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Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

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Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#301

Post by babelfish »

packetlost wrote: post #214
HumblyTossed wrote: post #87

I know this doesn't directly answer your question, but here is why the company I work for currently is able to keep me. 1. Interesting work [0]. My day to day is not a slog. I find it challenging and stimulating. 2. I get to the freedom to make decisions. My manager tells me, "I know you have this, so just do it." If I fail (we all do occasionally. Some things just don't work), they don't let the bus hit me. We figur…

> I'll take interesting work over tech stack any day. I don't give a rat's ass about language wars For me, having a Windows (Server) environment is enough to kill my interest. I know several shops in my area (mostly medical field adjacent tech) that are entirely Windows. That's probably more because of my extensive *nix background than anything. Language doesn't matter, but platform can/does to some

Yeah, my preferences for tech stack are less "I must have X, Y, Z" and more "I refuse to work with X, Y, Z"

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#302

Post by philmcp »

b20000 wrote: post #300
philmcp wrote: post #256

Offer a 4 day week. I've been searching for a role which fits this description since I left Uni and I finally found one It amazes me that more companies don't offer this benefit (even for a 20% cut in salary!) when the demand is so high It annoyed me so much I decided to make a website listing Software jobs with a better work / life balance: https://4dayweek.io/

your site doesn't load in firefox on debian buster

Damn, thanks for letting me know... will look into it. Any error message?

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#303

Post by mbesto »

LanceH wrote: post #209
HumblyTossed wrote: post #87

I know this doesn't directly answer your question, but here is why the company I work for currently is able to keep me. 1. Interesting work [0]. My day to day is not a slog. I find it challenging and stimulating. 2. I get to the freedom to make decisions. My manager tells me, "I know you have this, so just do it." If I fail (we all do occasionally. Some things just don't work), they don't let the bus hit me. We figur…

A big one I have to add is time off. I've rejected a lot of companies that tell me, "All new employees start with two weeks off per year." Yea, I'm sure the new CFO starts with 2 weeks vacation, too. I've been doing this for 25 years, and if you offer me two weeks, we're done.

Also, unlimited vacations[0] are a trap. People end up taking less than market norms (US - 2 weeks) or informally/tribally decided what is the normal amount of time to take off. It also means people work while traveling.

[0] - if you're an employer and offer unlimited vacations be honest about it: set guidelines about how many days people typically take, if people are expected to be responsive / working while on vacation, etc.

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#304

Post by eswat »

lowercased wrote: post #204

I've been freelancing for... 10 years, but still don't see as many 'contract' positions vs ads for full-time positions. Even many 'contracts' are expecting fulltime, vs more flexible hours. They exist, but perhaps are more prevalent in some countries or regions?

Based on my past experience in contract work, I'm guessing many clients want specific help for their problems and people that can on-ramp quickly. The least risky way to fulfill that is to find someone through your network that can be vouched, instead of doing a long song-and-dance of SoWs and portfolio presentations with randos on the internet. That removes the need to post about these positions publicly.

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#305

Post by ericbarrett »

jameshart wrote: post #282
ericbarrett wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the detailed reply! I have to say, everything you wrote sounds great. We'd probably agree on more than we'd disagree. That said... > But throwing out the idea that daily standups are a good idea because you've been subjected to a bad implementation of them It's not that I've been subject to "a bad implementation." It's been multiple, across a decade , ever since Scrum became a thing, really. Disaster after…

So let me put it this way: Most businesses do not know how to manage software projects. That's not entirely special to software - most businesses don't really know how to manage anything . Agile tools offer a framework for technical teams for fighting off and thwarting crappy management that doesn't understand how to make software. But some crappy management organizations are really, really hard to thwart. Worse, som…

This makes sense and puts it in a slightly new light for me—as a way of salvaging some productivity, when run by the developers, Agile/Scrum would certainly be better than many alternatives. I guess that’s what we did in my earlier reference, about 16 years ago. I wish it hadn’t become so coopted by the usual suspects.

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#306

Post by philmcp »

sethammons wrote: post #294

I'd consider leaving my faang level salary for more personal time. Give me a four day week or, even better, a three day week and you could have me for much lower than my current salary.

I'm the same - I just launched https://4dayweek.io/ which may be of interest to you :)

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#307

Post by b20000 »

philmcp wrote: post #302
b20000 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

your site doesn't load in firefox on debian buster

Damn, thanks for letting me know... will look into it. Any error message?

I just see the home page briefly and then it refreshes and i see just white space. Maybe some javascript / redirect crap?

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#308

Post by ddelt »

snow_mac wrote: post #265

I work at a big 4 (not tech, consulting/accounting) company as a contractor. They recently offered me a FTE role. $40k less pay for 10-20 hours more a week; meaning they expect their FTEs to work 50-60 hours a week for 4/5 of what they'd pay contractors to only work 40. The work is interesting, I love my team and such, but cannot and will not give up 10-20 more hours to what amounts to just another job. There's no in…

I wish this was the top comment. 1000%

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#309

Post by Guest42 »

packetlost wrote: post #214
HumblyTossed wrote: post #87

I know this doesn't directly answer your question, but here is why the company I work for currently is able to keep me. 1. Interesting work [0]. My day to day is not a slog. I find it challenging and stimulating. 2. I get to the freedom to make decisions. My manager tells me, "I know you have this, so just do it." If I fail (we all do occasionally. Some things just don't work), they don't let the bus hit me. We figur…

> I'll take interesting work over tech stack any day. I don't give a rat's ass about language wars For me, having a Windows (Server) environment is enough to kill my interest. I know several shops in my area (mostly medical field adjacent tech) that are entirely Windows. That's probably more because of my extensive *nix background than anything. Language doesn't matter, but platform can/does to some

I also prefer non-Win environments but generally my higher concern is whether the hardware specs and configurations are sufficient for the loads that are placed on them.

Re: Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

#310

Post by snow_mac »

b20000 wrote: post #283
snow_mac wrote: post #265

I work at a big 4 (not tech, consulting/accounting) company as a contractor. They recently offered me a FTE role. $40k less pay for 10-20 hours more a week; meaning they expect their FTEs to work 50-60 hours a week for 4/5 of what they'd pay contractors to only work 40. The work is interesting, I love my team and such, but cannot and will not give up 10-20 more hours to what amounts to just another job. There's no in…

love this post, totally agree ... what did you tell them when they made you the FTE offer?

Well, I knew there was a reorg, asked for the conversion and they made the offer. After talking to a fair number of people, I realized that they want 20-50% more time in trade for less money but they say you can only get fired twice a year.... Welp, I told them that the hours were insane and with my clinical depression; I'm going to hate my life if I work that much. So they were pretty understanding after that.
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