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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?

#851

Post by KirinDave »

NeverFade wrote: post #429
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…

> 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…

> As a final anecdote, I did know women who dated executives and VCs in the Bay. Some of these guys had mammoth egos. Curiously, that didn't prevent them from having far better dating lives than any engineer I knew.

Considering how many executives and SVPs in tech have been caught in sexual harassment (if not outright sexual assault), you might want to think quietly for awhile about what your definitions and standards are.

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

#853

Post by biasedOpinion »

Do you intentionally work to 10% of your capacity, or do you try to work better but can't?

If it's intentional then I don't understand why you'd do that, it seems to me like it'd be horrible to wake up knowing you'll be slacking all day...

If it's not, I'd suggest first of all changing teams while you learn other technologies for a different job.

edit: there are so many things broken with Google products, there has to be something you're interested in fixing...

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

#854

Post by iowanTechWorker »

wpietri wrote: post #529
darkerside wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Exactly. A lot of the single women I know moved here for pretty specific reasons. Maybe he's right that these poor, poor men are exactly what women want in Ottumwa, Iowa, although I doubt it. But I'm quite sure that many of the people who live in the Bay Area are here precisely because they want something different than what they could get elsewhere.

yo. leave iowa out of it.

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

#855

Post by homonculus1 »

SamPatt wrote: post #697
username90 wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-...

The book "The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley goes into depth about how men and women choose their mates, based largely on evolutionary biology. People treat it like a character flaw for a woman to choose a man based on wealth and status, but why? A woman committing to a relationship likely means pregnancy and that requires resources and protection for years and years. That's how it's been for hundreds of thousands of year…

You're right, but the flip side is that men are actively shamed for pursuing their own evolutionary incentives. There are two layers of competition going on, the sexual-economic one and the fluffy interpersonal one, but some people gain leverage by maintaining the fiction that one of them is obsolete. This fiction is enforced by calling everyone who notices it a misogynist or an incel.

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

#856

Post by lazyasciiart »

asdkhadsj wrote: post #844
darkerside wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I think you missed Ps point completely. It was that if the ratios are off, the lower side has more of a supply. What specifically each individual is looking for doesn't matter. It's supply and demand.

I don't think that's a counterpoint to the comment you responded to in any way at all.

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

#857

Post by blaser-waffle »

apohn wrote: post #772
joatmon-snoo wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current Googler here; my solution to staving off complacency has been constantly asking myself if there are other problems I can and will work on - and they don't have to be problems on your team. (Although, I will say that at a certain point, if you're growing, I think your responsibilities should be shifting from solving problems to identifying/prioritizing the problems.) Every team has a looonnngggggg list of thin…

It's amazing to me to learn that you can help other teams solve problems at Google. Every big company I've worked for (none of them FAANG), helping another team is a recipe for disaster. You will get your hand slapped, punished, blamed, and basically make your life much worse. Each team is super insulated and tries their best to hide behind their management chain because of this. It's great that you can feel bored an…

> Every big company I've worked for (none of them FAANG), helping another team is a recipe for disaster. You will get your hand slapped, punished, blamed, and basically make your life much worse.

This. More work, much of which won't improve your review or bottom line. You get a stack rank from your boss and your team, not the guys two offices over. Then, if your upgrades screw up its on you.

Apropos of a a saying I'm fond of: "not your circus, not your monkeys".

> Each team is super insulated and tries their best to hide behind their management chain because of this.

That's what Mgmt is for, and why things can be escalated as "Mgmt Issues" so that the leadership, PMs, etc. can figure it out.

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

#858

Post by loudlove »

cryptica wrote: post #307
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…

I worked as a software developer for companies all over the world: Brisbane, Sydney, San Francisco (working remotely from Moscow), The Hague (Netherlands), London then Berlin. The markets are very different in each country. Moscow is the worst for developers but at least cost of living is low. I feel that Australia is similar to the US in terms of income but it's a less liquid market; low supply, low demand. But the…

In cybersecurity here in Australia you get 1,200 to 1,300 per day as a security architect.

I agree with the above, it is a “low demand, low supply” market as you always end up working for the same big companies.

I’m at Google Sydney now and my total compensation is 300k (AUD), while anywhere else in it’d be just under 200k

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

#859

Post by thrwaway69 »

dualogy wrote: post #646
thrwaway69 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why we have religion ;) Thou shall work hard, get equivalent reward in this life or next one. I tried to become religious before but I am too stubborn to do it. We all want some purpose in life, distractions can work temporary or forever if you want them to with cracks appearing often needing to be filled. Personal advice for myself: - Live and compare relatively with lookout for opportunities. - Focus on sel…

"I will believe that it is rational as oppose to religion therefore enabling me to put trust into it and follow it blindly ." The irony..

Actually, that post was meant to be sarcastic going towards the end but I see it is not as obvious now looking at it. :/

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

#860

Post by uwuhn »

veggieburglar wrote: post #814
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…

I agree with you 100% and have to say that the replies on this particular thread are some of the most toxic I’ve ever read here on HN, and completely indicative of both what you describe as well as my own observations from living here in the Bay for pretty much my entire life. I live in the South Bay, don’t work in tech, make well under $100k a year, live comfortably and have had no issues dating. I’m a local, white…

Being tall is a huge advantage. Over 6' is tall in the Bay. So is being white. Don't sell yourself short.
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