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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?

#841

Post by UnpossibleJim »

kelp wrote: post #616
an_opabinia wrote: post #595

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> look for dysfunctional companies This theme is common in the thread and is wildly wrong. First I recommend reading Bullshit Jobs to get some perspective on how others have fulfilled your goals. Big, rich, process-driven companies and institutions are the easiest to do the least work in for the longest time . Process is the toxin low-effort thrives on. An admin role at Google pays more and works much less than an en…

I think this is the better advice here, and fits with some comments I left elsewhere in this thread about people I know working at MSFT and putting in only a handful of hours a week and still getting raises and promotions. It's easy to do little when everyone expects everything to take forever because of how heavy the processes are in the organization.

Is THIS why Satya Nadella is so keen on getting everyone back in their cubicles. It makes everyone look like they're banging on their keyboards, nevermind that they're sending pictures on .... Teams? Can you do that on Teams? We use Slack. I was curious why he thought, "So much work gets done around the watercooler." I just thought he was a holdover from an earlier time. He's a smart dude, I'm not denying that. And I'm not young, but I'm not really working, usually, when I'm chatting in the snack room.

Maybe I'm too low level, though. That's a real possibility. I 100% admit that.

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

#842

Post by edem »

kjjjjjjjjjjjjjj wrote: post #397

I can respect this opinion and as I get older I realize how little I actually care about work. I am not really passionate about tech, security, etc, I just know a lot about it. I basically never talk about it with anyone, I have absolutely no interest in meetups, and I don't care about the news (past the minimum needed to keep up to date for my job) The only thing I care about is money, and making more money. I don't…

Yea I just finished with a "training" about D&I. I just don't get it. Those people who didn't care still won't care but they will be pissed too. It won't have an effect on those who cared.

At this point I think it is a necessity for most companies to do this shit though. I've heard stories about investors pulling their support because the company wasn't "diverse" enough. They are trying to force a solution for this Catch 22 and it isn't helping: you don't get more women into IT until IT becomes friendly for them. IT won't become friendly until there are more women in IT. (substitute women for whatever PC term you want to use)

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

#844

Post by [deleted] »

totalminimalist wrote: post #820
splithalf wrote: post #792

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning “on the job” is an anachronism from the days when companies invested in their employees and employees stayed in the same organization for their entire career. We’re moving towards the gig model, even calling programmers “rock stars” to sell it.

This is profoundly true. It's also one of the reasons I want to get out of IT after 20 years. I'm past the point where I'm tired of the meetings, false niceties, and desire from management to submit to the hive mind. Nothing worse than stand-ups, Teams or Google Meet meetings. No one wants to be in them. It takes time away from my job where I could actually be productive. This is why I really like the videos from Pat…

[deleted]

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

#845

Post by ncallaway »

While I think it's totally fair to be in a position where you don't care about the work, I'd also encourage you to look for workplaces that seek to provide additional compensation in the form of additional flexibility, freedom, and your time rather than just in additional money.

The company I started is a software consultancy where we try and focus on giving everyone a 20-hour work-week and consider that a full-time job. We're remote first, and work mostly when your schedule allows (sometimes we have to have a meeting, or some task requires a bit of collaboration). Our absolute monetary compensation isn't what you could get full time at a FAANG, but is designed to be a full time job.

We've written about this core philosophy here: https://www.apsis.io/blog/2015/04/23/work-sustainably, and I've slowly seen more companies that have started to take this same approach toward viewing employee freedom, flexibility, and mental health as an important part of compensation.

So, my advice is try and find a company that views your freedom, flexibility, and mental health as a first class concern. They exist (even if they aren't the norm), and it can be a very satisfying way to get work done, earn enough to live comfortable, and also have other passions that are your primary focus.

I'd say we tick _most_ of the points on your list (it might be more like 3-4 hours in the morning, then chilling, and we do have high expectations for the quality of the work). Just another idea for something to look for.

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

#846

Post by sam_bristow »

mandeepj wrote: post #734
kelp wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of advice I got from the VP of Eng at my first real full time tech job. This was back around late 1999 / early 2000. Peak of the dot com era. He told me what most people think of as job security is totally wrong. If you're the only person who knows something, you become a liability. But if you're constantly teaching and sharing that knowledge you become incredibly valuable to the organization. That's…

> If you're the only person who knows something, you become a liability. Sorry, this is just wrong. You are a liability if someone thinks about you that way. Fortunately, not that many people are like that. In Contrary, if you are the only one to know something then you are regarded very highly and almost untouchable.

If you're the only person who knows something it can also mean you end up in a rut. You can't tackle interesting new stuff because you're stuck looking after the old stuff that no-one else understands.

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

#847

Post by ncallaway »

glitchc wrote: post #483
koheripbal wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specifically, stay away from the tech industry. 1. Look for a smaller antiquated company or department that doesn't understand IT, and has few if any in-house IT professionals. Make sure the role doesn't include user support. Look for "Operations" jobs. 2. Look for positions that have a TON of manual work. Search for "prepare daily/weekly/etc... reports." and similar job functions. 3. Automate as much of it as possib…

Excellent points except (5) Usually immoral and often illegal

> often illegal

I think a citation is needed here. It _may_ be a contract violation, but I struggle to think of many jurisdictions where this would be illegal.

Could you share some examples of when this would violate a law?

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

#848

Post by confidantlake »

cercatrova wrote: post #507
glitchc wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent points except (5) Usually immoral and often illegal

I never understand this point personally. If you're delivering value to the multiple companies you work for such that they like you, or at least don't fire you, then I don't see anything immoral in that. It's merely corporations who insist on people working for one and only one company at a time when in reality it shouldn't matter.

Completely agree. Do we insist that corporations only sell to a single customer? No that would be absurd. But insisting a person can only sell their labor to a single customer is seen as perfectly normal.

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

#849

Post by trollercoaster »

The only way you get to truly sit back and coast is if you put in the time. No company is hiring a drag off the streets. Your ass will be out the door before long at even dysfunctional companies.

I would suggest finding a large Fortune 500, putting in some time, building some nice relationships and setting the tone that you came to not do too much. :)

Good luck brother!

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

#850

Post by creamytaco »

lucideer wrote: post #736
an_opabinia wrote: post #595

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> look for dysfunctional companies This theme is common in the thread and is wildly wrong. First I recommend reading Bullshit Jobs to get some perspective on how others have fulfilled your goals. Big, rich, process-driven companies and institutions are the easiest to do the least work in for the longest time . Process is the toxin low-effort thrives on. An admin role at Google pays more and works much less than an en…

> An admin role at Google pays more and works much less than an engineering role at a dysfunctional company. There's two issues here: 1) The op asked for a technical role, so comparing an admin role to a technical one isn't helpful. 2) You're presuming Google is not a dysfunctional company. I think point (2) is actually the more important one; reading through your comment, the type of "big, rich, process-driven" comp…

At least as far as Google is concerned, this hasn't been my experience. I spent ~6.5 years there working an hour a day at the most (cue Office Space, meeting with the Bobs) and AFAIK didn't raise any alarms. In fact, when I left, my colleagues complimented me on my "work ethic".

It wasn't just me doing that either. Most ppl are too busy focusing on whatever life goals and illusions they've crafted for themselves to really scrutinize what others are doing and even if they realize what's happening, why would they care?

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