Lil' thread on "mercenary versus missionary". headline: I thnk these are loaded terms that people shouldn't take on.

First, just to give a little bona fides, I was at Microsoft for 20 years. I really love that company and the people there. nobody should call me a career dilettante whatsoever. AFTER 20 years, I realized I wanted to learn from more places. MS was great about not excommunicating.

My job after MS was Doppler Labs, trying to reinvent how people can control hearing. was an incredible team, incredible vision, way-before-its-time tech, and we ALMOST made major stuff happen. but didn't. I had the "this was the best and I feel the worst" experience from that.

When we were in "the existential stuff", we had a company try to grossly underpay to buy (& undercompensate the best people in the world at what we did) in an acq-uisition/hire that would have looked like a public win. They leaned heavily into the "we want missionaries" motif

It was self-serving as sht. they were just trying to take advantage. We didn't take, we took the "L" or "zero", and the employees were all better off because of it.

I was a career employee at Microsoft, LOVE the place and people to death, they're from my home town. I have done a startup (I failed as a leader), and then get an opportunity to learn from and work for Amazon. There's another ~Trillion$ company in my backwater hometown?

AND there are some amazing people I know in AWS + they are the leaders in changing the world for developers and IT at the time? THANK YOU! YES, let's do this! Do I not like Microsoft now? heck no. And I learn how to love Amazon - because about where it was great and the people.

I now get to learn from Google and help lead where Google Cloud goes. Does that mean I don't love Microsoft and don't love AWS? no. No. Of Course No. And I know there is abundance in opportunity in this industry because we're helping many companies transform.

so, now, the controversial punchlines. 1. I love Microsoft, and the people there. That's perfectly ok, though I "compete" with them as a leader in Google Cloud.

At the same time, I CAN have issues with them. (just like I did when I worked there. trust me, I wasn't very good at adopting the songsheet...) - and I expressed one today publicly RE how Azure reporting suggests growth numbers that nobody can validate.

I won't go into the details, but I'll just say that I know you can compare AWS and Google Cloud growth rates and revenue (the only thing that people have to squint at is that GSuite/Google Workspace is meaningful and Amazon Chime/Workdocs/(etc you don't know) isn't.

optics gamesmanship happening, and not reporting shoudl be the big signal that something is going on. Again, I love Microsoft, but I'll just call this out (and remember, Steve Ballmer did when he no-voted the proxy for lack of transparency. nobody loves MS more than Steve...)

AND, I love AWS too! The people are amazing, the customer focus is amazing, the impact is (obviously amazing). But.. why do they treat employees like sht and chattel when they leave? it's so noxious. the AWS employees I know are embarrassed, but also mostly afraid to complain.

so, REALLY long story short, I love working at Google, I love Microsoft, I love AWS. I would love Microsoft more and maybe unconditionally if they stopped playing licensing and reporting games. I would love AWS more and maybe unconditionally if they stopped bullying employees.

It's ok to recognize that it's GREAT to have many contributors to industries that contribute to MANY more other industries. it's ok to have an opinion and be critical about people - or companies - you love. People who don't get that are the mercenaries.

oh, and to really close this out, "mercenaries" and "missionaries" are also terrible terms and loaded with so much badness that nobody should want to say they are one or the other...