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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?

#251

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #10
jboggan wrote: post #5

If you can not only survive at Google but slack along well enough to get promoted once on "10% of your mental capacity" I'd stay right where you are. You aren't going to find a better place to earn money for equivalent effort and it sounds like you've already adapted to the ecosystem. Sounds like you need an interesting side project or just a meaningful hobby. Don't go looking for the missing sense of fulfillment you…

Second this. Keep slacking at Google. Unless you're ridiculously underpaid -- with a six year tenure -- you're probably in the top 2% in terms of income. You've probably got refreshers that have inflated in value quite handsomely. You're not going to find a better yielding security than your job. Find something better to do with your time. Figure out what your goals are. Whatever they are, you have the resources. Mak…

To add to this, at least for myself, there's a certain existential dread that came with being in a similar position.

When you don't have resources, you do have excuses. Oh, I can't do X, Y, and Z because I don't have the time or money or this or that.

Once you have enough money, there's a certain point where you run out of excuses. It's a little uncomfortable. But it's literally the best first world problem you can ask for.

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

#252

Post by o-__-o »

seibelj wrote: post #209
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…

Certainly that’s one way to look at life. In contrast, I try to always treat people with respect, work my hardest, be honest, and have love for family and friends. Having a healthy amount of skepticism for your employer and job is a good thing. But operating as a sociopath that sees everyone else at work as someone to manipulate in order to enhance your slacking abilities just seems exhausting. I think being a truthf…

As someone who has glimpses into their own sociopathetic tendencies.. its less exhausting understanding that humans are really just slightly less dumb primates.

That said I'm very low on that totem pole, and am easily pulled back into human behaviors with e.g. a surprise bonus. I have worked with sociopaths who have fully embraced themselves and it's nothing short of amazing how they can bend time and space around them to make people insanely productive

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

#253

Post by christiansakai »

blihp wrote: post #160
christiansakai wrote: post #123

......I don't know what to say. I know a few people are like this too. On the other hand, I think I do a lot of things for my employer and constantly learn/challenge myself, but don't make anywhere near FAANG SWE. I am trying hard to pass onsite FAANG interviews, and still failing. So I'm still Leetcoding now. But hearing stories like this just kinda demotivates me and confuses me more. Most non FAANG companies have…

Don't confuse the mystique for reality. Google is just a large company now. The mystique helps them recruit talent. The interviews are mostly a filtering process since they have far more people applying than they actually need. Being a large company, they have more than their fair share of bozos who are now the gatekeepers of that process. The only thing that Google management really cares about at this point is maxi…

Thank you for the reply. I'll consider this.

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

#254

Post by discordance »

ec109685 wrote: post #159
pavlov wrote: post #42

I think you underestimate your value to the company. “All I do is copy code from the internal codebase and patch things together until they work” — this is exactly what established tech companies mostly need from their engineers. They want people with enough CS competence to not fuck things up while patching together new solutions from the institutional code soup that everyone knows how to navigate and review. If you…

You didn’t read his whole post. They’re bored. Their value to google is high enough to keep them employed but the job is beneath their capabilities. The failing for google is not providing this person a path to do more or at least understanding their ambition to do more.

Regardless of what their understanding of Big O is, Google still needs a lot people to do CRUD work or make another mobile app, like any other company.

The issue seems to be hiring the highly educated and entitled to do boring but necessary work. GSUs can only motivate people so much.

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

#255

Post by fhrow4484 »

mindcrime wrote: post #208
ec109685 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn’t read his whole post. They’re bored. Their value to google is high enough to keep them employed but the job is beneath their capabilities. The failing for google is not providing this person a path to do more or at least understanding their ambition to do more.

Their value to google is high enough to keep them employed but the job is beneath their capabilities. That's what we call "the perfect job." It pays the bills, but leaves you the maximum amount of (mental|emotional|psychological|spiritual|whatever) energy to work on the things that really interest you ... outside of work. Of course different people will approach this differently, but I don't want my job to be interes…

> but leaves you the maximum amount of (mental|emotional|psychological|spiritual|whatever) energy

That's probably not the case. It looks counterintuitive but being bored and feeling unmotivated at work can leave you at the end of the day with much less energy than an very intensive but interesting work.

Your 2nd paragraph makes sense for a person like you, but I'd guess that the OP is one of those different people, for who self-satisfaction at work is a key thing.

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

#256

Post by StandardFuture »

Wait, is this why we can never seem to get past 3% GDP growth?

B/c a huge percentage of our smartest people are utilizing their smarts to figure out how to coast as lazily through life as they can while optimizing their "observed personality"?

This explains a lot. But, it is not something I haven't suspected.

What would it take to change this? To allow productivity, growth, and proper compensation?

It is not just software engineering where this is a very common scenario, btw.

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

#257

Post by soulofmischief »

bellme8947 wrote: post #146
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 ge…

Every programmer / tech person I know desperately tries to define themselves by the hobbies they pursue outside of work, myself included. My tinder bio is just a bunch of interests.

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

#258

Post by soulofmischief »

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…

> Software engineering just isn't that hard.

Surely that depends on the problem being solved, right? Some problems are harder than others. The variety of knowledge domains presented though the lens of engineering here at HN always surprises me.

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

#259

Post by samplatt »

halfjoking wrote: post #231
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This blows my mind that in the US one can make such insane money in tech while still being a slacker and retire early with a dream house bought and paid for while in Europe devs are slaving away through SCRUM powered meat grinders burning themselves out for a 3% salary increase on a pitiful 40-80k/year, no stock options, without any hope of early retirement or owning a decent home without a 30 year loan or financial…

Most tech workers in the US aren't at Google or making Silicon Valley wages. HN's description of what it's like to work in tech sounds likes a fantasy world to me. Yes I make more than a European at $100k living in the US midwest... but I have to work hard every single day, in an open office, with my boss sitting in a desk right behind me. Most jobs are still a grind. This guy is probably a high-performer who wonders…

>everyone else is so incompetent because he doesn't try and still looks good

I'd argue against the "talent lottery" idea. Over the last 10 years as a software dev I'd argue that the 10x "rockstar" dev certainly exists, but it's almost always a case of situation/environment matching an already-moderately-talented employee extremely well.

I've seen a lot of slackers suddenly explode into a powerhouse when given the right conditions. "The grind" is very rarely the right conditions.

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

#260

Post by ubertoop »

reactspa wrote: post #221
zzzcarrot wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on the observed personality thing? How do you do this?

E.g.: I'm a jeans & t-shirt kinda guy. However, I now dress a little more formally (business casual) because it leads to better outcomes. I've not gotten around to wearing suits even though that would be even better. A little more strategic: I usually wear at least one item of clothing with my employer's logo visible on it. (Gives off a "corporate citizen" vibe.) A far cry from the recent past when I'd carry a laptop…

Lol... You had to read a book to realize that dressing nicely and repping your company might be a good idea?
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