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No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

sahillavingia.com

71–80 of 543 posts

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#71
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Process is one of those things you have whether you think about it or not. It's up to you collectively to decide if it is BS or not, too heavy, too light, etc. I'm not suggesting everyone has the influence to change process much at the place they work, but they idea that there is a single "thing" called process and some places have it and some don't is just dangerously misleading. It is true that process tends to nat…

> but they idea that there is a single "thing" called process and some places have it and some don't is just dangerously misleading. Is that what I said? No. I got into computers because I dislike people: leave me alone and let me work.

Surely, you have a process that you follow in your own work though?

There are formal codified processes and there are informal tribal ones. Often when I hear people have disdain for processes, it’s usually they don’t like someone else’s process. Unfortunately, standardized processes tend to become more necessary as systems get more complicated in order to ensure an operation becomes fault tolerant by not being reliant on a person that may leave but instead reliant on a process that stays.

Processes mitigate risk. Just because that risk isn’t important to you doesn’t mean that risk isn’t important to someone. With that said, there are smart, efficient ways to mitigate risk and there are inefficient, burdensome ways

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work quarter-time at Gumroad, and I pay for my own health insurance ($950/mo for a family of 4). If Gumroad offered it, I would almost certainly still keep my own (unless it was at >50% discount). I prefer not having my health insurance tied to one source of income.

How on earth did you find standalone family coverage for $950/mo? What's your deductible / co-insurance?

It’s actually a bit cheaper this year: https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1312177408879939584?s=2...

It was one of the cheapest plan on the ACA marketplace in WA. It’s a very high deductible plan though: $13.6K.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#74
I feel about this company the same way as I feel about driving Uber. If you already have someone in your family who's making money and has benefits, driving it could be a fun way to make a few extra bucks and talk to a few people.

So if you're a housewife with a few free hours while the kids are at school, or a bored retiree, by all means drive Uber/work for this place.

If you're someone in their prime and have to be self-reliant then this is as bad a deal as "I'll drive Uber for now" as a life plan. You're going to be down the road with no benefits, no growth, no title, and nothing to build the rest of your career on.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#75
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you willing to provide any additional clarity on "very competitive rates as contractors"? I understand if not but would be useful to help some of us externally think about this model.

I won't discuss other people's rates but I personally earn ten thousand USD per month.

Thanks for the number. Are you willing to add how many hours you're putting in?

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#76

No health benefits, no unemployment ....

But also fully deductible work-related expenses, including health insurance, and ability to fully fund a solo 401k.

Are you sure health insurance is deductible? There was a time it wasn't. Either way that's peanuts compared to a benefit that covers most of your premium. Fully fund a solo 401k is also nothing special compared to a proper matching 401k. This is just a freelancing gig, and not "working at gumroad".

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#77
post #66

I work at Gumroad, mentioned in this article. Sometimes, I read things by CEOs about how a company works on the inside and I wonder if it really looks like that, or if it is a view from the top that doesn't reflect what it's really like. This article, with its discussions of the upsides and downsides, is accurate to my experience and my understanding of other people's experiences. For many people, Gumroad wouldn't be…

Are you willing to provide any additional clarity on "very competitive rates as contractors"? I understand if not but would be useful to help some of us externally think about this model.

I’m making $10K/mo for a quarter-time PM role at Gumroad (so about $250/hr).

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#78
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick note from my HR friends: beware that there may be local labor laws that conflict with this scheme.

They're all contractors, not employees, so it's just a different rate depending on the number of hours you bill. Your advice is sound in general of course, I just doubt that any jurisdiction that accepts them as contractors will have a problem with that detail.

Being contractors isn't always a shield from some of these laws. Check with a lawyer and https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#79

Very interesting proposition, I hope the company flourishes! I'm not HR but I'm pretty sure the anti-overtime provision is completely illegal at least in countries like the US and Canada. I would outlaw overtime instead of pay people less for overtime.

> I'm pretty sure the anti-overtime provision is completely illegal at least in countries like the US This is incorrect. The tldr is that US employees are either "exempt" or "non-exempt". Without getting into pedantic details, employees can be categorized as exempt if they make over about $23k/year. Exempt employees are not entitled to overtime at all, and the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn't prohibit reducing someon…

It's not the wage that dictates that a worker is exempt from FLSA overtime. Rather, being under $23,600/yr means you cannot be considered exempt. Being paid over that, by itself, doesn't necessarily mean that you're exempt.

https://www.fws.gov/policy/225fw6.html

https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/screen75.asp

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