Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

news.ycombinator.com

21–30 of 145 posts

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

#21
Imagine, that your work can be done in 10 hours, but you must sit 40 hours in the office and look busy. Well that’s hard. Pandemic opened me a ton of different opportunities, home office was forbidden for developers before. I hope, that I don’t need to go to the office for more than 2 days a week for a while. I also don’t think I need another job, there is no perfect one. Or if if it is I will not make through the 3 days of interviews.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

#22
> We end working 40+ hours/week but the job could be easily done in 30 or less, that is another thing that kills me inside.

75% efficiency kills you inside? Most companies would kill for 75% efficiency. The hyperbolic horror stories are usually 40-hour weeks for 5 hours of work.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

#23
I think it really depends on the company. Some people in this thread suggest moving to a smaller company or a startup but in my experience this doesn't matter. It's all about the culture of your work environment. Sometimes this is even different per department.

I was in a similar position like you a couple of times. Some things I did:

* If less income isn't a problem ask to work less. Why not work 32 hours instead of 40+?

* Find another company. And know that an interview works both ways: the company wants to know you but you can also ask a lot about the company's culture.

* Find a job doing something different but is related to what your experience is.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

#24
You are free to move jobs and find a company that values you, not just what money you can make for them. Ive been RemoteOnly for 5yrs, i escaped to a company who is still corperate but pays less and gives you back more. i can easily alt-tab during meetings and i know alot of others do to. Ive got a fishing line off my back deck, i live in a rural/coastal area. i literly never ever have to make small chat. I dont goto really any company functions except christmas parties. i have great, real, honest conversations with all my collegauges, espeically about work-life balance. My previous jobs where in DoD/LawTech; DoD was the was easy, plentyiful money, with the tradeoff being a bureaucratic nightmare and the ownership of your soul.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

#26

I think it really depends on the company. Some people in this thread suggest moving to a smaller company or a startup but in my experience this doesn't matter. It's all about the culture of your work environment. Sometimes this is even different per department. I was in a similar position like you a couple of times. Some things I did: * If less income isn't a problem ask to work less. Why not work 32 hours instead of…

> Sometimes this is even different per department.

Indeed very true, I've had managers and CTO's who made a point on shielding the engineering teams from any rando meetings, but other departments in the same company where living an experience similar to OPs with death by video-conference.

Even had a manager who would cap meetings to max 3h per week. This really added pressure for ppl to justify townhall type meetings for passive listeners.

In the end it really depends on who your boss is.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

#27

Same. It makes me feel nihilistic and I stopped giving much of a shit about the work I do. It's just a paycheck, nothing else. I work 20 hours a week and more than half of that is meetings and I am not even in management. To combat this feeling seeping into the other parts of my life, I have started to do some physical work, like cultivating gourmet mushrooms in my backyard. I asked for less hours some years ago, whi…

I have so many hobbies, programming is definately one of my longest but as a creative person its not my only one. If you are a career person, be that person. If you arnt, dont pretend. I never felt like a career was for me, my parents being immegrants who spent everyday of the lives working in search of enough money -- which never came!

Everyday for me is a mix of Gardening, nature, building 4wds, eletrical devices, welding, really anything i wish. Plus my job which i get payed for. I do what i want, everyday. I never get up unless i want to (i can set my own hours and no one questions it) All my shirts/ties/suites are in the bin, replaced with crocs, tank tops, and tracksuites.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

#28

That's why I never got a data science job. They all seem too close to the business (much closer than typical web app development), and that's a bad thing in my book. My solution is to try to move "down the stack" and retrain to work with C++ and math-heavy jobs (computer vision, simulation etc.). From what I'm hearing, developers in those area have much less contact with the business side of company.

Down the stack + down the corperate ladder. The higher you are, sure you get more money, but you get MUCH the less time MUCH more pressure.

If your talented in your field, u dont need a ladder to up your earning potential.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else is tired of all the corporate bs?

#30
post #19

That's why I never got a data science job. They all seem too close to the business (much closer than typical web app development), and that's a bad thing in my book. My solution is to try to move "down the stack" and retrain to work with C++ and math-heavy jobs (computer vision, simulation etc.). From what I'm hearing, developers in those area have much less contact with the business side of company.

Funny to see how bad this is. All stuff we do actually should be tightly coupled (be part of) with the so-called business - that brings the value outside the company’s doors

As a dev its not valuable to spend time dealing business. The skills are not transferable and is only value to the current organization. This is where managers shine.
Post reply on HN