So it is with sadness, but also gratitude, that we announce today Igor has chosen to step back from NGINX and F5 in order to spend more time with his friends and family and to pursue personal projects
It does happen for real in some cases. I had a coworker who quit because his son was diagnosed with a terminal disease and he wanted to be there for as much of the boy’s remaining time as he could; this wasn’t widely known outside his immediate circle of colleagues and the official line was the “spend more time with family” one, which in his case was completely true.
That said, I too am cynical and I suspect that most of the time when it’s true at all, it’s less like, “I want to teach my kid to play baseball” and more like, “My spouse got fed up with me always having work on my mind and told me I could keep my job or my marriage but not both.”
I guess I deserve that for the way I phrased it. I mainly meant nobody whose resignation gets a press release is actually quitting for that reason. They’re usually not really even quitting.
My coworker left Google to join my company because he noticed he was not spending enough time with his son. He has worked at my company for I think 8 years now and says he does not regret his decision. Better WLB here.
I remember seeing a post on HN by a father where he said that his (Kindergarten or 1st grade) son was supposed to draw a picture of his family at school, and he left out the father. Because they weren’t spending any time together. Dad was always at work.
How does it read like an obit? The first sentence says:
With profound appreciation and gratitude, we announce today that Igor Sysoev – author of NGINX and co‑founder of NGINX, Inc. – has chosen to step back from NGINX and F5 in order to spend more time with his friends and family and to pursue personal projects.
Obits don’t generally suggest that someone has “chosen to step back”. The only way it’d be accurate to say so would be in the case of suicide, and I would find such phrasing to be in spectacularly poor taste in that case.
So what, after that first sentence, made it read like an obituary for you?
I suppose I just disagree. The fourth paragraph talks about Igor in the present tense:
That Igor is held in such high esteem by community and developers, enterprise customers, and NGINX engineers is a testament to his leadership by example with humility, curiosity, and an insistence on making great software
And the final paragraph wishes Igor “thank you so much for all the years working with us and we wish you the very best in your next chapter.”
These aren’t things I expect to see in an obituary. I guess the fact that the word “legacy” is used makes me think a bit that direction, but not the rest of it.
This reads like an obit. I wonder what the real story is, and hope Igor’s OK.
From the article:
I just never think this is the real story with such a wistful tone.
Am I the only one who thinks nobody has ever quit to “spend more time with family”? It’s such a cliche press release these days.
I have become cynical in my old age.
It does happen for real in some cases. I had a coworker who quit because his son was diagnosed with a terminal disease and he wanted to be there for as much of the boy’s remaining time as he could; this wasn’t widely known outside his immediate circle of colleagues and the official line was the “spend more time with family” one, which in his case was completely true.
That said, I too am cynical and I suspect that most of the time when it’s true at all, it’s less like, “I want to teach my kid to play baseball” and more like, “My spouse got fed up with me always having work on my mind and told me I could keep my job or my marriage but not both.”
I guess I deserve that for the way I phrased it. I mainly meant nobody whose resignation gets a press release is actually quitting for that reason. They’re usually not really even quitting.
My coworker left Google to join my company because he noticed he was not spending enough time with his son. He has worked at my company for I think 8 years now and says he does not regret his decision. Better WLB here.
I remember seeing a post on HN by a father where he said that his (Kindergarten or 1st grade) son was supposed to draw a picture of his family at school, and he left out the father. Because they weren’t spending any time together. Dad was always at work.
How does it read like an obit? The first sentence says:
Obits don’t generally suggest that someone has “chosen to step back”. The only way it’d be accurate to say so would be in the case of suicide, and I would find such phrasing to be in spectacularly poor taste in that case.
So what, after that first sentence, made it read like an obituary for you?
By the way that the entire thing is just like an obituary apart from the part you quoted.
I suppose I just disagree. The fourth paragraph talks about Igor in the present tense:
And the final paragraph wishes Igor “thank you so much for all the years working with us and we wish you the very best in your next chapter.”
These aren’t things I expect to see in an obituary. I guess the fact that the word “legacy” is used makes me think a bit that direction, but not the rest of it.
That first sentence was moved at the beginning after they got that feedback. It wasn’t there when the article was posted on Lobsters.
Edit: I still agree with you, though.
Oh. Well there it is, then. I guess you just looked sooner than I did, @Student.
Guys. Don’t do that. it scared the … some …. something out of me. At least he is alive.