[Aurornis]

I would do that in a heartbeat if I was in that situation.

Having a major leadership role at a big company is kind of a slog. Getting a chance to go back to a fast growing startup as an IC in a way that will only benefit their career (ex-Anthropic or ex-OpenAI makes your resume gold plated) is an easy choice. They can go back to any job they want after this.

I think this might only be shocking to some people who have forgotten that many people in these positions actually enjoy working on hard things and being surrounded by other like minded people. If you’ve only worked in po-dunk startups or other companies where leadership looks like a Game of Thrones style fiefdom building game it’s harder to imagine executives who are smart, capable, and enjoy working hard. It’s pretty common in Silicon Valley despite all of the sneering here.

[PaulRobinson]

I disagree. I'd immediately have a ton of questions for most ex-OpenAI and ex-Anthropic people as my default position would be "poor business/economics judgement in role, chose to ride a hype cycle, now sat in front of me for a reason".

I'm not saying it's toxic to have it on your work history, but it's far from gold plated. They'd have work to do for me, and for many, many people in the industry, to prove that I'd want to work with them.

[Aurornis]

You are not in a position to hire them, let alone at a big interesting company. Forgive my bluntness, but your opinion doesn’t matter to their situation.

When I say their resumes are gold-plated I mean at the companies they want to work at.

[PaulRobinson]

I've been on loops for people with a PhD in ML and associated fields to work on R&D roles for the FAANG I work for, so I think I have more of a chance of deploying this view in reality than most.

[ryandrake]

I'm always skeptical about claims that working at any particular company "gold plates" your resume. They once said that about top FAANG companies, too, but today there are a lot of laid off FAANG employees today still underemployed or unable to find work.

[satvikpendem]

Are you a hiring manager?

[PaulRobinson]

Yes.

[satvikpendem]

Perhaps you are an exception that proves the rule because most hiring managers I know even at big tech do indeed look at the brand name and don't much care about their previous culture.