Surviving role misalignment
Posted by sejalv@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 5 comments
Hi! I have a decade of experience specialised in Data and ML platforms. My past roles have been at scaleups and corporates as Senior DE and Staff ML Engineer, mainly focussed on Production ML systems and Data Platform engineering. I've worked for both cross-functional product and platform teams.
Unfortunately over the last year, I've been let go of from 2 VC-funded startups (Series A, company size of \\~100 people) after spending only 3 months in each. In both cases, it's been a senior executive (CEO of a 60ppl FinTech startup, or a VP-Engg of a 120ppl e-Commerce startup) being impressed with my years of experience from brand companies and hiring me as a Senior Engineer for my hybrid Data & ML skills, thereby getting more than what they asked for in the JD. Upon joining, these executives who sponsor me never get involved in my tactical/day-to-day responsibilities, with the teams/mid-level management struggling to understand where to place me best. Because of this, I've ended up both times with Analytics-facing work, and with the stakeholders being strict on their expectations for me to lead and deliver some Data Analytics project, even if I've been very clear with them from the start that my skills are mainly on the platform & infrastructure (eg. MLOps) side and that I wouldn't be the right person to own the metrics layer (although I'm always happy to collaborate with a team member on it).
The second company (e-Commerce one) even had an org setup of a new Data Science team (product-team embedded), and a Data Platform Engineer (core platform-team embedded), and I still went through some cross-team politics in getting kicked out, even though the VP initially wanted me to be a bridge between the Data Science and Platform teams but was unable to materialize his vision to the product stakeholders. I went from being a top performer as the only Data person in a product team to be put on a leave and then fired in 3 months, as I failed to deliver without aligning the right success metrics with the business outcomes.
Given that I see most hiring happening right now is mostly with startups these days, is there a way to avoid such situations to keep my job? Should I:
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Stick to one specialised track and market myself as say, an ML Engineer (to avoid startups generalising data engineers into all-purpose data roles)?
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Should I stop accepting offers of floating roles, or join where I only stick to the base team of hiring (eg. aligning only with the platform team of the e-comm company)
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Upskill myself on the analytics/stats side, if roles these days are looking for e2e ownership (such as modelling to deployment to metrics, for ML systems)
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Accept that this is how it is with startups, and adapt to politics (eg. aligning with the current need of the team/company)
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Something else
(If it's 4, I would love some tips on handling/avoiding politics)
TIA!
Advanced_Drawer_3825@reddit
The pattern you're describing isn't a skills problem, it's a sponsorship gap. The exec who hired you wasn't in the room when your actual work got defined. Next time, before accepting, ask to meet the person who'll assign your day-to-day work, not just the one who approved the headcount. If those two people can't agree on what you're there to do, you already have your answer.
roodammy44@reddit
A similar thing happened to me at a startup recently and it was because the VP/CTO took a dislike to me. Despite generally being friendly and having excellent reviews my entire career.
I think that the people who are founding engineers at very early startups are mostly rather unusual people with very pronounced personalities, and things hinge far more on how much they like you than any actual work that gets done. At least, that’s been the case at all startups I’ve worked at.
As a result I’ve decided to avoid startups as much as possible to the point where it would be considered as a last resort for me.
sejalv@reddit (OP)
Hey, thanks for sharing! This is very relatable. And yes, both of these roles were founding engineer roles- something that I agree I struggle with under pressure.
At the first startup, the CTO didn't want me even though the CEO did, so there was always a conflict of interest working with him.
At the second startup, I actually had a great start, with the VP being my sponsor pitching me as a key player to be set up for success and future ML infrastructure work. I built good cross-functional relationships and had great feedback from multiple stakeholders while building it. Unfortunately, it all went downhill in the third month when we went live, with numbers started looking off, and things breaking on the backend sources, and everyone quickly losing trust and support in me. Plenty of burnout and extra nights of work led to all of us in conflict with eachother with me ultimately giving up stating I wasn't meant to led analytics and them sadly letting me go instead of assigning me something else.
I feel I don't have the privilege of passing on any opportunity since I experienced a layoff 2 years ago. Every startup these days is insanely fast-paced/chaotic, so maybe it's best for me to understand how to adapt to such environments the next time.
Rosenvine@reddit
I have mostly cut my teeth at smaller startups, in my experience it's pretty rare to not have to be able to soup to nuts at the senior level your entire stack. It however sounds like there may be something more political than skills going on as you have been cut in 3 months twice.
In general, I would suggest when you interview you ask more about the team, what a successful first 90 days would look like, what stacks and areas of ownership you will have. If it's a floating role and it's with a new team, have this discussion with either your new EM or whoever is doing project management and role assignment.
sejalv@reddit (OP)
Hey, thanks for replying! Definitely there's politics involved.
In the first startup, a colleague of mine confirmed it after I left- the CTO and PM didn't want me from the beginning (even though the CEO did), and they ended up creating situations that would make me leave out of frustration.
In the second one, it was unknown to both me as well as both the teams that the VP is defining a floating role. Clarifying the scope in the interviews from the EM resulted in vague answers. I was persistent in getting everything documented about my responsibilities and what I deliver, and was still fired because each manager had a different/contrasting expectation from the other, leaving me to be overworked.
Even though my instinct pointed me that this might be a funny situation, but I joined anyway since I've been trying to find one for over 6 months after a layoff. I've heard from another friend that this level of chaos is to be expected in most of the current startups. So I'm not sure how do I manage to keep my job next time in a scapegoat-like situation.