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Ask HN: Should I checkmate my employer?

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Re: Ask HN: Should I checkmate my employer?

#91

Post by v-erne »

FabHK wrote: post #56
owow123 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an interesting take on my writing style. I will certainly apply this to my CV, perhaps my personal statement is to "aggressive" (here I am doing it again). Thank you.

Agreed with GP. Your submission appears put together without any care ("NH", "i", "wont", "cant", "circles", "Bad", "dont", and presumably that hyphen is a minus "-" rather than an en-dash "–" or an em-dash "—" (though it's not that important)). Unless your achievements are stellar, you are not in a position to neglect these details. Next, don't bring your grievances with you. Your next employer bears no responsibili…

>> hyphen is a minus "-" rather than an en-dash "–" or an em-dash "—"

/s

You snob, this is internet, how dare You point out that single dash sign is apparently not enough to convey all this context dependent meaning. Go back to Your fancy books.

s/

Sorry, I could not resist - each time I am remainded that clear communication is not enough and „proper” form is also required because of historical reasons I die a little bit inside. Why we (the people) like to complicate our life so much? Germans somehow could get rid of ß so maybe not all is lost (but Danish people on the other hand brought back Å so maybe it is ;) )

Re: Ask HN: Should I checkmate my employer?

#92

Post by engineerDave »

throwawybllion wrote: post #60

Learn a new language. PHP (while not entirely garbage in its modern form, though based on your post I'm guessing you're not using it in a very modern way) has a stigma insofar as I (for one) assume someone that has only used PHP is not likely to ramp up quickly because they lack intellectual curiosity. Honestly, when I'm looking at resumes, I immediately assume anyone that only has experience in one language is at be…

There is a truth here. A lot of companies build their first system in php. IME no one hires developers to build their second system or third in php, except maybe Facebook.

Re: Ask HN: Should I checkmate my employer?

#93

Post by FabHK »

v-erne wrote: post #91
FabHK wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed with GP. Your submission appears put together without any care ("NH", "i", "wont", "cant", "circles", "Bad", "dont", and presumably that hyphen is a minus "-" rather than an en-dash "–" or an em-dash "—" (though it's not that important)). Unless your achievements are stellar, you are not in a position to neglect these details. Next, don't bring your grievances with you. Your next employer bears no responsibili…

>> hyphen is a minus "-" rather than an en-dash "–" or an em-dash "—" /s You snob, this is internet, how dare You point out that single dash sign is apparently not enough to convey all this context dependent meaning. Go back to Your fancy books. s/ Sorry, I could not resist - each time I am remainded that clear communication is not enough and „proper” form is also required because of historical reasons I die a little…

You are right... I fine-tune (not "fine-tune") the ligatures in my CV for proper form. It might be overkill.

But then, would you rather hire someone who cares about the details or not? (That depends on the job, of course. But insofar as the job is to fulfil the requirements of the job, and a requirement of putting together your CV is generally understood to be to do it carefully without typos, it doesn't bode well.)

Re: Ask HN: Should I checkmate my employer?

#94

Post by isbvhodnvemrwvn »

worldwideants wrote: post #89
nend wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP is trying to get out but hasn't been able to. Adopting a "fuck you, pay me" attitude when you have no ability to leave is not a smart move. Absolutely they should be somewhere they're more valued, but should be patient while they work out how to do that.

The argument seems very all or nothing, being increasingly visible about interviewing elsewhere might get the employer to take actions that help the OP prepare for a new job.

Perhaps not in the way the OP wants though.

Re: Ask HN: Should I checkmate my employer?

#95

Post by skyzyx »

I started building websites in 1997, started my first post-college job in 2004, and and have worked my way across the spectrum from user experience backwards through the stack to operations and architecture over the last 25 years.

What do I do? What value do I bring to an organization?

“Reliability and cybersecurity are critical features of any project, but these things require a deep understanding that most software engineers don’t have. I build platforms and tools which empower teams to ship highly-reliable, highly-secure software by default, enabling low-friction when it’s time to ship to production.”

PHP and JavaScript were my bread-and-butter for 15 years. But I took the time to learn how to write highly effective, modern PHP with types, and linting, and static analysis to point out poor choices in my code.

Besides teaching me to be a better developer, it also made it really easy to pick up Ruby, then Bash, then Python, then Go, and even some dabbling in Swift along the way. With each new language I learned, I was able to bring new ideas back to my day job.

I have both Dev + Ops skills, so I also do a lot of work in AWS (beyond the “Big 4” of EC2, S3, RDS, and CloudFront), Terraform/Terragrunt (with modules), building AWS base images with Packer and AWS ImageBuilder, Monitoring-as-Code with Terraform + New Relic, built custom cybersecurity scanning tools that identified vulnerabilities and poor configurations across our suite of AWS accounts, and more.

Stay humble, and stay hungry, because there is always somebody coming to eat you. As long as you’re respected, feel free to stay. If you’re not being treated the way you believe you should be treated, then go someplace else. Never let your ego get in the way. Never allow yourself to become too proud to make the right call.

Lastly, but probably most importantly, is that very few things are done by individuals. Most things are done by teams. I teach, I share knowledge, and I work hard to build up the people around me, so that we can work collaboratively together to solve the big problems. I try very hard to magnify the talents of the people around me, rather than preventing them from growing beyond my own limitations. Even though I elected not to become a “manager“, I am still a “leader“.

Find the thing you do which drives value, and market yourself that way. You are not a “PHP developer“. You are a “developer who uses PHP as one tool in the toolbox“.

Just like how McDonald’s is not in the restaurant business; they’re in the real estate business. Google is not a search engine company; they’re an advertising company. Facebook is not a social networking company; they’re an advertising company.

Re: Ask HN: Should I checkmate my employer?

#96

Post by sdfjkl »

What's your motivation, you just want more money? Do you like working there? Do you like the people? Then go talk to them, tell them what you want (but figure out what that is first), explain how you're going to have to go look for it somewhere else if it can't be achieve with them.

If it's just money you want, go brag up the CV and spam applications. Something will stick eventually and you can climb the career ladder until you realize the uselessness of this endeavour.

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