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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?

#161

Post by flavor8 »

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…

> Every day you stay at Google the more valuable you become.

Ehhh, to a point. Straight out of college and then (e.g.) 10 or 15 years at the same company says a lot about a person.

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

#162

Post by md5wasp »

Hi there, I did the exact same thing as you (at Google Sydney), before eventually deciding that I must strike out into the wilderness.

In the few years since I left; I worked as a solutions architect managing a team, a team lead, a remote dev, and now in a startup. Front-end, back-end, flip-side, all the ends. So I've been deliberately trying different angles of my career to see what suits.

I'd describe this process as grueling, ("challenging" is too friendly). I honestly think I would have been happier staying at Google, farting around, and being social. I agree with a lot of the comments here. However it's a catch-22, because the me that exists now wouldn't choose to go back and overall I think this has been good for me – and not just because of the, er, _character building_ aspect of it.

If you stay at Google, make the most of it by progressing deliberately in your social life. If I'd've stayed, I could have comfortably raised some kids with my wife by now - but that's still on the todo list.

If you leave, just jump right in. I didn't study anything, I just picked it up as I went along. If you were able to follow Steve Yegge's advice and Get That Job At Google, then I'm sure you're a smart cookie and can fake it til you make it.

Basically I'm saying you can be happy either way. If you leave, know what you're getting yourself into. If you stay, don't waste this time but use it on yourself.

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

#163

Post by 2sk21 »

Google of today sounds a lot like the IBM of the early 90s. There were many clock watchers who came in, read the newspapers and left for the day - with a long lunch break in-between. A big chunk of these people were kicked out by the crisis that hit IBM in 1994.

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

#164

Post by abledon »

reactspa wrote: post #150
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.

which scott adams books? loserthink?

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

#165

Post by barry-cotter »

wayoutthere wrote: post #65
dash2 wrote: post #13

It's sad and revealing to see the other comments here. Many of them say, don't seek fulfillment in your job, just keep on cruising. What a change from the exciting atmosphere of the 2000s. Seems like software engineering has become a safe, dull career nowadays. Don't listen to them. Your 20s are the time to learn, push yourself and discover who you are. Autopilot is for middle age.

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…

> 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 focus on that, and use your job to fill the boring hours in between.

You’re going to spend more time at work than doing almost anything else during those years of your life where you work. Why not do something meaningful with those hours if you can? And if OP can get a job at Google they almost certainly can.

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

#166

Post by kradroy »

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…

I second this as well. If you're really the type who's talented and motivated, then don't waste that talent and motivation on making someone else richer. Start your own thing. If you don't know how, then learn how. And if you're too afraid to do it, then spend your spare time on a hobby. Become a proficient pianist, learn to cook, run a marathon, anything other than making someone else richer.

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

#167

Post by dejj »

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…

> Tiberian phylosophy

How to pass the Kobayashi Maru test!

> Wikipedia: The objective of the test is not for the cadet to outfight or outplan the opponent but rather to force the cadet into a no-win situation and simply observe how he or she reacts.

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

#168

Post by barry-cotter »

Tarsul wrote: post #133
munmaek wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In an Ideal World, sure. The Reality that most people live in is that we need money to pay the rent, like right about now. This limits the opportunities available to us because we simply cannot wait to find a fulfilling and justly compensated job. I simply will not work for low(er) income just to satisfy my need for fulfillment (at work). You know what's better than that? Financial security. Retiring Early. Owning my…

why would you want to own a house in your home country if you're working abroad?

Security. Because you don’t plan to stay abroad forever and your house will still be there for you when you come back, whether permanently or on holiday.

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

#169

Post by PopeDotNinja »

Have you considered simply finding things to work on that you'd actually find interesting? They don't have to be projects that are officially sanctioned. I'm doing mostly backend coding on a legacy app, but certain parts of the app and our infrastructure make that harder. So when I identify something I don't like, I've started chipping away at making it better: logging, deployment, testing, builds, etc. Surely something at Google is suboptimal. You can seek it out and make it better.
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