Ask HN: Are most corporate SWE jobs performative?
HN debates whether corporate software engineering work is often bureaucracy and performance rather than real engineering output.
An Ask HN post questions whether large-company software engineering roles, including at FAANG-like firms, reward performative activity over meaningful progress. Commenters discuss bureaucracy, 1:1s, standups, management value, and the role of a small number of high-impact engineers. The thread is split: some see corporate make-work as inevitable, while others argue coordination, feedback, and organizational maintenance are real engineering costs.
This Hacker News Ask HN discussion starts from a frustrated question: in large enterprises, especially FAANG-level companies, is much software engineering work merely “performative”? The poster argues that teams often contain many activities that seem to earn management approval but have limited actual value, while the work that truly moves the team toward its goals is often done by a small number of highly productive engineers. The poster also questions whether many managers’ calendars, packed with 1:1 meetings, actually create clear value for their teams.
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