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

Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 862 posts

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#51

Post by ScottFree »

throwaway76576 wrote: post #26
throwaway29488 wrote: post #2

Not with the job in particular, just want to take a break from tech especially from being a programmer. Tired of staring at a screen for 80% of my awake time and constant puzzle solving. Sick of people in this industry making you feel you're not smart enough, that you're not enough no matter how many times you prove yourself in past work.

Same. Have been thinking about taking a 6-month sabbatical from all things tech, but then worried I might just become so obsolete and out of touch that I'd rather suck it up.

Don't worry too much about becoming obsolete. Frontend web development is my field and it moves faster than any other single area of programming. I took 5 years off due to burnout and it only took me a month or two to get back up to speed from a technical perspective. Putting up with the bullshit interviews is another story. I freelance now.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#52

Post by faissaloo »

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #4

My office mates audibly fart throughout the day and act like it's normal. Pretty sure it's not.

Question: what's the farting protocol in the office? Current strategies I've tried have been: Letting it out as it comes - This is bad for everyone and causes a noticeable odor and occasionally sound Letting it out in small bursts - the smell is never too bad if it's noticeable at all, however there's a chance you'll misjudge the pressure and let out too much at once Hold it in - This is extremely painful but I have done it when I fear the frequency of releasing gas as often as I'd like to would be extremely disruptive Go to the toilet - I find this strategy borderline useless because by the time you've reached the toilet the situation has somehow resolved itself

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#53

Post by whynaut »

throwaway7137 wrote: post #42

Getting told by my director that the product manager thought it was rude when I answered a question by sending them a link to the answer in the relevant documentation. I guess this is why nothing else at this company is documented, because why write things down when you can waste multiple people's time repeating things.

Not the rudest but it is basically saying RTFM. I deal with it like, here's the info you're looking for, but in the future you can read here instead of having to wait on me :)

The idea being to present it as a benefit for them and not an unburdening for you.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#54

Post by whynaut »

commandlinefan wrote: post #49
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless the position was for serious fuck you money and I really needed it, there's no way in hell I would tolerate 2 full day interviews. I'm also guilty for spending lots of after work days studying for jobs I really wanted and getting rejected but at least I didn't burn any of my precious vacation days.

I fell prey to the “sunk cost” fallacy - after the first full day when they asked me to come back, I thought: a) it would be a shame to “waste” that first full day of interviewing by saying no now and b) surely nobody would be a big enough asshole to ask me to take two full days off of work to interview with them only to reject me after the second day, so surely this second day is just a formality. Apparently I was w…

I have found that lightly pushing back on such requests makes them value you a little more. Doesn't matter too much since they should've valued you in the first place. I've had a couple processes expedited in this way, sometimes skipping a call here or there or changing a second onsite to a call.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#55

Post by ScottFree »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #24

Once when I was a recruiter I got a call from one of my clients because they said that my consultant was being irritable. I called the consultant and he told me that it had been a week and a day and he still hadn't been issued a company computer to work on.

My first job was as an SQL database manager. It took them over a month to get me access to the database I was supposed to be managing.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#56

Post by llampx »

raises hand I'm a freelancer in the position of an interim department head. I've never had such ungrateful and hard to work with team members. Somehow the people above me and around me want to keep them. On top of that, getting anything done with other departments is like pulling teeth. Of course I'm judged on how much I get done, which means that I end up doing a lot of the work myself. Sometimes I wonder if it's all my fault but that doesn't help me either. I just want out but the money is too good.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#57

Post by llampx »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #39
bitwize wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once worked one desk over from a bloke who did CrossFit in the middle of the day, and for some reason had to hang up his damp, sweaty, reeking gym things on the substructure of his desk to dry when he got back. I had to lay down a protective Lysol force field to protect myself. Oh, and this was at $LARGE_SEARCH_ENGINE_COMPANY, who treat contractors as subhuman scum, not even entitled to a laptop so they can work in…

Large search engine company??? Altavista? Excite.com? Duckduckgo?

No, it's one that treats contractors as subhuman scum.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#58

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

catacombs wrote: post #9
oldsklgdfth wrote: post #4

My office mates audibly fart throughout the day and act like it's normal. Pretty sure it's not.

Can you file an HR complaint? The stink must be unbearable.

What can HR do? Their job is to protect the company against internal liabilities.

Unless farting is illegal nasal harassment, you have no case.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#59

Post by humantiy »

commandlinefan wrote: post #49
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless the position was for serious fuck you money and I really needed it, there's no way in hell I would tolerate 2 full day interviews. I'm also guilty for spending lots of after work days studying for jobs I really wanted and getting rejected but at least I didn't burn any of my precious vacation days.

I fell prey to the “sunk cost” fallacy - after the first full day when they asked me to come back, I thought: a) it would be a shame to “waste” that first full day of interviewing by saying no now and b) surely nobody would be a big enough asshole to ask me to take two full days off of work to interview with them only to reject me after the second day, so surely this second day is just a formality. Apparently I was w…

As much as it sucks, it sounds like you dodged a bullet on that one.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#60

Post by throwawatwo2222 »

throwaway76576 wrote: post #26
throwaway29488 wrote: post #2

Not with the job in particular, just want to take a break from tech especially from being a programmer. Tired of staring at a screen for 80% of my awake time and constant puzzle solving. Sick of people in this industry making you feel you're not smart enough, that you're not enough no matter how many times you prove yourself in past work.

Same. Have been thinking about taking a 6-month sabbatical from all things tech, but then worried I might just become so obsolete and out of touch that I'd rather suck it up.

As someone who experienced the same thing and started their sabbatical 3 months ago, I highly recommend/encourage it. I regret not having started my sabbatical earlier.
Post reply on HN