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Companies need individual developers because without them no one would write the code. We’ve seen a million articles about the developer shortage. It’s not abou

Companies need individual developers because without them no one would write the code. We’ve seen a million articles about the developer shortage. It’s not about what the company wants, it’s about what the developer wants. For instance, I would never work in an office again and because there is a developer shortage, that requirement hasn’t impacted my market rate, which is on par for the valley. Having worked at one of the FAANGs I would definitely not say they have a superior development process. Waaaaay too much middle management baggage and drag. They are successful due to first mover advantages, network effects, regulatory capture and in some cases a literal monopoly.

spookthesunset 5y ago
> They are successful due to first mover advantages Zero of the FAANG companies had a first mover advantage. * Facebook replaced MySpace within the course of like a year. Today TikTok and other things threaten them. * Apple... well... it was for a long time a huge underdog. * Amazon... born in the dot com era. At the time lots of people thought the company was gonna implode any day. It took like a decade before they even remotely generated something other than a loss. * Netflix... was DVD's, competed against brick & mortor and companies like Kozmo. Today it competes with media companies offering their own streaming service. * Google... plenty of search engines came before google. Not sure how any of these companies became successful because of regulatory capture, network effects or even literal monopolies. None of these companies could be successful in the long haul if their products sucked. Building non-sucky products involves a hell of a lot more than just developers sitting at home writing code 24/7. Success involves building successful processes that encourage innovation.
- luffapi 5y ago
  Netflix and Amazon clearly have first mover advantage. As does Apple with the iPhone, Google with Maps… Network effects are all over the place, mainly FB and Google. > Success involves building successful processes that encourage innovation. For the most part, large companies “innovate” via acquisition.
  - astrange 5y ago
    > Netflix and Amazon clearly have first mover advantage. As does Apple with the iPhone, Google with Maps… The Hiptop/Sidekick and Palm Pilots were already popular long before the iPhone came out. They just weren't nearly as good and the companies couldn't overcome the carriers' poor business plans.
    - luffapi 5y ago
      Apple were first movers with capacitive touch screens.

spookthesunset 5y ago

> They are successful due to first mover advantages Zero of the FAANG companies had a first mover advantage. * Facebook replaced MySpace within the course of like a year. Today TikTok and other things threaten them. * Apple... well... it was for a long time a huge underdog. * Amazon... born in the dot com era. At the time lots of people thought the company was gonna implode any day. It took like a decade before they even remotely generated something other than a loss. * Netflix... was DVD's, competed against brick & mortor and companies like Kozmo. Today it competes with media companies offering their own streaming service. * Google... plenty of search engines came before google. Not sure how any of these companies became successful because of regulatory capture, network effects or even literal monopolies. None of these companies could be successful in the long haul if their products sucked. Building non-sucky products involves a hell of a lot more than just developers sitting at home writing code 24/7. Success involves building successful processes that encourage innovation.

luffapi 5y ago
Netflix and Amazon clearly have first mover advantage. As does Apple with the iPhone, Google with Maps… Network effects are all over the place, mainly FB and Google. > Success involves building successful processes that encourage innovation. For the most part, large companies “innovate” via acquisition.
- astrange 5y ago
  > Netflix and Amazon clearly have first mover advantage. As does Apple with the iPhone, Google with Maps… The Hiptop/Sidekick and Palm Pilots were already popular long before the iPhone came out. They just weren't nearly as good and the companies couldn't overcome the carriers' poor business plans.
  - luffapi 5y ago
    Apple were first movers with capacitive touch screens.