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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?

#531

Post by tuananh »

Aeolun wrote: post #294
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This blows my mind that in the US one can make such insane money in tech while still being a slacker and retire early with a dream house bought and paid for while in Europe devs are slaving away through SCRUM powered meat grinders burning themselves out for a 3% salary increase on a pitiful 40-80k/year, no stock options, without any hope of early retirement or owning a decent home without a 30 year loan or financial…

You can fire people in Europe if they are slackers. Why is this considered a bad thing? I’d suggest that working with capable colleagues is a great joy. I do agree on the pay though. For some reason the US has ludicrous salaries. Every time I go to a conference in the US I feel like a pauper by comparison. Especially hurts when talking to a junior engineer you can basically dance circles around that’s paid more than…

> and the knowledge that my CEO is making at most 4 or 5 times as much as me.

why do you prefer that? just curious

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

#532

Post by notJim »

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…

I've seen one "10x" developer in my career. The way he worked was basically to leave a massive wake of data corruption, technical debt and bugs that other people would spend months fixing. Management will never notice, because everyone just accepts these things as part of doing business, and doesn't ask any questions about where it comes from or whether it was the right tradeoff. The tech debt itself doesn't bother me that much, but it always bothered me that he never took any responsibility for creating or fixing it.

However, the idea that there's a strong correlation between productivity and salary is totally a myth IMO. Getting a strong salary is all about being pretty competent, and being able to pass an interview. Once you're in to a high-paying company, mediocre competence (or slightly more) is all you really need. Me and the guy I mentioned had the same pay and the same job title, he was just having a bit more fun.

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

#533

Post by daniel_reetz »

djcapelis wrote: post #409
jedberg wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, to be clear what I'm not saying is that all Apple engineers are slackers -- far from it. Just that from what I can tell talking to many FAANG workers (and working with a bunch of them who came from other FAANGS), Apple seems to be the easiest place to get away with slacking if you want to, Google also being an easy place to do it. It's why most of the people I worked with left those places -- they got tired of…

Totally get you weren’t applying the same brush to everyone! > Apple seems to be the easiest place to get away with slacking if you want to You are the first person I’ve heard this one from! I’m almost pleased to see some balance? I worry we have the reputation of being too grindy too often! I think this can be very org dependent. I wonder if most of the people you know are clustered in a specific part. > I've never…

The joke (while I was there) was that Apple engineers went to Google to retire.

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

#534

Post by wpietri »

80386 wrote: post #487
quartus wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (although we should certainly adjust for the large gay male population) Just curious, why wouldn't there be an equivalently large lesbian female population?

Major gay cities aren't necessarily major lesbian cities. The Castro happened because the military discharged gay men from the Pacific theater and a lot of them ended up there - was there a comparable dynamic for lesbians? I don't know of one. And I don't think Atlanta is very significant to gay men.

Exactly. Surprisingly, I can't find any statistics. But San Francisco now has zero lesbian bars, and quite a number of popular gay bars. This is a good article on the contrast in community resources: https://hoodline.com/2016/07/is-there-a-place-for-lesbians-i...

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

#535

Post by notJim »

mc3 wrote: post #311
soulofmischief wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every programmer / tech person I know desperately tries to define themselves by the hobbies they pursue outside of work, myself included. My tinder bio is just a bunch of interests.

Not sure anyone has put k8s on their tinder bio though

Absolutely someone has.

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

#536

Post by TrackerFF »

agitator wrote: post #228
goatherders wrote: post #50

You don't realize how good you have it: 1. you work for a company that is an excellent resume booster outside of the valley. I'm from central texas and most everyone I know in tech has worked at Dell and once complained how boring it was to work at Dell. The moment they decided to move away from Austin their Dell experience made them very hot commodities to non-Austin tech companies. Every day you stay at Google the…

I think this highlights the fundamental problem with hiring at many large companies. They think they are getting the best, but are they? They sure are overpaying for their employees. I think if OP isn't motivated enough to learn, excel, and build cool things on the side while he has a catered life at google, I don't think she/he will put in much effort elsewhere? That intrinsic motivation isn't there. And it honestly…

You have to ask yourself: Do people join FAANG companies because they feel those are the places where they'll get most challenged, and where they're able to develop their craft to the fullest extent

OR

Is it because they know the experience is worth its weight in gold on a resume, for any future endeavors - very much like how going to HYPS schools will open up doors which remain locked up for others.

In any case, I think you will get a bunch of both. Some talented devs that think too highly of said companies, some type-A go-getters that just want to put in their 2-3 years, etc.

I know its entirely possible to end up at the "best" companies in the world, and still get disillusioned. Hell, a lot of people don't even hold the same interests after 5-10 years. Things change, and being trapped in some place due to inactiveness can slowly eat you away. Doesn't help that you may fall victim to sunk-cost fallacy after a couple of years, where you feel too invested to leave, but too indifferent to take charge.

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

#537

Post by kqr »

CydeWeys wrote: post #176
barry-cotter wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Therapy is the answer here. You have to un-brainwash yourself from the notion that your job is your life and figure out what really matters to you. Then focus on that, and use your job to fill the boring hours in between. You’re going to spend more time at work than doing almost anything else during those years of your life where you work. Why not do something meaningful with those hours if you can? And if OP can g…

What percentage of software engineers are doing "something meaningful"? That seems like a small number, no? Contrast with teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, etc., almost all of whom I think would say they do something meaningful.

All of those you list as doing something meaningful can multiply their efforts if only there's a good software developer upstream from them.

Software developers invent the tools and environments that enable other people to do more efficient work. Sometimes it enables entire classes of meaning work that weren't possible before. How can that not be meaningful?

For better or worse, everything is driven by software these days. All work is, directly or indirectly, powered by software. Being in software is like the most meaningful thing you can do.

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

#538

Post by username90 »

Zenbit_UX wrote: post #523
NeverFade wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Engineers in places like SFBA severely underestimate how attractive they would be anywhere else in the country/world. I agree completely. > Her exes and her friends' husbands are shockingly anti-intellectual, didn't attend college, have some substance abuse issues, and/or make well under 6 figures. Here's what happened: Guys who are intellectual, attended college, have good discipline, and stayed away from substanc…

> she'd find at least one guy who is an exec or VC making 7 figures per year, and it would usually be a match. > "120k/year"? You'd make her laugh. I don't understand this fixation on earnings, I wasn't making half that when I found my partner. Making 7 figures won't get you a girlfriend, but thinking it will makes it likely any partner you do find won't stick around long. One of two things are happening, either a, a…

Women find men with more money to be more attractive. It isn't the only factor, but it is a significant factor like for example height.

> "A man can move himself two points higher on the attractiveness scale we used if his salary increases by a factor of 10," study author John Speakman told The Times.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/01/women-are-more-...

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

#539

Post by thrills »

wayoutthere wrote: post #65
dash2 wrote: post #13

It's sad and revealing to see the other comments here. Many of them say, don't seek fulfillment in your job, just keep on cruising. What a change from the exciting atmosphere of the 2000s. Seems like software engineering has become a safe, dull career nowadays. Don't listen to them. Your 20s are the time to learn, push yourself and discover who you are. Autopilot is for middle age.

Software engineering just isn't that hard. Tedious yes, but not remotely difficult. We've been fed the narrative of economic success that many folks have forgotten what personal success looks like. You can be successful in your career and still feel like a failure. Therapy is the answer here. You have to un-brainwash yourself from the notion that your job is your life and figure out what really matters to you. Then f…

> Software engineering just isn't that hard.

That doesn't even make sense. Software engineering is using software to solve problems. How hard software engineering is depends entirely on the problem you are trying to solve.

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

#540

Post by dx034 »

keiferski wrote: post #514
OOPMan wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah...as someone who recently relocated from a third-world country (South Africa) to a first-world country (Canada) I'm just going to go ahead and tell you that while the costs of living and property in third-world countries sound great there are a lot of negatives that don't make up for it.

Argentina is not a third world country.

Neither is South Africa. Their standard of living (in the right areas) is probably comparable.
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