The price we pay
Someone joked on Twitter today that people might think I am vella because I shitpost so much. Fair enough. This is a comment a lot of my friends also make. I wrote a long reply, that was certainly not humble, but deleted because I did not want someone to tag my manager and make some salty comment. That has happened in the past.
But I would still like to tackle the topic of why I get the freedom to be on Twitter. The not so humble answer is:
- I got an outstanding performer rating in the last performance cycle. I have exceeded expectations in all my performance reviews.
- I joined as an IC at my current company, got promoted to Product Lead, became a Manager of Product Management, and then got promoted to Group Product Manager last year. So a promotion every year till now.
- My team has shipped more projects last year than most teams ship in 5.
- My company does not care about what I do on Twitter as long as I crush at work. Ofcouse I can’t get dragged into too many controversies on social media because then it draws unwarranted attention to my company. And yes, all my views, including this post is mine. But as long as I work hard, get shit done, no one cares that I have Twitter open on my personal laptop and post whatever thought comes to my head. And the day I don’t deliver the same value, I will be put on PIP and then fired. This is the beauty of capitalism. The game is clear. What you have to do. The question is: Will you pay the price?
Also, what people sees on Twitter: Manas shitposts a lot.
What they don’t see: Manas is on leave this week as he is supposed to take care of a few personal things at work. He is still on Slack 24*7, making sure that no one is blocked on him just because he is on leave. After you get promoted beyond a certain level, excuses stop mattering. What matters is what you get done.
I took my first holiday with my wife this December. Our first since I met her 4 years ago. Even during the holidays, I was on Slack. I think of it as the price I pay to write whatever I want on Twitter. If you want my life, you have to take all parts of my life, including the part about not disconnecting from work in years.
I was talking to a friend recently. He heads design at a fast growing startup. He is a high achiever. Became a VP at a very young age, without winning the startup lottery by joining a startup early. Through sheer grind. He was telling me about how he does design reviews at night when he is vacationing. Why? Because a startup can’t stop shipping things because head of design has gone on a vacation. Yes, he can delegate, just like I can. And we do. But if things don’t ship on time, anything that goes wrong, is on our head.
There is no off switch. There is no specific time for Twitter. No specific time for Slack. Most of my days are same. Weekends are the same. There are no boundaries.
And this is one of those things that is true, but sounds bad, and hence you will not read on Twitter.
Related read: IC vs Manager