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Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

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Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#441

Post by yitchelle »

waqasx wrote: post #251

I cant believe this hasnt been said yet: Every job can be converted into this esp in any sort of managerial role, the strategy to do this has only 3 basic steps: # 1 - Hire a great team under you. If you have one person, two person, or more working under you, make sure they know what to do and make sure they understand your expectations. # 2 - Delegate your work. Try to get rid of as much work as possible. There will…

Wasn't there a story a few years back where an engineer (from a high cost country) outsourced his work to another engineer (from a low cost country)?

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#442

Post by yowlingcat »

tylerlarson wrote: post #339

I have no interest in telling you what to do as an individual but this thread and all of the people that seem on board with this is what drives me crazy about most of the places I've worked. I have the hardest time getting anything done because of the sea of people trying to find ways not to do any work. Is this not abuse of privilege? Do you all not hear the stories of people working multiple jobs and still not bein…

This comment strikes me as a little idealistic and cut off from reality. At large companies (where 90% of the jobs are), 90% or more of the work is KTLO (keep the lights on) work. It's menial and intellectually un-stimulating by design, because a bunch of really smart people early on in the company's history put work into building a machine that prints money with little non-maintenance work. That's because they knew that such a company would be able to fetch high multiples for investors.

If you want a job like that, not only are they easy to find, but they're absolutely everywhere. It's in contrast the intellectually stimulating and challenging jobs which are hard to find, because they attract growth-oriented individuals who by nature are very competitive. Getting a menial, coast-worthy FAANG job isn't that hard because you're only competing with a pool of others who want the same thing -- by definition, you just need to be a little bit more differentiated than them and you're golden; there's a gigantic supply and it's ever increasing.

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#445

Post by AlwaysRock »

whateveracct wrote: post #383

remote job at a BigCo get hired with years of experience to anchor your starting level nicely high rake in salary, bonus, stock, benefits once you get the tribal knowledge you're pretty much tenured so long as you seem busy and available might be a little low on the tech side..but that just means more time and energy to use your tech skills for your own purposes

Speaking from experience?

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#446

Post by yowlingcat »

tluyben2 wrote: post #384

A start would be to ignore a lot of things said about tech on HN. It is a solid source of pain, suffering and time wasting (I like it, but that's another story). Forget about all this modern tech stuff no-one is asking for. You can work for companies / clients who need stuff automated; they don't care about k8s, jamstack, react, docker, service mesh, etc etc. You can hack shit together with php + mysql, put in on a v…

Nice to know this stuff is out there. I really do wonder how long I'll be able to handle the exhausting pace of US tech before I want to settle down and have kids in a society with a better social safety net and maybe a more sustainable approach to living.

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#447

Post by eloisius »

dontreact wrote: post #402
protonimitate wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really disagree with this point of view. I don't think anyone should feel indebted to their circumstance/employer just because there are others out there without the same opportunities. Is it entitlement? Maybe. But isn't it also entitlement for companies to try to squeeze the maximum amount of productivity out of employees for the least amount of compensation? Why can't they see that there are less fortunate compa…

I think it's fine for one person to not uphold these values, but I remember coming to hackernews because I was excited about progress. Now it seems like self interest has taken over as the primary value.

Maybe it’s the aggregate cynicism of seeing all that “progress” amount to little else than hype, shifting market share from older giants in every sector to new exciting new startups that almost immediately become just as bad as the old giants or in many cases worse. Ten years ago I also couldn’t wait for my plot of land on Mars. 2021-Me Cannot imagine being truly inspired by a software company.

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#448

Post by sarah180 »

yellowstuff wrote: post #388
foxhop wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids are not that expensive. You do not have to send them to college, you just have to love them, teach them, care for them. Sure you will have to buy more food, and you might need a bigger house/apartment.

My opinion only- For the middle class going to college is not seen as optional. Doing the same expensive activities as the other middle class kids is not seen as optional. There are millions of working class people in the US with good lives, but most middle class people would never seriously consider not following middle class norms. So raising a kid who's middle or upper class is actually quite expensive, and that's…

But it is optional. There's social pressure for all kinds of things, including getting married and having children.

You have to figure out how to get food & shelter and follow local laws. Everything else is unequivocally optional. I would argue that "not seen as optional" is just a way of saying "I don't own up to my choices."

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#449

Post by kharak »

imagine99 wrote: post #57
kharak wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit off topic, but I like to add an observation. You assume in your post that someone could go all out on something the person doesn't care about. For me, that is not possible. Most likely also not for OP. But the possibility seems self evident, giving your post. I assume you are a person high in consciousness IRL? In any case, people are truly different from time to time.

I accept what you're saying, and thank you for this observation. I always find it interesting to hear different perspectives. That being said, I don't believe you ;-) (I say this with affection). You'd be surprised what people are capable of doing if economic needs require them to do it. People will do every cleaning job they can get or wait tables if it means they won't starve to death or get closer to their dream j…

Just a minor addition respectively counter data point for you: I've tried to force myself to invest more time in my tech job and relevant side projects. I didn't care about any of it and couldn't do it. Burned out quickly. Only way I can stay in tech is to have enough recharge time. (Which are oftentimes activities that can look like work to others, as long as I have intrinsic motivation doing these things it'll increase my energy level).

Some people can work at peak performance no matter what. These people have, in my experience, a hard time understanding those who cannot. They are also rare and tend to clime the career ladder quickly. You might be one of them.

edit

If my life would be at stake, things would look differently. But I've seen people who work in survival mode for years and years. They pay a heavy toll. Nothing I'd recommend (or could fake myself into believing, either your survival depends on something or not. My tech job doesn't need me going all out ).

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#450

Post by onetimeusename »

> The pandemic made me realize that I do not care about working anymore. The software I build is useless.

This has happened to a lot of people and I am wondering what that's about. It's happened to me also. I realized my job is useless and the primary benefit goes to the sales guy who sells my services. Did the pandemic cause this? If so, how?

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