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“Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

businessinsider.com

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Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#251

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway7230 wrote: post #204
boulos wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for that (as you surmised, I meant "senior" in the broad sense). For those following along, new college grads usually start at Level 3 ("SWE II"), and "Senior SWE" (Level 5) is considered "high enough". Explicitly the guidance for L5 is that: "All Google engineers are expected to reach this level".

Apple has a similar system: I've never met a level 1. Level 2 SWE is kind of entry level, level 3 is mid-career, level 4 is senior. It's pretty achievable to get promoted quickly up to level 4. Some people even come in at level 4 if they come in with experience. Unfortunately level 4 where most people's careers and raises (and stock, from what I hear) come to a screeching halt. I understand there's a level 5 that tak…

[deleted]

Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#252

Post by ltaaug8 »

watwut wrote: post #244
scurvy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At Microsoft, we called a lot of these people in Group B, "volunteers". They were with the company through the glory years and had great wealth. They just wanted to come to work every day because they liked saying that they worked at MS. The best response given when I asked one why they still worked, "Why would I spend time at home? Have you met my wife and kids?"

> The best response given when I asked one why they still worked, "Why would I spend time at home? Have you met my wife and kids?" I am not sure whether I should fear sorry for the kids or for the father. Having father that jokes about not liking you must sux.

I once interviewed with a team leader and two of his engineers. When I asked "What qualities characterize a valuable member of your team?", one of the engineers described how hard they work: they work so hard that the team leader cancelled dinner with his wife on their 10th anniversary so he could work late that night. The team leader was beaming with pride. I felt sorry for all of them and especially for that guy's family.

Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#253

Post by resonanttoe »

freyir wrote: post #3

> "They are really good engineers, really indispensable. And then they start to pull 9-5 days" Worthless slackers.

How dare they work what is written in their contract.. its almost as if they think it's some kind of business arrangement. :P

Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#254

Post by zeusk »

madengr wrote: post #225
ChuckMcM wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine worked too hard, his wife got fed up and divorced him. It was horrible, he had to sell of his Sun stock so that he his wife could have half. That was in the late 1990s. He has really mixed feelings about it. I sold some of the stock I had gotten as part of the employee stock purchase plan to buy a brand new car for cash. It was the first time in my life I didn't have a car payment every month. That w…

I think I bought it at $60/share and it went down to $3 after dot com bust, wiping out Roth IRA. Oh well, that was years ago in my 20's and I'm diversified so really just a lesson (not to buy tech stocks).

except tech has been the driver of growth since the last economic crisis.

Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#255

Post by rebootthesystem »

I've seen a different kind of behavior. It consists of taking a project that could be done in six months and stretching it over two to five years. And, yes, it looks pathetic and absolutely ridiculous when viewed with the eyes of a "get shit done every day" entrepreneur, yet it seems that in some of these environments this can become acceptable behavior in some strange-as-fuck way. I think it's soul-sucking depressing.

Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#256

Post by rimliu »

shopkins wrote: post #187
wbl wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The competition is a click away and has very low barriers to entry. Facebook might have network effects, but Google doesn't. If someone made a better search engine, people would switch. What evidence that Google's search monopoly is anti-consumer is there?

Google has such a vast amount of data on users that its search really can't be beat right now. If you're fully in the ecosystem with mail, maps, contacts, calendar, smartphone, apps, etc. you're going to get better results -- not to mention switching could mean giving up these integrated products.

I'd say it has too much data and it is already hurting search results. You get tons of unrelated stuff.

Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#258

Post by spraak »

jdswain wrote: post #111
bane wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I would definitely put more effort into establishing clearer space/time boundaries between work and home. I live near a local library and might turn it into an office of sorts so that I have a place to go, people to interact with and so on. I'd definitely put more effort into making sure I'd wake up, shower, and dress for work during work hours and then stop at the end of the work day. Basically, better disci…

I used to go out in the morning to a local Starbucks and do email and planning tasks plus also get some social interaction. That worked really well for staring the day with a clear boundary. At the end of the day I'd walk up to the train station (through a park) to meet my wife, so I'd have a clear boundary on both ends of my day. It worked really well while I lived there. Now I'm in a small town and it's a bit harde…

That's great advice, thank you.

Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#259

Post by Kluny »

watwut wrote: post #244
scurvy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At Microsoft, we called a lot of these people in Group B, "volunteers". They were with the company through the glory years and had great wealth. They just wanted to come to work every day because they liked saying that they worked at MS. The best response given when I asked one why they still worked, "Why would I spend time at home? Have you met my wife and kids?"

> The best response given when I asked one why they still worked, "Why would I spend time at home? Have you met my wife and kids?" I am not sure whether I should fear sorry for the kids or for the father. Having father that jokes about not liking you must sux.

I dunno, you could take it lightheartedly. It's good for a relationship for the partners to have their own interests and have some time apart.

Re: “Rest and vest”: engineers who get paid and barely work

#260

Post by spraak »

Well, at my current position I am certainly resting, but not vesting, so I'm torn about what to do. On one hand, I have lots of time to do my own projects, but instead I've been very lazy and mostly read HN :/ and on the other hand, I am at the low end of the pay spectrum for my experience. I'd rather be paid more, but I don't want to have to work harder for it than I am now.

Wow, I am silly.

Edit: I mean that the company has not IPO'd and I don't own any stock/equity as a remote contractor.

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