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Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

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Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#141

Post by tonyedgecombe »

trolololooo wrote: post #81
throwaway_googl wrote: post #48

I have three friends at Google who are nice, smart people, but terrible employees. All three of them seem to be doing just fine in their Google careers. One is very smart, but he's been telling me literally for years that he has zero motivation, to the point where he sometimes won't actually start working until 6PM. He's moved around within Google trying to find something he's interested in, but it's just the same th…

Yes I've seen the same thing and more than once. Why should anyone leave, it's easy enough, and probably would be worse somewhere else. To me it's sad when this happens, because it's slowing down people who could be contributing to innovation and cool stuff, but I get it, paychecks are good.

They have probably got to the stage where they don't want innovation. They have a machine that prints money like there is no tomorrow. Why risk that with new ideas.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#143

Post by spery »

joeyspn wrote: post #139
dhuyrv wrote: post #130

You remind me myself a few years ago: a talented, but bored slacker who didn't see any point in investing any energy into that project. Turns out I was right: the project didn't go anywhere after I left and investing any extra time would be a clueless thing to do. So what's changed since then? Have I found meaning in work? No! I've become a professional slacker who knows all these psychological tricks, knows what bod…

> Talk to a lawyer and try to start your own company. And if you have success, grow and you need to hire, then be aware of employees who preach to "not put any effort into making riches richer and just do the minimum!"

If they contribute and the company grows, who cares if you're paying them for their 10% or 110%? But I'll read your comment as a half-joke so forget what I said :)

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#144

Post by Difwif »

rzzzt wrote: post #126
wayoutthere wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software engineering just isn't that hard. Tedious yes, but not remotely difficult. We've been fed the narrative of economic success that many folks have forgotten what personal success looks like. You can be successful in your career and still feel like a failure. Therapy is the answer here. You have to un-brainwash yourself from the notion that your job is your life and figure out what really matters to you. Then f…

How do you figure out what really matters?

This one is long but I recommend trying to finish it. If it resonates at all you'll probably get sucked in to it before the halfway point. (The whole blog is fantastic)

https://waitbutwhy.com/2018/04/picking-career.html

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#145

Post by phkahler »

rzzzt wrote: post #126
wayoutthere wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software engineering just isn't that hard. Tedious yes, but not remotely difficult. We've been fed the narrative of economic success that many folks have forgotten what personal success looks like. You can be successful in your career and still feel like a failure. Therapy is the answer here. You have to un-brainwash yourself from the notion that your job is your life and figure out what really matters to you. Then f…

How do you figure out what really matters?

It's a process. There is no manual, but some have found therapy helpful.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#146

Post by bellme8947 »

goatherders wrote: post #50

You don't realize how good you have it: 1. you work for a company that is an excellent resume booster outside of the valley. I'm from central texas and most everyone I know in tech has worked at Dell and once complained how boring it was to work at Dell. The moment they decided to move away from Austin their Dell experience made them very hot commodities to non-Austin tech companies. Every day you stay at Google the…

> Nevermind learning more tech stuff...get a hobby.

100% agree. A lot of young tech people seem to go directly from school to career level job without developing hobbies/interests outside of work. While that’s fine...you should at least see if activities outside of work/dating/breaking up appeal to you.

Buy a mountain bike, get into woodworking, learn about bird watching, or anything else that interests you. Maybe getting more enjoyment outside of work will make having a chill job an asset instead of a source of stress.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#147

Post by m0zg »

If I were in your spot, with the benefit of the hindsight, I'd continue riding the gravy train until asked to leave. Don't fuck up too badly, do your job, just don't worry about it too much. Get off the promo treadmill. Spend bare minimum of effort on work. Put the rest of the efforts into your hobbies and relationships.

There's really no rational reason for you to worry about obscure corporate bullshit which will be gone and forgotten in 3 years. It pays the bills, but beyond that it's not your "life", so don't treat it as such. That's one of the benefits of being an _employee_ rather than, say, an _owner_: you get to leave work at work.

What you _think_ Google wants from you and what it actually wants might be two different things. For as long as they choose to employ you (and moreover, promote you), you can be sure they're getting a good deal as far as their requirements are concerned.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#148

Post by sfblah »

hacker_newz wrote: post #55
sfblah wrote: post #12

I’m in the same boat as you. I’ve been working at the same tech company for 6.5 years making around 500 (used to be 1.2 but my stock grant ran out). I only show up one day a week to have lunch with friends and do nothing. My advice is to keep the money flowing and do something else on the side.

What is your actual base salary?

300 plus bonus plus stock plus sundries like 401k match

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#149

Post by sfblah »

eerrt wrote: post #54
sfblah wrote: post #12

I’m in the same boat as you. I’ve been working at the same tech company for 6.5 years making around 500 (used to be 1.2 but my stock grant ran out). I only show up one day a week to have lunch with friends and do nothing. My advice is to keep the money flowing and do something else on the side.

is it a FAANG/unicorn?

It’s not but it’s a well known Silicon Valley company.

Re: Ask HN: I've been slacking off at Google for 6 years. How can I stop this?

#150

Post by reactspa »

dhuyrv wrote: post #130

You remind me myself a few years ago: a talented, but bored slacker who didn't see any point in investing any energy into that project. Turns out I was right: the project didn't go anywhere after I left and investing any extra time would be a clueless thing to do. So what's changed since then? Have I found meaning in work? No! I've become a professional slacker who knows all these psychological tricks, knows what bod…

This comment is pure gold.

I found Scott Adams' recent books and Daniel Kahneman's work profoundly influential in changing my "observed personality" (i.e. the psychology I project to the world), and making me an order of magnitude more effective in dealing with work issues/co-workers.

Please share a few books (or perhaps authors/youtubers) that you learned from. Thank you.

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