/_/styles.scss index 9c58fcd..b327967 100644 --- a/assets/_/styles.scss +++ b/assets/_/styles.scss @@ -90,8 +90,12 @@ img,figcaption { display: block; } +figure.half { + width: 50%; +} + @media (max-width:600px) { - img,figcaption { + img,figcaption, figure.half { width: 100%; } } diff --git a/content/log/2023/7-years-at-uber.md b/content/log/2023/7-years-at-uber.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aefb134 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/log/2023/7-years-at-uber.md @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +--- +title: "7 Years at Uber" +date: 2023-02-10T01:54:23+02:00 +slug: 7-years-at-uber +--- + +This month turned 7 years since I joined Uber. Since it will be the last (a bit +more on it in the next paragraph), I though it's good to write a retrospective +on how it looked like. + +On 2022-09-07 it was announced that Uber engineering site will be shut down on +2023-06-30. Whoever is willing to relocate are welcome to do so. The rest will +be laid off. The "easiest" offices for relocation are where our organization +is: Aarhus, Amsterdam, Seattle, New York, Sunnyvale and San Francisco. In my +case, I have a good life in Vilnius and want to keep it that way. So my days +are numbered. + +Note that this started *before* the "layoffs of 2023" in the industry. Given +the conditions (9 months notice!), it does seem like a strategic move, not a +cost-saving one. + +Chronological summary of my employment and projects at Uber: + +- 2016-02-01: joined in Amsterdam, Marketplace Topology team. +- 2016-10-30: moved to Vilnius, Lithuania. Joined "Foundatoins Platform" team + (probably it had a different name back then). +- 2017-2018: worked on an internal project in infrastructure. Not much to say + about it, it is gone now. +- 2019-2021: worked on interesting and important infrastructure work: OS, host + access, user+groups NSS module and distribution layer. An exploratory + personal project with the same theme is [turbonss][turbonss]. +- 2022-2023: bootstrapping arm64 for compute. [I wrote a bit about this]({{< + ref "log/2022/how-uber-uses-zig" >}}). There were many past-2022-April + developments, and I am working on an official Uber engineering blog about + this. Should come out in a couple of weeks. + +What was so noteworthy? +----------------------- + +I met and worked with many amazing people. If I were to single out *one*, that +would be Dan Heller, who hired me in Amsterdam, and who I've been working on +and off ever since. Among other things (a book!), he wrote [10 +tenets](https://medium.com/@daniel.heller/ten-principles-for-growth-69015e08c35b), +which I regularly use and recommend to others. I am not putting a second name +here, because where do I stop? + +I used to do 2-3 yearly 5-12 day US trips. At the beginning almost exclusively +San Francisco. After ~5'th trip or so I started to look for things to do during +the weekends and (quite by accident!) found likeminded individuals who are +willing to join for crazy drives/flights/weekend trips with me. And oh the fun +we had together during those short stunts. + +{{A selfie of two male individuals with two parked cars and a desert in the background.}} + +The engineering culture is very strong, I learned many valuable lessons: both +from anecdotes and actual experience of: +- Built something that nobody needs. I spent my sweat, blood and tears doing + it. I had a small child at a time, and, unfortunately, sometimes my + priorities were not chosen wisely. I am older now and hopefully wiser. +- Built something the organization really needs: an [NSS][nss] module with a + distribution layer. I saw the steady uptick in use. The edge cases, scaling + problems, lots of customer support (and documentation improvements). Lessons + of ossification, client-side metrics, privy of my dependencies. +- Tried the corporate promotion lottery. 3 times! The third time was + successful. I originally thought it was a lottery (when I "lost" it). Turns + out it does not matter how much competence I show, or work I do, on a project + that does not matter as much for the rest of the organization. I got my + promotion for NSS and host access, things that others actually needed and + valued. +- We did [Crane][crane], god damn it. A 5-year org-wide project that completely + changed how we do infrastructure. Lots of technical and organizational + complexities. We had very strong leaders, a clear vision and stamina to keep + going. Crane was finished[^1] on the week of this blog post. +- Onboarded a new novel technology (zig) and established a relationship between + Uber and the Zig Software Foundation. Zig is currently on critical path at + Uber, *probably* the second most-invoked compiler after Go. I am proud of + that and hope it will serve as a beachhead for the conservatives. If the + previous sentence does not make sense, look up ["crossing the chasm + beachhead"][ddg]. Thanks to my weekend drive during the previous business + trip (probably my last with Uber), I met Andrew Kelley in his home town + Portland. We had lunch in the food court and went for an exactly 2-hour hike. + Besides learning and onboarding new technology, I feel very much part of the + community. + +{{Three people eating in a busy foot court outside.}} + +The end is near +--------------- + +There is much, much more to cover than the above, I had a great time. Great +people, experiences and organizational awareness. I even did 5 trips as a +driver during working hours, and this was encouraged by my manager and the +team. I am still having a good time, but, given the expiry date, it is +different: the office is shrinking, colleagues either leave the company or +relocate to Amsterdam or the US. + +I will take the summer off. I may do some consulting in Autumn. So if you want +to talk build systems, systems programming or arm64, [contact me]({{< ref +"contact" >}}). + +[^1]: The last host in the "legacy stack" was decommissioned. + +[nss]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_Service_Switch +[ddg]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=crossing+the+chasm+beachhead +[turbonss]: https://git.jakstys.lt/motiejus/turbonss +[crane]: https://www.uber.com/en-ES/blog/crane-ubers-next-gen-infrastructure-stack/