Did I become unemployable?
By: Marco Somma
Tags: Flat Organization, Work Challenges, Self Management, Employees, Social Change

First time this question popped into my mind was more or less 3 years ago… but let’s tell this story from the beginning.

Hi, my name is Marco, 41 years old, Italian even though I moved abroad 11 years ago.

I graduated in Veterinary and I also got a Master’s Degree in Ethology. A little later, around 2008–2009, a global economic crisis happened, PANIC everywhere!

Back then I was 29 and I just moved to Barcelona (Spain). At that time I didn’t know the language or anyone in Barcelona so I started to accept any kind of job. For a while I was a waiter, a pet sitter, a dog trainer, and then a web developer. At this point you should be thinking..what? Didn’t you study about animals? How and when did you learn about web development?

Well, all fair questions and the answer is very simple.. since I was a little kid I’ve always been attracted to computers, I loved to play video games and drawings. So when I decided to start from scratch in a new country I also realised that maybe It was time for me to take new and unexpected professional paths. Actually, maybe, I have to thank the 2009 economic crisis if I start to learn about web and software development on my own. But let’s go back to the story…

After a few interviews I finally started my career as a Software Developer in Barcelona. At the beginning as a freelancer I was working for companies that were outsourcing the production due the unstable economic context. Then in 2012 I moved to Ireland, I think that actually it was there that I got for the first time the role as “Software Engineer”.

In Dublin it was also where I started to run into the start-up ecosystem. From there on I always join companies at its early stage ( 3–6 people max.) and then after a few months, the start-up evolution pattern. Small rooms full of people until you move to a bigger office which in the beginning looks almost empty but then day by day all chairs and all desks will be fulfilled and you get the feeling that you are not anymore “needed”, so as Mary Poppins you decide to fly away :)

So far everything looks normal, doesn’t it?

2016 was the year that radically changed my career! I moved back to Spain and after a long hiring process I joined a Danish media company that was going to open a new office in Barcelona. Back then something that I was not 100% aware of I was going to start to work in a company practising a Self-Managing culture. WTF is Self-Managing?

I will now give you a very simple explanation of what Self-Managing means for me (but I strongly suggest you to read more about it here). Well, self-management is not a conventional way to organise a company. In this different work frame the company, for instance, trusts its employees and gives them the freedom to do their job without supervision of any kind by managers or bosses. It’s literally a flat organisation. Development teams, for instance, like the ones I joined myself, have the ownership and the responsibility of what they are developing.

In a few months Barcelona office became a success, we all were doing a great job with the product, being able to self-manage the entire development process while we were also growing a lot and everyone was doing his best to make the company and the product succeed. Each individual was cooperating with the others, organising their own tasks, setting OKRs, breaking down milestones, learning and teaching to each other. People were pretty happy to go to work, open to share knowledge with their coworkers. Finally we became a sort of family having fun inside and outside the office. It was really great.

Honestly I have to admit that in the beginning I was both really fascinated by this new concept of work and really sceptic about it. But then over the past 5 years I have seen awesome things happen.

Then again the “Mary Poppins” feeling arrives and I decide to leave.

2018 was the first time I started to look for a job with the clear understanding of what I do NOT want. “I do not want a boss/manager that has no clue about what is my job, telling me what I have to do or how I have to do it.” It was hard, too hard, almost impossible.

Back then I was lucky, I was approached by some ex-coworkers to build up together a revolutionary AI tech. We were going to start Abzu.ai. I have to admit that, building up an entire company from scratch trying to do it through self-management is way harder than just building up an office! But even if it was harder than we expected we succeeded. :D

We were founded and we started to develop our new AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). The technology was shining since the first moment and yes, it took longer than we estimated before we were able to actually throw some real problems to our AI.

We were also trying to frame the self-managing structure of the company, so we had teams, task-forces, retros, feedback sessions, monthly gatherings, everything was discussed and solved all together giving space for all different opinions. People were motivated to go constantly out of their comfort zone to help others in their tasks or to find creative solutions. It was like an anthill where ants were constantly cooperating for the success of the colony.

Even though we were split between Barcelona and Copenaghen we always met every month to spend 3 days (physically) together and do some fun activities.

Our anthill was growing and doing really well. I remember the first time that Danish media spoke about Abzu, the interviewer was freaking out with the fact that our employees self set their own wages. Actually people keep freaking out when they get this. :) (TheOrg)

Few months ago the Covid-19 pandemic happened and in my opinion this was the perfect opportunity for our culture to shine! At ABZU we decided to close our two offices (BCN & CPH) and we stayed home.

But actually nothing really changed for us. Our routines, our check-ins, our standups, our meetings and all the product development were there, moving forward as nothing happened. We also add a new team activity to our calendars: “Remote Friday Beers’’ all together, every week! Then we launched our product on the 21st of April 2020, exactly as we had planned a year earlier. Nothing could have stopped us, not even the global pandemic of the 21st century, ether the fact we were located in 5 countries and 2 continents, we made it!

It was a great momentum for all Abzoids.

A couple of months ago, the “Mary Poppins” feeling came back again, this time was harder than before but I needed to leave and go for the next chapter of my journey.

And now again, I’m out there looking for the next challenge, fully aware of what I do not want to.

I don’t like to manage other people but I don’t like to be managed by others either. The only thing that I want to do is to cooperate with other people, to share our knowledge and experience and make some very cool stuff.

The problem is that it seems to me while (as a good ant) I was evolving myself into a better and more productive human being, the rest of the companies got stuck in their hierarchical and closed structures where employees are just resources (neither that valuable)!

In the last few years I saw on LinkedIn the increase of several new trendy positions right when I was trying to flat the hierarchical pyramid.

For example : “Team Lead”! Wow! It sounds really cool and is an awesome position! But wait a second! From what I learned in the last 5 years everyone actually could be a Team Lead. Everyone, even the junior guy has something to teach and, not less important, even the most experienced guy has something to learn! Why should I give more value to the experience of a Senior than to the creativity of a Junior.

So here we go, at the beginning of my story: Did I become unemployable?

Is really my only option to build up my own company (again) and set up my little happy space? Does anyone else, out there, realise that the hierarchical structure is killing talent, creativity and unicity in their employees?