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Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

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Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#91

Post by ethbr0 »

apexalpha wrote: post #75

I don't know about putting in the least amount of effort for 5 days a week. But what I do know is that in my country, the Netherlands, part-time work is more and more becoming the standard. Already, 75% of women and 30% of men work 32 hours a week or less. In many sectors the fulltime standard has been lowered to 36 hours, which means every other Friday off. I myself started on 40 and will move to 32 hours somewhere…

I'm extremely curious about this from a practical perspective. (Disclaimer: American, so probably not the best work-life perspective)

As far as company / coworker expectations, how does this work? Are responsibilities / work adjusted to fit the hours provided? What about being on-call?

It seems like something a lot of companies should be taking advantage of, but the desire to own souls fights against it.

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#92

Post by crocsarecool »

pdimitar wrote: post #79
poisonborz wrote: post #15

There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to focus on hobbies/life and not caring much about working time job - I would guess most people fall on this side, actually (and they don't even have too much of hobbies either). However, the way you wrote this post, it strucks me that maybe you have burnout, or you're depressed - as if you reach out to your passions not mainly because you like them, but because those ne…

> but please think about it first This is not an adequate advice for somebody who has a family to support. I'd argue that for the most of us, once we go beyond 18-19 years old we can no longer afford to "think about it first" all the way to retirement age. So I am really not sure what actionable point you're making here. "Find a better job", maybe? Yeah, a lot of us are trying that. I guess it's filter bubbles thing…

I think the poster you’re responding to is just asking the person to check in with themselves about where they’re at mentally. The original post sounds a lot like myself when I was burnt out and depressed. Sometimes when you’re in that state, you’re looking for a bandaid rather than a fix for the things you’re feeling. I thought it was valid advice, even though it sounds like the original poster is very happy outside their job.

Sounds like you might be burnt out yourself looking for a different job? It’s tough to know you’re a good worker, but feel like companies are passing you up. I’m sorry if you’re going through that. Hang in there. It can take a while, but it gets better eventually!

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#93

Post by Aeolun »

throwaway12504 wrote: post #84

Honestly, I think this is somewhat of a crapshoot/hard to tell from the job description and the reason I say this is the job I'm currently in functions exactly how you describe but the job description/everything else from the outside gave me no clue before I actually started the job. "Ideally being done in 2 hours in the morning then chilling would be perfect" -- in fact, for me, often it's 2 hours on a Monday mornin…

> My salary isn't bonkers

> For me, often it's 2 hours on a Monday morning the first day of the sprint, then just being present on Slack for the rest of the two week sprint

You may not think so, but... Your salary is bonkers.

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#95

Post by elyobo »

ethbr0 wrote: post #87
fsloth wrote: post #16

This is an awesome question. I hope someone has good strategies for you. Life should be spent doing the things you find worthwhile, and the fact is, not all of those things are monetizable. Given how esteem- and success driven HN as a platform is... you might not get too many ideas since I suppose people want to maintain their "hireable" status. Success and "loving your job" are more or less empty phrases unless you…

As someone who sympathizes with your comment ("tech stack complex and fugly") and has made moves both ways in terms of salary (high to low for QoL -25%, then low to high again +50%), start with your requirements . OP did a great job of saying "Here's what I need ." Until that's staked out, you don't know what's too little, enough, and too much. But generally, minimizing and controlling costs (critically, through city…

Partner choice and choice whether to have children are other critical considerations in cost control.

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#96

Post by pdimitar »

crocsarecool wrote: post #92
pdimitar wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but please think about it first This is not an adequate advice for somebody who has a family to support. I'd argue that for the most of us, once we go beyond 18-19 years old we can no longer afford to "think about it first" all the way to retirement age. So I am really not sure what actionable point you're making here. "Find a better job", maybe? Yeah, a lot of us are trying that. I guess it's filter bubbles thing…

I think the poster you’re responding to is just asking the person to check in with themselves about where they’re at mentally. The original post sounds a lot like myself when I was burnt out and depressed. Sometimes when you’re in that state, you’re looking for a bandaid rather than a fix for the things you’re feeling. I thought it was valid advice, even though it sounds like the original poster is very happy outside…

Sure, I am mostly saying that depending on their situation they might not be able to afford to make the right call that will serve their mental health. I feel the crowd in HN is very privileged and regularly are lacking this perspective so I feel the need to point it out.

Thank you for the kind words. I am severely burned out indeed and always fatigued but at least I went to the doctors and have a few examinations due. It's a start.

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#97

Post by crocsarecool »

Kinrany wrote: post #81
vishnugupta wrote: post #70

You haven’t stated your nationality (or country of residence) so this advice may or may not work out for you. Lot of European software companies fall in this category. Not necessarily low expectations but you are expected to work only during business hours and the work is typical CRUD app development/maintenance. The projects are managed well so no crazy fire fighting to meet super tight deadlines. On top of that if…

> but you are expected to work only during business hours Surely that's normal?

I’m in the US. It’s not always normal. You might need to support items outside of regular business hours like production updates, or if you’re IT, computers/infrastructure doesn’t often break between the hours of 9-5.

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#98

Post by DougN7 »

throwaway12504 wrote: post #84

Honestly, I think this is somewhat of a crapshoot/hard to tell from the job description and the reason I say this is the job I'm currently in functions exactly how you describe but the job description/everything else from the outside gave me no clue before I actually started the job. "Ideally being done in 2 hours in the morning then chilling would be perfect" -- in fact, for me, often it's 2 hours on a Monday mornin…

This sounds like a job a friend has in city government (in the midwest US). They have to look busy but in the end it sounds like they really don’t do a whole lot (he’s the manager and knows they don’t have much to do but has to maintain head count).

Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?

#99

Post by mr_woozy »

pftburger wrote: post #53
lmueongoqx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30k€/year would be more than enough.

Where do you live? In Germany, 30k a year is a half time job in tech. I earn 59 working remote from Berlin for a company in Frankfurt. Im deliberately staying at this firm even though I could earn more elsewhere because I've optimised expectations and flows I work 40h a week but get it done in half. This is a good thing, for both me and the firm. I have "Freiraum im kopf" (not sure how to translate that, read clear h…

You sound like you've really solved working
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