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Ask HN: "Is that work?"

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Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#91

> Some statistics recently suggested that a snowball had a better chance of opening an ice cream shop in the deepest layer of hell than I have of getting another job. You could not be more wrong. I organise the London Hacker News meetup and speak weekly to people who are DESPERATE to get a good developer. Unemployment may well be high, but there is huge demand for good developers. Unless you have very strong ties to…

According to the BBC, In the city I live, there is around 8 unemployed people for every 1 job here. I'd love to work/live in London, but I am a bit nervous about getting down there because I don't have a degree. I'm completely self taught.

I don't know about the UK, but most software companies (unless they're populated by ex-googlers) in the US simply don't care if you have a degree as long as you can do the work.

Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#92

> They even outsourced me to develop a ticketing system for a [potentially recognisable car service] company, to the tune of more than half my annual salary for four weeks work. And it didn't occur to them that this meant you were worth more than they thought? They're hopeless. Run away. Take some of your vacation days and go interview someplace where you can be a profit center instead of a cost center.

We have to take 4 days over Christmas because the dealership is shut, I have used 15.5 days :( Maybe after January.

Go to 4 interviews and tell those bastards you plan to leave before Christmas.

Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#93
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a quote from him last week: "Between the fag breaks, shit breaks, you aren't getting ANY work done!" He laughed when I told him to go and fuck himself, like I was joking.

Get Out Now. You'll probably have an 'exit interview', during which you can suggest that you'd continue to do the current major projects for 75% of what they're paying you now - but you'd be working off-site, against a set of milestones (just like a real contractor). Benefits to them : They'd save on paying you to slack off... and on the various National Insurance stuff too. It would be a win-win. Benefits to you : Y…

Why would he take a pay cut?

Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#94
post #64

Here is the best advice I can give you knowing nothing about you outside of work: #1 Take a day and get some fresh air before winter hits. Go on a hike - spend at least 4 hours by yourself on the trail. Imagine the perfect (reasonable) life - where do you live, who is there with you, what do you do each day? #2 Can you plot a line from where you are right now to where you want to be? If you still want to do developme…

As someone who has changed jobs several times during my (admittedly brief) career, I can attest that this is good advice.

Keeping a portfolio of work, and a way for other people to judge your skills, is key. This can be as simple as a github account with some throwaway projects that show off your coding style + preferred languages/frameworks, or your own website, with custom wordpress theme, interactive portfolio work, etc.

It's a little scary to jump into something new, but you'll be challenged again, and given an opportunity to work with people that will appreciate and (more importantly) understand what you do.

Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#95
post #28

I'm not sure if you're setting expectations with him. I have this problem to some extent. Some of our guys email around everyone telling them what they're doing, asking questions, trying to get feedback from everyone else. Others have clammed up, don't talk, shut themselves in. When the guys that talk about what they're doing (and some of it is weird obscure stuff, so they kindly abstract it) then you know they've be…

Not sure why this isn't rated higher. Everyone is telling him to quit and walk away instead of trying to make it work.

I'd go further then what iuguy proposed. Every morning, check in with your boss by email or face to face and let him know what you will be working on for the day. At the end of the day, do the same, but with what you accomplished. Ask that all tasks to you be in written form and you will prepare a timeline for their completion. When you complete them, make sure he knows it was on time. Do a weekly/monthly report where you lay out all the projects you did for that time period and how long they took. If he is still an ass.. quit.

Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#96
On the one hand, you could use some new skills managing perceptions at the office -- to move up significantly in the programming profession, you're going to have to lead people down the path of understanding both how valuable you are, and also how difficult what you do is.

Many engineers aren't good at this.

But, I echo almost everyone here who thinks you're in a toxic situation -- you should get out; so much of your perception of what's normal and reasonable in a work situation is being formed in your horrible, horrible one that it's hard to keep your head straight. Nothing is likely to fix this for you, and getting some new job skills to allow you to keep working in this place isn't a good option for your emotional health.

A low risk situation for you would be to find some contracting work, then give notice, given what you've said, I'd suggest you give notice first to the boss's dad, explaining the situation. If you can't do that in person, at least write a polite note explaining:

I like you guys, but the market is offering quadruple your pay rates right now, and the work environment is not enticing enough to make me want to stay. Best regards, blah. Do this to minimize badmouthing effects by your now-jilted boss; it won't solve everything, but it's worth going over his head in a situation like this. Don't knock him, just explain that you can make X and Y with double the vacation, better benefits, and etc. etc. elsewhere.

After notice is given, and you've started at least one other gig (In situations like this, it's not unlikely you'd get a call when you leave -- they sound seriously unappreciative of the work you're punching out, and hopefully the market will teach them that in short order on your leavetaking.

In any event, leave as fast as you can -- you might be surprised how differently you feel about yourself and the world once you've made the jump.

Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#97
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He wasn't offering him a job, I don't think :P

Oh no! I realize that... but you're offering him the knowledge, confidence and support he needs to be able to make a lasting and positive change in his life. If he's on £17k/pa and you're billing out £350 a day, then he only has to work 50 days per year to come out in the exact same place he's in now. As long as he gets from you a list of those "first steps" on how to find the contracts. Even if he starts out billing…

I would suggest that he should start out at a bare minimum of £150 a day, especially if he has web sites that he has done before that are public facing (i.e. he can demonstrate his work). It is easier to lower prices than to raise them.

A second piece of advice is that if you are going to be a freelancer you should join the Professional Contractors Group (www.pcg.org.uk). They have an enormous amount of info on their pages, even more for members, and just by becoming a paid up member you get £70,000 of tax audit insurance.

Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#98
post #30

ok, in a previous life I solved this in the following way: fire up a terminal, download lynx, set up a scary color scheme, then consume the web from the command line. This has 2 great effects: 1) You won't be looking at all those stupid picture threads 2) Monospaced white on black font works like a scarecrow on most people Next, find yourself a better boss

+100 for "find yourself a better boss". The recurring theme of this thread seems to be "no one understands (or is willing to admit) what value you bring to this organization", and I couldn't agree more.

It's possible to have a great time working in a language you hate, on hardware that sucks, but only if you have a great team and great boss that appreciate what you contribute.

Re: Ask HN: "Is that work?"

#100
Are you interested in .NET? Would you be willing to move? (We're close to Heathrow Airport)

If so, email me at iolande@gmail.com - the company I work for is recruiting. Experience with .NET is less important to us than a demonstrable passion for solving problems and learning new technologies. Sounds like it might be a good fit :-)

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