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Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

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Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#21

Post by goldfeld »

dash2 wrote: post #13

It's sad and revealing to see the other comments here. Many of them say, don't seek fulfillment in your job, just keep on cruising. What a change from the exciting atmosphere of the 2000s. Seems like software engineering has become a safe, dull career nowadays. Don't listen to them. Your 20s are the time to learn, push yourself and discover who you are. Autopilot is for middle age.

A welcome change from the exciting atmosphere of exploiting young brains and sucking the marrow out of others' 20's?

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#22

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

jboggan wrote: post #5

If you can not only survive at Google but slack along well enough to get promoted once on "10% of your mental capacity" I'd stay right where you are. You aren't going to find a better place to earn money for equivalent effort and it sounds like you've already adapted to the ecosystem. Sounds like you need an interesting side project or just a meaningful hobby. Don't go looking for the missing sense of fulfillment you…

Terrible advice. The FAANGs are highly competitive and people are eventually going to notice that this individual is not at the average job level they should be at relative to their years at the company. That will eventually make internal transfers very difficult (yes, hiring managers do check for duds for internal transfers) and motivate their management chain to wash this person out of the company as good attrition.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#23

Post by freedomben »

I've fallen into slumps, and it can be hard to get out of them. However, what worked for me was putting my sights on something new, sometimes related sometimes not. I found I'm better at devops stuff, and it's more interesting to me than building CRUD services.

You might try deep diving into Linux. Buying a book and studying for the RHCSA is a great way to get started with an achievable and valuable goal (disclaimer: I work for Red Hat and have the RHCSA). It is mostly applicable to all Linux, maybe 5 to 10% is RH specific.

I also bought some Great Courses on philosophy and that has been stimulating. I can highly recommend the courses from David Kyle Johnson.

You may also try starting a new project. That is the best way I've found to really learn BE/FE. Elixir is an incredibly fun language, and it's gaining traction. Get the Dave Thomas book first, then the Chris McCord Phoenix book. Being at Google there's probably lots of great people to ask for advice too.

Just my thoughts. I'm no expert at this, just sharing what worked for me.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#25

Post by wuschb »

I have come to realize this past year some of us in IT have moved into the domain of true Subject Matter Expert. I personally proved my worth to my clients and based on that they more than happy to keep me on 'retainer' adding nothing new, but ensuring that current systems to fark up... I work from home doing nothing but attending meetings. I am on the peak of the efficiency curve.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#27

Post by sweetheart »

dash2 wrote: post #13

It's sad and revealing to see the other comments here. Many of them say, don't seek fulfillment in your job, just keep on cruising. What a change from the exciting atmosphere of the 2000s. Seems like software engineering has become a safe, dull career nowadays. Don't listen to them. Your 20s are the time to learn, push yourself and discover who you are. Autopilot is for middle age.

I think many of the folks here agree with your latter point, that the point OP is at in his or her life is one for experimentation and discovery. I think they’re saying this is easier when you can pull in fat, fat stacks with little effort. Fulfillment probably won’t come from working at Google, so use the security it affords to find out where it _can_ come from.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#28

Post by alpb »

I have been at this situation at Microsoft for four years straight out of college. I would achieve notable things without putting too much into the work. Then I figured out what kind of a role and technology area I wanted to work on, changed ship and jumped to Google —now still happy after three years.

Since you are new grad employee, I assume your comp wasn’t competitive as it could be. 6 years at L4 also probably indicates you are at/below median comp for that level/location. You might be due for a change if you want more money.

In my opinion, Google is still an amazing place to practice all sorts of different technologies. Internal education programs and mobility between teams would let you work anywhere in the company that’s interesting to you. I suspect unless you find that passion, this might repeat anyhwere you go.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#29

Post by akulbe »

dominotw wrote: post #20

Can you start 1. Consulting on the side? Surely you being G employee will open lots of doors. 2. Side project/your own startup . I think you are getting a great value for 10% of your capacity. I would just keep milking it till you get something on side get started. PS: I don't think 'deeply learn the FE/BE technologies' is good investment of time.

I'm guessing Google has a very wide-ranging non-compete and/or IP ownership agreement that'd keep him from doing this.

He works for Google, and I bet Google would say "we own your work, all of it".

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