Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#211

Post by kayodelycaon » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 1:59 PM UTC

_nalply wrote: post #199

kayodelycaon wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working remote made my disability less of a problem. There are still weeks I can’t work full time but they are less frequent now that I don’t need to go to an office and pretend to work on bad days. Without a commute or having to be around people, I have more energy available to work and I recover faster. Pretending to not be depressed or manic behind a camera once a day is so much easier than doing so a full day in…

It's about opportunities. A story: Fifteen years ago I and my colleague from class we were selected as top engineers of our class fresh from university for an ambitious project. However that project got cancelled two months later. My colleague phoned once and immediately found a different job and left the same day. Because of my disability I don't phone. I needed three months to find a different job. I agree with you…

It generally takes me 3-6 months to find a job. I have the luxury of not disclosing disability before being hired but that hasn’t helped much.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#212

Post by Apocryphon » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 2:00 PM UTC

BatteryMountain wrote: post #201

huwsername wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work at a large company that changed to become remote first in 2020, and we are seeing similar rates of churn. I am not sure this is the whole story.

I think maybe it has to do with isolation. For most of us, we just tolerate the job/company we are currently at. Social events, camaraderie and a sense of "we are in the same boat" causes people to continue on. Then lock-downs came and suddenly all of that is gone. You are now stuck in isolation with the thing you actually deep down dislike or resent. Previously, going to the office was like fighting in a pit, but at…

Beautifully haunting post that cuts at the heart of workplace existentialism. While it may be anecdata like so many other posts in this discussion, I believe it grasps an emotional truth experienced by many remote workers in this time, whether resigned or not.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#213

Post by blablabla123 » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 2:01 PM UTC

I think at my current work place that I'll soon leave management was caught completely off-guard by wfh. They used to have wfh occasionally but people were mostly using the time for 20% stuff so to say. Technically it's not that demanding but socially (or rather politically) and they completely failed to translate this into the online sphere. More than half of the original team either changed internally or left. For another team it was even more. Personally the time has been stressful and I'm looking forward to spend a few months working on some creative projects.

Also the job market has really changed I think. Salaries seem to have increased and wfh seems more accepted.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#214

Post by Apocryphon » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 2:34 PM UTC

burlesona wrote: post #209

d4mi3n wrote: post #9

I think there a variety of factors at play in the tech sector driving hiring trends: 1. There are, in fact, tech companies that still demand employees come into a physical office. There comes a tipping point in a laborer's market (tech being one of them) where this becomes sufficient reason to leave when there are plenty of reasonable alternatives that don't require employees be physically present. 2. Mental health i…

FWIW, as a hiring manager, our stance on remote is one of the first questions I get asked. BUT, I hear roughly equal numbers of people who want Full-Office as who want Full-Remote. In other words the flow is not only from in-person work to WFH, but rather people are flowing both ways and sorting into whichever lifestyle they prefer. I think thats actually the endgame here: long-term all companies are going to have to…

I am fully in support for full-remote work as a policy, as I view WFH as right or at least an advancement that has been needlessly deprived from many white collar professions for a long time.

That said, I personally would not mind some in-office work, even only one day or two days a week, or even alternating in-person weeks. WFH feels incredibly isolating at times.

I think the unique and extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic have been incredibly limiting, leading people to feel trapped. Hence it’s obvious why people rebel against being in-office, but also explains why the people who didn’t mind working in person now bristle against full-remote. Zoom fatigue and the isolation of full digital existence also contributes towards the demand for full-office.

It will be interesting to see how this changes after the pandemic, when more freedom and flexibility hopefully returns to the workplace.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#215

Post by giantg2 » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

I'm looking for other jobs. There's a long history of the company screwing me over and eroding benefits. I'm applying to other jobs, some of them permanently remote, with potential compensation around 50% higher than my current job.

We have seen a lot of turnover this year. Many people have left for higher wages.

"Mid-level workers are thus getting more promos than usual."

I'm a midlevel. They want to give me a low rating because they said I'm slow. So no promo for me. I haven't seen promotions for others pick up either.

My guess would he that there is increased retirement attrition, which we are seeing at my company. I think there is also increased demand for technology (like online ordering, delivery service, and other pandemic related shifts).

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#216

Post by closeparen » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 3:01 PM UTC

nthj wrote: post #189

onion2k wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech companies have been willing to pay literally 10x for engineers to work from their US headquarters. Outsourcing is very different to employing remote workers. When you outsource you're essentially giving up a lot of direct control over how work is done, who is doing it, what quality processes are in place, and what the deliverables look like. Companies like to control those things, and will often pay a premium to…

> Companies like to control those things I mean, this is probably true, but in enterprise software, companies are paid by their customers to control those things and enforce various compliance standards like SOC-II. The difference between a piece of workflow SaaS charging $1K/month and $25K/month is fulfilling those compliance standards, so there are clear economic incentives in play.

I think the parent means controlling them with an eye towards making the project successful, on time, high quality, etc. not ticking the compliance checkboxes.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#217

Post by Socketier » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 3:04 PM UTC

baloki wrote: post #136

Gigachad wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I’m not at all convinced this is the explanation. I just started at a company in Australia where their office isn’t even legally allowed to open yet and they have still seen a bunch of people leave. My hot take is that it’s a few factors. * pent up demand from last year with people not moving out of fear but now feeling certain of the future * remote work opening up a larger selection of companies to work at. *…

Record profits and unwilling to provide decent payrises, using the excuse of the pandemic uncertainty.

This. The amount of trouble one has to go through to break the % cap on internal raises isnt worth it. Especially when you have recruiters lining out the door for your applications to companies who won't quibble about salary expectations.

Switching jobs has now become the path of least resistance to get what you want.

Maybe it's because of all the recent success stories? People are emboldened to take the leap.

Maybe it's because if you're remote working, you're somewhat distanced from the people you're moving away from anyway, it's less uncomfortable than hanging around the office for 3 weeks before you split.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#218

Post by canyonero » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 3:23 PM UTC

huwsername wrote: post #95

sam0x17 wrote: post #63

It's completely to do with work from home. Everyone is fed up after what they had to deal with in 2020, and tech workers (almost 100% of them) got to work from home, many for the first time ever. After everything they've been through in 2020, it makes zero sense to willingly go back to work in an office where you put yourself at risk and have to deal with all those horrible things you had to deal with before 2020. So…

I work at a large company that changed to become remote first in 2020, and we are seeing similar rates of churn. I am not sure this is the whole story.

Yes, I agree that remote alone is not the complete picture. More anecdata: I work for a medium sized distributed company and we have seen a decent amount of churn. I have also been involved in the hiring process for backfills/replacements. Candidates have specifically mentioned that they’re leaving their current company because of RTO demand. The main reasons I believe causing so much job hopping now: RTO demand, money, new remote opportunities, demand for senior engineers, nature of existing churn in software business.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#219

Post by optimiz3 » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 3:39 PM UTC

totalZero wrote: post #129

optimiz3 wrote: post #86

Equities have done great during covid. If you were invested in tech which many in FANGM were via ESPPs and RSUs, wealth likely significantly increased. If your net worth hits a couple M, you make 200k/year just on interest. For a salary to make any difference to a person living a middle class life, they are going to need to pay you in the upper 6 to low 7 figures. That prices you out of the market so may as well stay…

How exactly are you earning 10% interest?

You can do it fairly reliably selling calls against large equity holdings. Doesn't have to be 10% if capital base is higher.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

#220

Post by dsizzle » Sun, Oct 24, 2021, 3:48 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #32

dsizzle wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify what "2x/3x salary increments" means? Are you saying people are tripling their salary? Or do you mean, like, 3x a normal (~3%) raise, or whatever?

Tripling your salary isn't unheard of. It's pretty common to start at $50k, then $100k the next job, and end up somewhere for $200k.

That trajectory seems believable over several years, but I thought people were talking over the last several months. (Also, I'd say even that trajectory is somewhat unusual, without something significant changing like a getting a degree or location change from a third tier city to SV, or something.)