Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I'm Begging for Work

brokedev.tumblr.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 342 posts

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#181

Post by potatosareok »

anonfounder1980 wrote: post #144

I'm sorry, but brokedev did EVERYTHING WRONG here, NOT the CEO. You don't get paid based on what you think you are worth or what other employees think you should be paid. Your salary is set by market forces. And from what I read, this CEO took a chance on brokedev in the first place. He gave him a job doing something that brokedev had no background in and has been compensating him not just with salary but also with w…

I am really bothered by your comment esp. since you call yourself "anonfounder", which I assume means you are also a startup founder.

I agree brokdev did many things wrong, namely not communicating concretely what he expected his salary to be. I've been in that position before where, because of in my case were insecurities, I did not communicate clearly what pay I was expecting. Secondly, I agree he should have looked for another job before things came to a head like that. Thirdly, he may have been lucky to get that job opportunity initially, although I'm not too familiar with tech hiring markets.

However, you clearly say "EVERYTHING", and I think that the company too did things wrong. Just as he did not communicate, the CEO did not communicate what he was projecting. The CEO should have, in my opinion, given a ballpark range at least. I think that it is reasonable otherwise for brokedev to have expected comparable salary to his coworkers, unless something is missing from this story.

Secondly, for the CEO, I am bothered that he did not buy the equipment for the guy. How much is 1.5k for company to spend, consider they spend it on every other employee really? That in my opinion is very disrespectful of them.

Thirdly, and again I'm giving brokdev the benefit of doubt in how he portrayed the story, the way the CEO handled the firing was in my opinion very unprofessional.

Just because a person is in a situation where maybe they do not have a lot of options, doesn't mean that you should take advantage of them. I think brokdev was taken advantage of. Maybe you think same which is why you make throwaway account for your post?

to brokdev, my 2 cents: - You should have communicated your salary requirements clearly, even though it might be scary to hear no. Better to get the no sooner rather than later. - Doesn't do much for you but good luck! I unfortunately don't know any positions atm.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#182

Post by vellum »

throwgoaway wrote: post #98
nurettin wrote: post #44

I can't even imagine having a 40+K$ salary in my country (Turkey) that's like 3x what I make.

Made a throwaway account just to post this. I'm a well-respected professional (in a different, though connected field) with many years of experience and I earn a hair over what the blog poster earns. I just can't be sympathetic with the desperate tone -- yes, I get it, other devs earn more money, and a Ruby pro can probably get upwards of 70 or 80k. But making it sound like you're on the brink of poverty with 40k? Yo…

>But making it sound like you're on the brink of poverty with 40k?

He's living in a trailer with a wife and 4 kids, one of whom's severely autistic. At $44,600, his family is at 137% of the federal poverty level.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#183

Post by petercooper »

jlarocco wrote: post #91
mmaunder wrote: post #25

Time to get your game face on. I'm a CEO, we're hiring but not in your skill area. Having interviewed a lot of candidates lately and looked at many more, I wanted to give you my 2c on getting into extremely hirable shape fast: Update your LinkedIn profile as someone has mentioned already. Sweeten it up, get a great looking but professional profile pic up there, get kudos from friends, etc. Do the online profile clean…

I guess beggers can't be choosers, but you're describing an employer I would never work for. > Remove any controversial political views or disparaging remarks about previous employers. If a person keeps their stupid political views to themselves while at work, it's really not any of their employers business. As far as disparaging remarks go, if it's an awesome company to work for, there shouldn't be anything to worry…

It's not so much "fake" as presenting one's best face in a professional context. Most of us present different faces in different contexts every day.

I often pick my nose, scratch my ass, tell rude jokes, love wearing sweatpants, and don't have a problem with embarrassing-to-most sexual conversations. Do I engage in these things on a first date as I might on a day to day basis with friends? No.. I dress up a bit, smell a bit better than usual, steer clear of politics and sexual jokes. So it goes when seeking a job.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#184

Post by etchalon »

DanBC wrote: post #171
etchalon wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's ridiculous. Good managers let their employees vent, when necessary, and don't take it personally. Insecure ones get all uppity about things like that.

Since the world is full of pretty poor managers "don't swear at your boss" is pragmatic advice. It'd be nice if all managers had the skill to recognise that a bit of venting is probably healthy.

"Don't work for managers you can't swear at," would be my advice to the world :D

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#185

Post by Mikushi »

vellum wrote: post #158

1.) The best time to find a job is when you already have one. Next time, find another job before you quit or make an ultimatum. 2.) Don't spend so much time thinking about why your company is screwing you. People job hop every 2 years, because it's the only way they'll get a 20k raise. Your salary will eventually hit a plateau as you move up, but early in your career, you shouldn't stay too long at one place. 3.) Don…

Right, blame the guy for being exploited like so many others.

1/ He did not quit or made any ultimatum. He acted on what was promised, nothing wrong with that. But right you should always lower your head and submit to the startups and their heads.

2/ Typical protection of abusive companies by telling employees who are being openly screwed : "Deal with it". Such a healthy advice, lets not question the ethics and working of most of the tech sector who all have been dipping their toes in shady hiring practices.

3/ Easy to say when you're not living paycheck to paycheck and you see your dream slowly crumble before your eyes because of a company's unacceptable behaviour (acceptable to certain on HN though who probably think the CEO was right).

WHile 4 & 5 are valid, your first advices put the entirety of the blame on OP, when in fact that blame lies entirely on the CEO and startup in question. If I were in his position I would have made sure that their name are public and known to prevent others from being exploited.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#186

Post by wyclif »

skimpycompiler wrote: post #63
ecliptik wrote: post #23

I'd suggest the following, active twitter account completed Linkedin profile active github account active website (Github Pages allows free static hosting) For a remote job search, sign up for a free RSS site (I recommend https://newsblur.com/ ) and add some remote-only feeds, https://goremote.io/rss https://jobs.github.com/positions.atom https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/feed?allowsremote=True Other good remote…

Why Twitter?

Because he can use it to follow RoR devs and find out what they are working on, having problems with, and may need help with. That can lead to work.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#187

Post by Jach »

tomhagen wrote: post #147
ericdykstra wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using something like "professional-looking LinkedIn picture" as a filter is just throwing out candidates for the sake of getting the number lower. Any company that would be this lazy as to potentially throw away their best candidates in the first round of filtering on criteria that has such little actual signalling is not one that I would want to work for anyway.

I doubt people get filtered out solely on their profile picture. Yet when you have two similar resumes, things like this might (and probably will) decide who'll be filtered out. Pro-tip: no one wants to see a Nikon in your profile picture and no one cares about your photography hobby on your resume. I'm talking to you, half of the tech community on Linkedin!

People are filtered all the time for BS reasons, e.g. there's a fairly well-known "I only hire lucky people" filter where a random half of the application pile is tossed out without a glance.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#188

Post by calibraxis »

vellum wrote: post #158

1.) The best time to find a job is when you already have one. Next time, find another job before you quit or make an ultimatum. 2.) Don't spend so much time thinking about why your company is screwing you. People job hop every 2 years, because it's the only way they'll get a 20k raise. Your salary will eventually hit a plateau as you move up, but early in your career, you shouldn't stay too long at one place. 3.) Don…

Yes, it helps to briefly skim the book "Getting to Yes". (For those who can't spare the funds, it's at libgen.) Fear signals a weak bargaining position, and bosses are trained to take advantage of that instinctively. Really, it's their daily job (an aspect they unfortunately often find fun).

One must have backup plans. If you're privileged enough to be a dev, always try to have jobs lined up. (Especially going into a negotiation, where it's an option to follow through on the firing threat.) Show your face at local usergroup meetings if you can. Feel the safety of knowing there's multiple companies who'd hire you the next day.

Bosses often don't give a shit about your productivity per se. They do fear losing perceived "irreplaceable" devs... but you generally have to be one of their first hires, or somehow release some big projects alone which other devs would rather not maintain.

[Edit] Professional mask: see "Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System that Shapes their Lives" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciplined_Minds

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#189

Post by chrisbennet »

Bonogongo wrote: post #69

As a manager if someone tries to blackmail me with leaving, I usually say "Then leave". Never let people blackmail you. Would I hire someone who swears and uses f* in a conversation with his boss? No. Would I hire someone who creates a blog to make his boss look bad? No. All of this with 4 kids I surely would not trust on you any responsibibility acting so irresponsible. So everyone here who wants to hire this guy, a…

My advice: try to understand why you are getting down voted so often and think about changing.

While it is certainly possible that everyone else has the wrong attitude, on the chance that isn't the case, perhaps some introspection is warranted on your part.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#190

Post by DanBC »

Jach wrote: post #187
tomhagen wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt people get filtered out solely on their profile picture. Yet when you have two similar resumes, things like this might (and probably will) decide who'll be filtered out. Pro-tip: no one wants to see a Nikon in your profile picture and no one cares about your photography hobby on your resume. I'm talking to you, half of the tech community on Linkedin!

People are filtered all the time for BS reasons, e.g. there's a fairly well-known "I only hire lucky people" filter where a random half of the application pile is tossed out without a glance.

That "I only hire lucky people" is clearly parody. Noone actually does that in real life.

I agree that many of the filters that people use are bullshit.

Post reply on HN