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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?

#361

Post by TimTheTinker »

Cederfjard wrote: post #210
TimTheTinker wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything that treats software development as an iterative research and development process, lets engineers self-organize, respects their time, and respects that time estimate certainty is asymptotic with respect to the time horizon.

If Agile doesn’t achieve those things, which it explicitly is meant to do, are you familiar with any other methodology or set of guidelines that does?

Big-A Agile and Scrum don't do such a great job, but the principles of agility do.

There's a book called Accelerate that describes and prescribes proven values and techniques that promote agility.

Also, Don Reinertsen is awesome - check out his books on running a software organization based on lean principles.

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

#363

Post by pschuegr »

learc83 wrote: post #201

One reason for a senior engineer to move to consulting is that they are tired of being forced to prove that they know how to program every time they switch jobs. Companies are far too risk averse when hiring, and the amount of hoops you have to jump through is getting more onerous every year. I'm currently a full-time employee, but I've consulted for about a decade in total. Convincing someone to pay you 2 weeks up f…

Not sure this is true: "Companies are far too risk averse when hiring".

The cost of hiring the wrong person is pretty high, doubly so in countries where it's hard to let them go later.

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

#364

Post by xeromal »

snow_mac wrote: post #315
mooreds wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yea, I'm sure the new CFO starts with 2 weeks vacation, too. LOL I would add that if the company has "unlimited vacation time" it's really important to press and find out how much time people actually take. I like to ask for averages or how much time has taken off in the last few years. That'll tell you what the limits really are.

"unlimited vacation time" is just really an accounting hack. It allows the employer not to have to track that stuff and on your way out, owe you nothing for vacation time. It also allows them to say, well, it's unlimited, take it when you want; then the only option to take time off is around federal holidays. It's basically a scheme to rip you off....

I've had unlimited PTO at 4 companies and 3/4 were truly unlimited. I've taken an international trip for 14 days every year + 5-6 days off for 3 days weekends + any fat hoidays like taking off Christmas eve. I'm sure there are shit companies but it seems like most companies respect it.

I feel like the onus is on the employee to ask off. Most people are just too afraid or too much of a workaholic to take off.

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

#365

Post by fzil »

b20000 wrote: post #337
philmcp wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah that sucks. I just downloaded Firefox for mac and it loads ok, must be a Debian issue, will need to try and get a Debian boot to fix, damn

version is 68.7.0esr (64-bit) - firefox quantum

Totally unrelated but why are you 20 versions behind? Is there some specific use case or just can’t upgrade for whatever reason?

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

#366

Post by Viliam1234 »

ericbarrett wrote: post #152
lmm wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, just as for every company that actually offers competitive payrates there are a dozen who just say they do. But it's not like not caring about management practices magically makes a company good at them either.

You wrote almost exactly the same thing as the other person who replied. I have to ask (both you and jameshart): What makes you so defensive of Agile? What benefit have you seen it bring? Truly curious, not trying to bait anybody here. My experience with Agile—except when another engineer and I basically stealthed rapid development into a company with 12-month release cycles in the mid-2000s—has been overwhelmingly n…

I am a Scrum Master, because I decided that if I can't avoid Agile, at least I might learn to do it properly. So I got some training and read some books. And I was confused, because "this sounds nice, but is totally unlike any Agile I have actually seen as a developer".

Then I took my role, and tried to implement the first thing they taught us at the training... but the management said "no". So I tried a different thing... but the management said "no" again. I asked what's the point of sending me to an Agile training if they override all my decisions, and the answer was, more or less, "we are doing Agile this way". My options were limited to do "Agile" their way, or to quit my role and be replaced by someone who will do "Agile" their way.

So now we are doing Agile the way everyone hates and everyone does, with me in the role of the bad guy. Except our standups are 5 minutes long, because... that's the only part that remained firmly under my control. Otherwise, everything is the opposite of what the Agile trainings and books said. The management made a big announcement where they congratulated themselves for successfully transforming the company to Agile.

From my perspective, this answers the question why "true Agile has never been tried". The people who make the decisions, they want the buzzwords and some of the rituals. They do not really want to give up any of their managing power.

To try the Agile as intended... you would probably have to start a cooperative. Or be a very enlightened founder who can resist the temptation to use their power.

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

#367

Post by Dyac »

Symbiote wrote: post #355
uranium wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very important point. My company has always had unlimited time. We just had an announcement from our HR head that managers are going to start making sure you take at least 2 weeks a year, ideally in a big block. I've never had trouble taking my vacation, but I'm really pleased that we're going to be enforcing a minimum, to help folks who are more hesitant to take theirs.

The legal minimum in the EU (and many countries) is 20 days. I've seen this enforced once, and everyone was amazed that our colleague hadn't used the minimum 20 days. (We had 30 days according to our contract, but the requirement was for him to take 20. The other 10 were up to him.)

Yeah, I think the average European probably takes more time off than even Americans that think they take a lot of time off.

We get 32 days + public holidays, so you could take something like 7 weeks off with careful planning. Most people do. Because most people do, it isn't looked down upon at all.

A friend at a US firm said they told him if someone could take 3 weeks off then clearly the company didn't need them and there wouldn't be a job to come back to. Here it wouldn't be anything unusual at all.

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

#368

Post by jameshart »

junon wrote: post #244
jameshart wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, because it was written by someone who's been a working software developer for 20 years and who has so far successfully resisted getting shoved into a hands-off-keyboard management role...

Then you've been lucky. Good for you!

We’re hiring

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

#369

Post by facorreia »

kwdc wrote: post #203
Nursie wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly agree that the UK market for senior tech people is very poor, you're right that past a certain point the only way to keep advancing in your career and keep raising your income is to strike out on your own this way. I think it's incredibly short-sighted, but a lot of British businesses treat their software staff as equivalent to generic office inhabitants, rather than highly skilled software practitioners.…

Ah yes, the "highly skilled engineer paid at great expense but not allowed to have an extra pen" problem. Sounds ridiculous until you go and need to almost beg to get a pen.

Oh this triggered some memories! Yes, I've worked for companies that made you return the old pen to get a new one.
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