November 3, 2025
Badger-driven development?
An individual can change an organization
One young coder vs the whole company: hero, pest, or burnout bait
TLDR: A junior engineer once reshaped a company by sheer persistence and solid arguments. Commenters loved the ambition but warned it can turn toxic, burn you out, and only works in healthy, engineering-focused cultures—otherwise the smarter play is to find a team that actually wants change.
A feel-good tale of a junior dev reshaping an entire team just ignited a bonfire of takes. The story: a very young engineer named Drew pushed hard—armed with logic, patience, and stubbornness—to steer his company’s engineering in a better direction. The author learned to debate, value ideas over seniority, and, yes, admits he overdid it and drove a couple people away. Cue the comments section, which went full courtroom.
The crowd split fast. One camp cheered the hustle: a single person can absolutely change a company if they’re prepared and persistent. The other camp threw flags for “toxic persistence,” warning that someone who “can’t take no” turns into a bulldozer, not a hero. The burnout brigade showed up too, with the moodiest take: if you’re fighting uphill every day, “just move on.” Realists added salt: this only works in engineering-first shops where leaders know good ideas when they see them; in bureaucratic places with many layers of sign-offs, your crusade dies in paperwork. Commenters roasted “badger-driven development,” joked about “change-the-org speedruns,” and memed the Boss Battle as “Senior Approval + Release Checklist.” The vibe? Inspiring—but only if the culture’s right, your facts are tight, and you don’t become the office battering ram.
Key Points
- •The author describes a lesson learned at Linode about a decade ago from developer Drew DeVault.
- •DeVault, despite having no special title, influenced the engineering organization through logical, persistent advocacy.
- •The experience showed that individuals can drive organizational change without relying on seniority.
- •The author learned to value debate, preparation, facts, and persistence when seeking improvements.
- •The author later recognized the need for judgment in applying these tactics and regrets pushing some colleagues too hard.