Principal Software Engineer: Democracy at Work is Overrated
Beyond Coding13 Aug 2025

Principal Software Engineer: Democracy at Work is Overrated

Dario Gieselaar, Principal Software Engineer from Elastic gets brutally honest about what it really takes to succeed in a top tech company. We uncover the uncomfortable truths about the promotion game, why direct feedback is crucial (even when it hurts), and why a "winning" mindset is everything. This is the conversation about career growth they don't have in HR meetings.


In this episode, we cover:

Navigating promotion cycles and advocating for yourself

Giving and receiving critical feedback without being seen as "negative"

The importance of accountability and managing low-performing colleagues

Why a top-down approach can be more effective than team democracy

How to "disagree and commit" to keep projects moving forward


This video is for any software engineer who wants to level up their career, navigate corporate dynamics, and become a high-impact performer in a competitive environment.


Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/1q7Jjbi5GJ4

Beyond Coding Podcast with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Powered by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!


Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Career Progression for Software Engineers in Big Tech

00:00:28 - The Pain and Frustration of a Missed Promotion

00:03:44 - The "Classic Game" of Asking Your Manager for a Promotion

00:05:38 - When Salary Becomes a Trigger for Your Motivation

00:08:09 - Why Recognition is More Important Than Money

00:11:09 - The Challenge of Giving Positive vs. Critical Feedback

00:13:26 - Is Your Critical Feedback Being Labeled as "Negative"?

00:15:36 - When Being Indirect Wastes Everyone's Time

00:17:44 - Why Direct Disagreement Leads to Better Decisions

00:20:16 - The Surprising Impact of Meeting Colleagues In-Person

00:22:43 - How Reorgs Destroy High-Performing Teams

00:25:59 - Why the World's Biggest Codebase is Embarrassing

00:27:58 - Should You Let Your Team Make Their Own Mistakes?

00:30:47 - The Unique Challenge of Building Enterprise Software

00:34:16 - A Hard Lesson: When Your Directness Hurts a Colleague

00:38:45 - The Uncomfortable Truth About Managing Low Performers

00:43:21 - Why High Performers Leave Teams That Tolerate Coasting

00:47:05 - A Contrarian Take: Is Workplace Democracy Overrated?

00:50:54 - How to "Disagree and Commit" Without Wasting Time

00:55:52 - The #1 Instinct to Control When Receiving Feedback

01:01:43 - Mindset Shift: Treating Software Engineering Like a Competitive Sport

Episoder(239)

Learning Software Development with Hitesh Choudhary

Learning Software Development with Hitesh Choudhary

One of the best aspects in the Tech world is that you can teach yourself to do lots of things. However, there’s so much information out there nowadays, that it can become too much.. So I invited Hites...

1 Jun 202244min

An Intro to the Metaverse with Jieke Pan

An Intro to the Metaverse with Jieke Pan

The Metaverse. You might have heard of it, but what does it entail exactly? Jieke Pan explains that no one knows exactly, because we’re right at the forefront of it all. It will be a new digital exper...

25 Mai 202259min

Collaborative Modelling with Marco Heimeshoff

Collaborative Modelling with Marco Heimeshoff

To delivery value through software, we’re solving complex problems. But getting a shared understanding of the problem space and the potential solutions can be very tricky. Marco Heimeshoff explains th...

18 Mai 202253min

Co-creating with UX and Software with Thamar Swart and Simone de Gijt

Co-creating with UX and Software with Thamar Swart and Simone de Gijt

Product development is challenging. Even more challenging when those responsible for the user experience barely talk to those responsible for the implementation, and vice-versa… That’s not how we cre...

11 Mai 202246min

Social systems in Tech Teams with Michael Feathers

Social systems in Tech Teams with Michael Feathers

I invited Michael Feathers on to discuss what makes a great and effective team in tech. We cover lots of the social systems you’ll see, as well as the impact that remote working has had on those. Mor...

4 Mai 202245min

The power of Go with Hannes De Jager, Kevin van den Broek and Goos van den Bekerom

The power of Go with Hannes De Jager, Kevin van den Broek and Goos van den Bekerom

I invited Hannes de Jager, Kevin van den broek and Goos van den Bekerom on to discuss the ins and outs when it comes to the Go programming language. All you need to know with regards to why and how Go...

27 Apr 202251min

Systems Thinking with Diana Montalion

Systems Thinking with Diana Montalion

Diana Montalion shares how we think of, and design, sources of information to accommodate for what we want as users, depending on the context we’re in. It requires a way of thinking we’re not used to:...

20 Apr 20221h 6min

The Power of Open Source with Paulo Lopes and Maarten Mulders

The Power of Open Source with Paulo Lopes and Maarten Mulders

Whether you know it or not, we’re all benefitting from open source software. The innovation and collaboration that has come from it is incredible. But it’s not without flaws… Very Interesting ones act...

13 Apr 202252min

Populært innen Teknologi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
romkapsel
rss-avskiltet
smart-forklart
teknisk-sett
energi-og-klima
rss-impressions-2
nasjonal-sikkerhetsmyndighet-nsm
teknologi-og-mennesker
shifter
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
fornybaren
elektropodden
pedagogisk-intelligens
rss-heis
i-loopen
rss-for-alarmen-gar
hans-petter-og-co
rss-digitaliseringspadden
rss-bouvet-bobler