Tell[in] It Like It Is

"How can we be open and honest about the work we’re doing if we can’t even be open and honest about ourselves, our lives, and our backgrounds?" Tell[in] is one way LinkedIn promotes an open and authentic workspace.

As a software engineer, there’s often a pressure to know everything. No one wants to come across as inexperienced, but the inescapable fact is every profession has a learning curve. It seems that the tech industry is determined to cover up skill progression to make one’s career seem like a big discontinuous jump instead of a learning process. This insecurity is explained brilliantly in a tech talk by Brian Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman, where they examine the myth of the genius programmer. After working on Apache Subversion at Google, one of their most requested features was: “Can you guys make it possible to create open source projects that start out hidden to the world, then get ‘revealed’ when they are ready?” One other developer asked, “Hi. I want to rewrite all my code from scratch. Can you please wipe all the history?” These programmers embody a cultural undercurrent in the valley that inhibits progress and cuts off the development cycle’s feedback loop. Release often, take criticism, and learn should be the goal. Instead, hide, bask in praise, and stick to what you know have become traps which ensnare many engineers.

So how do we shift this mentality? At LinkedIn, the solution is found in one of the cornerstones of our culture: being open, honest, and constructive. The problem is, how can we be open and honest about the work we’re doing if we can’t even be open and honest about ourselves, our lives, and our backgrounds? Everyone and their mom raves about work-life balance, but there’s a difference between balance and division. Many people feel as though it is inappropriate to share their personal lives at work. While everyone is entitled to their own level of privacy, total social isolation prevents coworkers from imagining each other complexly. We are more than the code we write, and cooperation becomes difficult if everyone is viewed as a code machine. Tell[in] was my attempt at opening a channel for authentic communication at work.

During this year’s Tell[in], six interns went on stage to tell a real five to ten minute story from their lives. The stories were all over the place. One intern told a funny story about how even when you’re at your most vulnerable in the heart of New York, if you put yourself out there, you can get the help you need. Another intern told a story about the tragic death of her friend who would have been a coworker with her this summer. After the story hour, one engineer thanked me for giving that grieving intern an outlet to tell her story so the team could know what she was going through. That moment had me realize what the utility of Tell[in] is: to provide employees with a safe environment to be real with each other. It can feel awkward to pull a boss aside to share something so personal, like the death of a friend. When you can create a climate where that level of honesty is the norm, a huge culture shift occurs.

An event like Tell[in] can't be done alone; it takes a village. Juan Espinoza, Daniel Brown, Andrea Sy, Melissa Huang, and Kevin Choi were all amazing, brave storytellers and a joy to work with. Brian Oldak was also a lifesaver who made the website we used to advertise the event. I also can't thank Hector Romero and the LinkedIn A/V team enough for their beautiful set design.

Overall, engineers need to take steps toward creating an environment that is friendly and authentic to allow for constructive failure and collaboration. The days of toiling away alone in your basement for 3 months and releasing code that will change the world are gone. In fact, they never really happened. Be the catalyst in your workplace for open and honest expression. Hopefully others can take Tell[in] as one example of how that change can be made.

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of blog posts by LinkedIn’s rockstar summer interns.