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Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

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Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#501

Post by EdwardDiego »

ahs1 wrote: post #480
saganus wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just out of curiosity, why do you say "Assuming Trump is re-elected, my portfolio should hit the $1,000,000 mark within two years."? Do you believe the stock market will get bad if he doesn't win the election? or is it the other way, i.e. if the does get re-elected, the market will be better so it will take you less than 2 years to reach your goal? I've never heard this take before so I'm genuinely curious.

Apolitical answer: Markets prefer political stability. Average annual S&P 500 returns are around ~7% adjusted for inflation, but ~12% when a President is in his second term. Political answer: A Trump loss would be presumably be to one of the self-avowed socialists running which would certainly crash the markets. Furthermore, even without a market crash, a socialist implementing mark-to-market capital gains taxation w…

> A Trump loss would be presumably be to one of the avowed socialists running

Oh bless, the tendency in the US towards labelling people still right of the centre by most countries' standards as "socialists" for being left of the Republicans is cute.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#502

Post by lame88 »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #289
ThrowAwayZuck99 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure which team you are talking about because many people here in Ads are working 9-9-6.

“The best minds of my generation...”

...are probably working in a particle acceleration lab or something. I know the quote.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#503

Post by cffddjkkbtdhjv »

cantrevealname wrote: post #358
md5wasp wrote: post #162

Hi there, I did the exact same thing as you (at Google Sydney), before eventually deciding that I must strike out into the wilderness. In the few years since I left; I worked as a solutions architect managing a team, a team lead, a remote dev, and now in a startup. Front-end, back-end, flip-side, all the ends. So I've been deliberately trying different angles of my career to see what suits. I'd describe this process…

> make the most of it by progressing deliberately in your social life Ironically the Bay Area is among the worst places on Earth for improving your social life if you're straight and male. I noticed that you don't live in the Bay Area, you're married, you probably meant a much broader meaning of "social life", so your experiences are likely very different. But the typical clean cut, well-spoken, hard working, respect…

hahahahahahahhahaha are you fucking serious? /r/niceguys

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#504

Post by thatsenough »

WWLink wrote: post #492
thatsenough wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> head hunter compensation report You should ask for a refund. Senior engineers at FANG in the Bay Area will typically make over $100k/year in stock. Total compensation of $300k-$400k is pretty normal, and includes salary, stock, and bonus. Netflix is an exception; compensation is mostly or all in cash. The flip side is that, even with $350k/year income, you probably still can't comfortably afford a nice 3-bedroom ho…

;_; You know what sucks? I have to pay ridiculous rent for a house in an LA suburb and I make only a fraction of that lol. Dang!

If it's any consolation, most engineers here are not senior/staff engineers and they make less. Rent here is very steep (~$3500/month is the median price for an old 1-bedroom in San Francisco), but the home prices are really insane.

Also, there are many companies and start-ups up here that pay much less. Lots of people scrape by, and lots of people move away.

I personally really like LA (which is not something I can openly admit up here) and hope to transfer there or to San Diego.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#505

Post by not_qe »

sfblah wrote: post #12

I’m in the same boat as you. I’ve been working at the same tech company for 6.5 years making around 500 (used to be 1.2 but my stock grant ran out). I only show up one day a week to have lunch with friends and do nothing. My advice is to keep the money flowing and do something else on the side.

How did you get to $15m? 500k per year x 7 years into index ETFs is still like $8m ish

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#506

Post by akersten »

killjoywashere wrote: post #375
dhuyrv wrote: post #130

You remind me myself a few years ago: a talented, but bored slacker who didn't see any point in investing any energy into that project. Turns out I was right: the project didn't go anywhere after I left and investing any extra time would be a clueless thing to do. So what's changed since then? Have I found meaning in work? No! I've become a professional slacker who knows all these psychological tricks, knows what bod…

> unless you're curing cancer, you shouldn't put any effort into making some billionaires richer As someone working on that particular problem, I really wonder how I would deal with someone like you in my team. Maybe a bit flips due to the problem and you actually do work? I wonder what I would see if I married your resume with this post.

> deal with someone like you in my team

Well - how are you measuring your team members' success? If they are successful, (and this is ignoring the domain they're working on), does it matter what their motivations are?

I wouldn't think you'd "deal" with them any differently, as long as they're hitting targets.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#507

Post by jspaetzel »

shantly wrote: post #178

I am not kidding: you are all set to be CTO or dev lead (mind: only if there’s actually a team so you don’t have to do much development) at some late-early stage funded startup, that wants a long-time Google alum on their staff, in leadership. Without even a change in your work ethic. Not even slightly a joke.

Hahahaha. There's absolutely nothing in the OPs post that suggests they would be a good CTO or dev lead. That's exactly the counter to the question made by OP.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#508

Post by JohnBooty »

samplatt wrote: post #259
halfjoking wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most tech workers in the US aren't at Google or making Silicon Valley wages. HN's description of what it's like to work in tech sounds likes a fantasy world to me. Yes I make more than a European at $100k living in the US midwest... but I have to work hard every single day, in an open office, with my boss sitting in a desk right behind me. Most jobs are still a grind. This guy is probably a high-performer who wonders…

>everyone else is so incompetent because he doesn't try and still looks good I'd argue against the "talent lottery" idea. Over the last 10 years as a software dev I'd argue that the 10x "rockstar" dev certainly exists, but it's almost always a case of situation/environment matching an already-moderately-talented employee extremely well. I've seen a lot of slackers suddenly explode into a powerhouse when given the rig…

Yeah I've been anywhere from like 0.5x to 10x in my career. Guess what changed? Sure wasn't my IQ or work ethic.

Generally, the "10x devs" are the ones who got to do the initial greenfield work. They are the ones who understand the system, including all the undocumented domain knowledge that has been embedded into it over the years.

Ironically this actually rewards incompetence at times. If you do that greenfield work, and make a perfect system that is easy to comprehend and maintain, you will not have an advantage and will not be a "10x" engineer. You have to make the system work, and make the bosses happy long enough to earn their trust... but don't make it too easy for anybody else to come onto your team and be productive.

Of course, this incompetence is also created by management sometimes. Let's say you are a very competent dev who has the desire and talent to make a nice greenfield system that is easy to scale and maintain. Well, management will surely make sure this does not happen 90% of the time because of changing requirements and unrealistic deadlines.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#509

Post by [deleted] »

NeverFade wrote: post #439
pravda wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>she'd find at least one guy who is an exec or VC making 7 figures per year, Does she have them audited? Because my "Tinder Salary" is an order of magnitude greater my actual salary.

I assure you, she is quite astute. The Tinder demonstration was just a fun way to show me how many options she has. For example, with LinkedIn and its profile pics, it's very easy to figure out whether the guy you're chatting with really is the CEO of a hot startup.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#510

Post by look_lookatme »

glangdale wrote: post #494
cantrevealname wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> make the most of it by progressing deliberately in your social life Ironically the Bay Area is among the worst places on Earth for improving your social life if you're straight and male. I noticed that you don't live in the Bay Area, you're married, you probably meant a much broader meaning of "social life", so your experiences are likely very different. But the typical clean cut, well-spoken, hard working, respect…

I like how a guy earning a fairly unremarkable-when-we-adjust-for-cost-of-living salary with a bunch of fairly unimpressive table-stakes credentials: "clean cut, well-spoken, hard working, respectful" (whaddaya want? a cookie?) is meant to be a Amazing Pussy Magnet. One of the major factors - aside from the gender ratio - behind tech guys not finding partners is this weird expectation that if they shave, clip their f…

You doing ok glangdale?
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