Wow, capitalism (& employement obviously) is shit. What a surprise! Thank you HN to sharing this and reminding us that our great leaders are geniuses but bad to us in the same time and we should get on with it.
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Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
11–20 of 172 posts
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#12> Musk “would say ‘I’ve got to fire someone today,’ and I’d say, ‘No you don’t,’ and he’d say, ‘No, no, I just do. I’ve got to fire somebody,’ ”
Musk really is the asshole abusive boss who gets a pass because of his media fame.
I urge anyone in a situation similar to the employees mentioned in the article to simply quit. Giving up your life and dignity for "the cause" isn't worth it. You aren't changing the world, just killing yourself to make some rich people richer.
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#13Yay for at-will employment laws... :-( > Over the previous year, he had been living out of a suitcase, putting in 13-hour days, seven days a week. This story is a good reminder not to do this. The company will usually not return the favour, you rarely get properly rewarded for crazy hours, yet it has a major impact on your health (both mental and physical) in the long run. Not worth it. > It was not a 9 to 5 company.…
When working for Tesla I can only assume the dynamic is different. For many it IS worth it, and will work crazy hours without recompense, because in their eyes it pushes humanity further forward. They work for the joy of innovation.
I think, this might be true for some people in the beginning, but according to this article and other similar articles, a lot of people are leaving the company. So I'm not so sure this idealism is all that accurate.
Also, you don't need to treat your employees with that level of disrespect if you want to "push humanity forward" with them.
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#14Yay for at-will employment laws... :-( > Over the previous year, he had been living out of a suitcase, putting in 13-hour days, seven days a week. This story is a good reminder not to do this. The company will usually not return the favour, you rarely get properly rewarded for crazy hours, yet it has a major impact on your health (both mental and physical) in the long run. Not worth it. > It was not a 9 to 5 company.…
> This story is a good reminder not to do this. The company will usually not return the favour, you rarely get properly rewarded for crazy hours, yet it has a major impact on your health (both mental and physical) in the long run. Not worth it.
And yet it's also a perfect example of the one time it does make sense to do so, which is when you own a decent chunk of the company that you're doing it for.
> No wonder things were going to shit. Nobody can do good work if they don't get enough rest and have too much stress.
Yeah, that kind of effort is not sustainable for more than a few months at most. Trying to push too hard just burns out your best people, even (especially?) if they're part owners.
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#15i'm honestly stunned, i know he's so passionate and a genius, but this is truly mind boggling.
I'm honestly amazed to still see people call him a genius in 2018.
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#16Yay for at-will employment laws... :-( > Over the previous year, he had been living out of a suitcase, putting in 13-hour days, seven days a week. This story is a good reminder not to do this. The company will usually not return the favour, you rarely get properly rewarded for crazy hours, yet it has a major impact on your health (both mental and physical) in the long run. Not worth it. > It was not a 9 to 5 company.…
> at-will employment laws
I just don't get how we just can't over turn them politically state by state in State Elections. How is this not a thing? I live in an At Will State (PA) and it pretty much sucks to have the knowledge I can be fired for any reason and sure I still can sue but I can still lose even though I am 100% in the right.
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#17It strikes me that many very successful people are incredibly smart and driven but seem to have the emotional maturity, or personal introspection, of a 10 year old. Maybe it's just a necessary combination for this kind of success, but it's also a bit paradoxical. Case in point: buying 5 mansions in Bel Air when you spend all your time at work, literally sleeping under your desk. Another is insisting on burning the ca…
Emotional development and personal growth don't happen automatically with age. Time and effort must be devoted to it - although for most people that is not an issue because the things that allow you to grow are mostly things that we instinctively seek, like interpersonal relationships.
It's a well known fact that people who suffer from severe addictions (drugs, etc) get stuck in the emotional stage of development they were at when the issue started. It wouldn't be crazy to assume that the same effect (to a less extreme degree) will occur for people who devote all their time and effort to very specific facets of their lives.
There's also the fact that the usual social feedback and consequences that regular folk are subjected to don't necessarily apply to successful people: They might not ever be challenged by their circle of yes men, they don't depend on other people to survive so critics can be safely ignored, etc.
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#18Yay for at-will employment laws... :-( > Over the previous year, he had been living out of a suitcase, putting in 13-hour days, seven days a week. This story is a good reminder not to do this. The company will usually not return the favour, you rarely get properly rewarded for crazy hours, yet it has a major impact on your health (both mental and physical) in the long run. Not worth it. > It was not a 9 to 5 company.…
> at-will employment laws I just don't get how we just can't over turn them politically state by state in State Elections. How is this not a thing? I live in an At Will State (PA) and it pretty much sucks to have the knowledge I can be fired for any reason and sure I still can sue but I can still lose even though I am 100% in the right.
There's going to be a lot of money thrown at propaganda to convince voters that requiring employers to treat employees fairly will reduce jobs. And as soon as anyone mentions unions, it's all over. Every (right-of-centre) American knows that they're the only hardworking person in the country and the entire rest of the workforce is lazy good-for-nothings who need the constant threat of firing to achieve anything. /s
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#19Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are a lot of parallels to Jobs' Macintosh factory. He was similarly overeager with automation, and even coerced the executives to have the machines painted.
Excerpts from Walter Isaacson's biography: https://imgur.com/a/WlJ7wsD
Some videos: http://strategosinc.com/articles/strategy/apple-foxconn-stra...
Re: Dr. Elon and Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla's Production Hell
#20One day he will catch an employee stealing, fly into a rage and fire the entire workforce. He'll lock the iron gates to the factory and sequester himself from the public eye for several decades sparking all kinds of rumours about his fate. Then one day he'll announce a competition for children to win golden tickets to visit his once grand factory and we'll finally discover the real story of Elon Musk and his Gigafact…
> Then one day he'll announce a competition for children to win golden tickets to visit his grand factory
I feel like this is exactly the kind of quirky thing he'd do anyway, without all that negative stuff.