Power dynamics. Usually the person making the giant PRs is the one with all the sway. An earlier-career engineer is unlikely to push back against that level of influence.

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satvikpendem 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It can be a company wide policy rather than trying to target a single individual even if the outcome is that they are targeted. This is something that should be addressed to them through a manager etc or if not, it's time to leave while they ruin the product over time.

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pdimitar 6 hours ago | parent [-]

This "you should leave" thing is a very boring and tired take and it should be said regularly that almost no engineer can afford it nowadays.

Beautiful theory, but only that.

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satvikpendem 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What's the alternative? You push back or you don't, leaving you likelier to leave in the future. For non-junior devs, the market is still humming along.

	▲	pdimitar 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I don't see how the market is humming along for anyone. Then again, I have zero network. Maybe you can just call someone on the phone and jump ship next week? I can't. Many other people cannot as well. My idea right now is to find ways to do things mostly my way and introduce a near-perfect meritocracy in my team. No seniors or juniors; I am technically "the most senior" but we all have differing and unique experiences. I share my experiences and when I feel stronger about something I make it clear why but I don't go sad in the corner if the other engineers overrule me. Regardless of how the market is, I like getting along with people. Of course sometimes (actually: often) it's not possible in which case either a team restructuring should be done, or one should indeed leave (which is the nuclear option; not just "oh well, things did not work out").

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DANmode 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> it should be said regularly that almost no engineer can afford it nowadays.

Everybody is not you.

The market is bleak - but don’t mistake everyone’s leverage - or understanding their leverage - for your own.

	▲	ethanrutherford 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Everybody is not you Perfect example of a non-sequitur. Irrespective of whether or not the statement is true, it has no bearing on the veracity of the original claim: that in the current market, the majority of workers simply do not have this leverage.
	▲	pdimitar 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Same can be said back to you. Obviously mine and 50+ acquaintances experience is not the entire world but geographical clusters and/or work-area clusters do apply. Can you pick up the phone and be in the next job the next week?

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Traubenfuchs 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

PRs are all about power dynamics and (un)spoken deals…

If you rubberstamp some people‘s PRs all the time, you can then get them to greenlight your unpleasant PRs via pm instantly.

The other way round, retaliation: I once added some serious review notes to the PR of a very senior engineer because it was a dangerous topic. He would then spend the next months nitpicking every single PR I created. Had to post my PR in slack whenever he was not online to get them merged. After that I never seriously reviewed his PRs again. Too much of a headache.

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bigstrat2003 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

And honestly, even if you do push back, you probably can't succeed. I used to work with a guy that made enormous, 10k line PRs to our Jenkins code, and would give only 3-4 days for people to review it. We tried to push back on it, but he was the golden boy of one of the people in charge of the project. Even the (inevitable) breakage of software builds when he merged his changes didn't cause any consequences for him. Unfortunately, sometimes with office politics there's absolutely nothing you can do.