I have some kind of understanding for what you're doing because I've seen many enterprise projects where the organization of the project, the way they work and care for properly engineered software, the bureaucracy that makes the simplest step complicated and all these things create an environment that reduces my productivity to 1-10% (yes, that's what left not how much is taken from the 100%!) so that acting this way would actually not even result in a noticeable lesser productivity. I also thought about spending time like this that I 'm otherwise waiting for bureaucracy steps to happen so I can go ahead. But somehow I feel it's not ok. I need to find projects that suit and motivate me better, or save some money and take a while off to work on my thing.
Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
21–30 of 92 posts
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#22Why not quit the job and be fair to both yourself and the business that hired you? It's just like a relationship, leave if it's not working. The end of any relationship can be liberating in so many aspects.
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#23- shitty enterprise software, on one of the worst code bases I've ever seen
- Managers are very hands-off here, not many meetings either
I was in a similar spot. You can get away with a ton of stuff in an environment like this, but as you've probably guessed, it will quickly bore you or the code base will invoke tears. Bonus if they let you work from home, and they probably would if you come up with a decent reason.
Check your IP agreement, because someone doing due diligence on your Android/SaaS business will find that out if you ever plan to exit with your new companies.
I'd be interested if you could 're-launch' your products with a clean version control history to sneak out from underneath an IP agreement since your current employer likely doesn't have any interest or any code from you regarding those unless you've told them. That would be a lawyer question though.
Ethically, you should still keep enough working knowledge so that you don't fall into incompetence, and realize you may need to do occasional crunch-time which should get 100% of your attention.
In my not-so-humble opinion, it's up to the business to assess your skills and make use of them, so by only handing you work which you can easily accomplish, you are fulfilling your responsibilities to your employer. This ultimately hurts you more than them because it ends up being low-quality stuff for your resume and you have to do more stretching of the truth. The business is already stretching the truth likely by promoting the shitty code base as a good product.
Naturally, they won't be happy to find out you've been taking advantage of them, so I wouldn't ever bring up your Android/SaaS stuff or your free time around anyone.
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#24I can't speak to doing something to make sidemoney while you're on the clock. But I can speak to the boredom side of this question.
Whenever you feel the temptation to just slack off, come up with something that you could do to help the company out that would also be enjoyable.
For instance:
Most of my job is in Javascript/web and Golang. A few months ago I needed to get back into the swing of C# (and learn WinForms) to help out with a new project. (Other than my normal responsibilities, we're mostly a Microsoft shop)
At the same time, there was a PowerPoint file being sent around that we were supposed to fill out and screenshot to create an image based email signature.
I got approval from my direct supervisor to whip up a WinForms app that made an HTML signature (with RTF/txt fallbacks) that contained phone, email, and address links and automatically installed the signature to Outlook. Had a couple other convenience features as well.
So rather than screwing around, I learned a new library, provided value to the company, and had my name thrown around by the higher ups in a positive light for several weeks. All for the cost of maybe 16 hours of work here and there where I already had some spare time.
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#25I mean, it's illegal and you're lying to your employer.. so in the end it's about your morale sense.. it doesn't matter much what other people do or think of it. A somewhat stupid analogy is like saying "I'm killing people in my spare time. I get that it's wrong, but that hasn't stopped me from doing it. Am I the only one that does this?" If you find other people doing it won't make it more legal ;-)
How is it illegal? There might be a civil case (can you sue an employee for laziness?) but I am unaware of a criminal statute on slacking off.
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#26I mean, it's illegal and you're lying to your employer.. so in the end it's about your morale sense.. it doesn't matter much what other people do or think of it. A somewhat stupid analogy is like saying "I'm killing people in my spare time. I get that it's wrong, but that hasn't stopped me from doing it. Am I the only one that does this?" If you find other people doing it won't make it more legal ;-)
How is it illegal? There might be a civil case (can you sue an employee for laziness?) but I am unaware of a criminal statute on slacking off.
I'd imagine he means that all the side project work op is doing is technically owned by his employer, so using it for his own gain is illegal.
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#27"working for the man". This "man" is paying for you to do a job. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, you can go back and live at your parents house. Excuse me if I'm sounding rude but you sound very young, and unaware that what you are doing is illegal and seem to have misplaced resentment
I wouldn't fault any employee for slacking off, because almost everybody is underpaid, has no real share of ownership, no loyalty... it's an adversarial relationship of the employers' making.
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#28Be careful, you almost certainly signed a document saying anything you make during business hours is their property.
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#29"working for the man". This "man" is paying for you to do a job. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, you can go back and live at your parents house. Excuse me if I'm sounding rude but you sound very young, and unaware that what you are doing is illegal and seem to have misplaced resentment
What law is being broken?
As far as I can tell, this could be a breach of employment contract at most, and that's a civil matter.
Re: Ask HN: Can you get away with not working?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some contracts even give ownership of what you create on your free time to the company.
Which is illegal in some areas, even if your contract says it, so as always make sure you know your rights.
In California employers can't claim ownership of work done off the clock[1]. Non-competes are also not enforceable generally in California[2].
[1]. http://law.onecle.com/california/labor/2870.html [2].https://www.tradesecretsandtransitions.com/2017/01/californi...