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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?

#661

Post by buboard »

darkerside wrote: post #463
NeverFade wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's true the male/female ratios are worse The fact that there are way more men than women in the Bay is a statistical reality, which you admit yourself. Then you bring an opinion blog-post by a single woman as counter-evidence. Ironically, all these complaints about "guys there that have a disgusting sense of entitlement" just go to show how picky she is, and can afford to be, in San Francisco. Nothing in GP's pos…

> guys who would be considered attractive and desirable in most other locations Your conception of what women are looking for in a man might not hew as closely to reality as you think.

Everyone, literally, is looking for different things. Most ppl try to extrapolate from their personal preference to the whole population, and think their place is somehow unique, but that’s wrong. And, barring extreme inbalances in gender ratio, most people eventually find their match.

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

#662

Post by ishi »

thrownaway954 wrote: post #613
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…

"If you stay at Google, make the most of it by progressing deliberately in your social life. If I'd've stayed, I could have comfortably raised some kids with my wife by now - but that's still on the todo list." THIS all the way. When we are young, we think that we will be remembered by the company that we worked for and the people that we worked with. The sad truth is that in 99.9999% none of those people will rememb…

Dude, you are still young! You made some mistakes in the first half of your life, but your second half can be better due to the experience you gained. There are lots of people who start a second relationship in their 40s, after going through a divorce. And you can always adopt another dog... What I'm saying is that even though life seems bleak right now, you still have many years of happiness ahead.

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

#663

Post by marcus_holmes »

thrownaway954 wrote: post #613
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…

"If you stay at Google, make the most of it by progressing deliberately in your social life. If I'd've stayed, I could have comfortably raised some kids with my wife by now - but that's still on the todo list." THIS all the way. When we are young, we think that we will be remembered by the company that we worked for and the people that we worked with. The sad truth is that in 99.9999% none of those people will rememb…

I was there. Now in my 50's with an amazing life. I'm grateful every day to my alcoholic, depressed 40-odd-year-old self who didn't kill himself. I could not have seen from there how happy I am now, and I could not have predicted the adventures I went (am going!) through to get here.

Hang in there, buddy. Just keep breathing. It will change.

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

#664

Post by jaynetics »

Galanwe wrote: post #338
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…

> 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 There is so much wrong in this sentence. First, there is no more “meat grinders” in the US than in Europe. I worked at Microsoft and Criteo in Europe, and the slacking there seems to be on par with what OP describes. You mention 40/80k per year being pitiful? This kind of remu…

> You mention 40/80k per year being pitiful? This kind of remuneration puts you in the top 10%/5% of France population easily.

These numbers are surely off. Must be more like 40%/10%. And I'd bet that a double-digit percentage of devs earn less than 40k and only very few earn 80k. Factor in that this is a job that is concentrated in big cities with a high cost of living, and these numbers don't look that great.

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

#665

Post by dx034 »

wayoutthere wrote: post #394
walshemj wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly what reputation is this? I have heard that about a former employer British Telecom, I suspect it varies I can imagine the sort that went into CS and rote learned their way to a Degree might have a problem. Not that some of googles published api's and standards work can sometimes a little shonky and could do with a lot more rigor.

I wouldn't say it's a red flag to have Google on your resume, but I will say that I do make a point of understanding what exactly an applicant did during their time at Google. Like any company, there are good teams and bad teams -- but at Google, it's possible to contribute nothing and still not get fired due to the way they're structured internally.

But isn't that the case with all companies of that size? It might be easier at some, but pretty much everyone I know at large company knows stories of some people doing next to nothing. As structures grow complex it's easy to hide behind politics if you're smart.

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

#666

Post by watwut »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #187
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…

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…

These dudes exists in Europe too. Rendering whole meritocracy argument moot. I have come to believe that the real sexism in tech gap is in how low performing man can be without harming his reputation of performance - people give them seemingly infinite benefit of doubt. And how little can he know without damaging reputation of knowing a lot.

(Not that woman can't abuse this or that - but she can abuse different things. She can't make herself look 10x worker with so little.)

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

#667

Post by makach »

It's difficult when going to work and doing work doesn't feel like work. When copying files and patching stuff together is what they expect you to do but that only requires a little bit of mental capacity, welcome to corporate reality.

What you choose to do is completely up to you, but know that a lot of people would give up their right arm and a leg for this kind of job and the job security that entails.

That said, as long as what you are doing is keeping you relevant in the job market and you are building competency you should be fine.

Don't worry. Go to job interviews when you can, this is to ensure that your knowledge and persona are still relevant. If they give you an offer you are in a good situation to use that information to either improve your current position or change job. Don't forget you work to live, don't live for work.

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

#668

Post by kriro »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #187
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…

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…

First of all,

That seems overly dramatic. I can only speak for Germany but I think 60-80k is more realistic. I think as a good university graduate in IT you should make >50k as that's the entry level pay for someone working in academics which is a decent middle-level salary to benchmark against I'd say.

If you account for vacation days, expected work hours and extra costs (medical etc.). I think European jobs aren't bad. If you really want a house, you also have to compare house prices in the Bay Area to wherever you make the 60-80k in Europe. My guess is that you'll find quite the dramatic price difference and in areas in Germany, where housing is expensive, the salaries are also higher (from talking to a friend, Bosch Munich pays I think 20% more than Bosch NRW iirc).

It's also not illegal to start your own business or do consulting where you can charge pretty nice prices depending on your field of expertise. Usually not as an entry level job but it's not unheard of.

Buying a house and paying it off also isn't impossible depending on where you live. 500k usually give you a decent option. 25 years @ 20k / year isn't really impossible (especially as you'd otherwise pay rent and given current interest rates). And quite frankly you can find good options in the 300k range a little outside metro areas.

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

#669

Post by bilekas »

makach wrote: post #667

It's difficult when going to work and doing work doesn't feel like work. When copying files and patching stuff together is what they expect you to do but that only requires a little bit of mental capacity, welcome to corporate reality. What you choose to do is completely up to you, but know that a lot of people would give up their right arm and a leg for this kind of job and the job security that entails. That said,…

i would second this and also add, that when you're interviewing for other companies, be upfront and tell them that you're just not challenged. That you've been pidgeon-holed.

It will give the employer to guage if you will be a good fit for the project and that you are more interested in learning that just pushing buttons.

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

#670

Post by cjfd »

quartus wrote: post #486
wpietri wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I've only lived in the bay area 20 years, but this strikes me as quite dramatic. I know literally dozens of men in tech happily raising families in the Bay Area. It's true the male/female ratios are worse (although we should certainly adjust for the large gay male population). But when I talk to friends who are dating, it's the women who seem to be struggling to find anybody decent, not the men. Perhaps the p…

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

Actually, most research in this area points to the percentage of people being gay among males to be about twice that of among females.
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