Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 342 posts

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#121

Post by vsskanth »

wil421 wrote: post #60
vincentmarle wrote: post #9

This is admirable but the truth is that these jobs will not disappear, they will simply be outsourced abroad. There’s swaths of competent people abroad that are happy to take your (overpaid) place and the major shift to remote work tools has made it all the easier to blend in your team even if they’re working from another country. On top of this, foreign workers usually get paid 1/3 of the American salary, so the emp…

People have been saying this since I was in high school post dot com bubble burst. “Don’t get into IT or software development it’s all going to be outsourced.”

The software field expanded so much that there is a massive need for both in-house developers for tech firms and outsourcing for traditional businesses with legacy systems like banks, insurance etc.

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#122

Post by spacedcowboy »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #66
xwdv wrote: post #5

I am glad the pandemic has been a wake up call for so many people about the value of their time and how different things could be if they cut out pointless meetings and long commutes that they don’t even get paid for.

For many of us it's actually been a wake up call about how important it is to be physically present with coworkers and a realization of how much the office actually does offer in terms of productivity and morale boost. I know this is a very unpopular opinion here on HN threads about this situation. And all power to the people who love remote work. But out of all the engineers I know personally and of all the people o…

I think that’s your personal bubble. Of all the google res I know, none of them want to go back to the office, and that’s probably just my bubble too.

Personally I work at Apple, so I’m not getting the choice, but I am close to my vacation cap, so I’ll be “forced” to take a day off every fortnight; you can bet that I’ll be using an “in-office” day for that, so I’ll be working 5 days of every 10 in the office.

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#123

Post by kayamon »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #66
xwdv wrote: post #5

I am glad the pandemic has been a wake up call for so many people about the value of their time and how different things could be if they cut out pointless meetings and long commutes that they don’t even get paid for.

For many of us it's actually been a wake up call about how important it is to be physically present with coworkers and a realization of how much the office actually does offer in terms of productivity and morale boost. I know this is a very unpopular opinion here on HN threads about this situation. And all power to the people who love remote work. But out of all the engineers I know personally and of all the people o…

I spent the last few years doing remote work, before COVID. I don't want to waste any more years of my life staring into a rectangle. If I go back to programming it's sure as hell going to be onsite.

It's all fun and games at first. "Look, I can work from home in my underpants!" Then after a while you realize you're just sitting there alone in your underpants.

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#124

Post by haswell »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #80
dougmwne wrote: post #11

5 years ago I hit a burnout point and took a year off work. It was a huge perspective shift. I realized that my day-to-day of a rushed commute to work, a stressful and distracting office, thimble-deep coworker relationships and a life completely orientated around doing the above was an insane waste of my short time on Planet Earth. I reoriented my life around family, remote work, flexibility and balance. My quality o…

> I figured it was just a matter of time before the resignations started flooding in The headline and the anecdote in the opening paragraph of the article are somewhat misleading. The statistics about millions of people resigning aren’t from people choosing to leave the workforce or take sabbaticals. It’s mostly people who are simply changing jobs due to the booming economy creating new opportunities and hiring press…

Two thoughts:

1. Even though the economy may be booming, that doesn't have to mean job changes aren't also driven by re-evaluation of priorities. The two may be complementary.

2. I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. I work with multiple people all in the process of looking for new roles. People that I would not have expected to leave - "heart of the team" kinds of people. This is after 4-5 devs (in a department of ~60) already made the choice to leave for other opportunities in the past few months.

Some relevant details: large SV-based SaaS with excellent financials, regarded as a good place to work, etc.

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#125

Post by alecst »

mkr-hn wrote: post #112
dougmwne wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had no special circumstances, I just made a choice to put years of savings to work for myself immediately instead of in the uncertain future. I sold everything and lived simply. Not everyone could do it, but many could who think they can't.

Being able to save, especially for years, is a special circumstance. At least in the US where wages have been flat for quite a while even as cost of living skyrocketed.

I don’t want to sound like a know it all, but I managed to save a lot of money living in a big city in a grad student stipend, which is about $25k. It can be done. I spent very little biking, cooking from home, buying used, having roommates, not drinking, not buying much.

There are exceptions like kids and chronic health issues but most people could save a lot more money if they wanted.

I say this without judgment, people just have different priorities. I recognize my advantages, but I have more savings than most people in my family, despite probably having the lowest lifetime income.

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#126

Post by shrimp_emoji »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #66
xwdv wrote: post #5

I am glad the pandemic has been a wake up call for so many people about the value of their time and how different things could be if they cut out pointless meetings and long commutes that they don’t even get paid for.

For many of us it's actually been a wake up call about how important it is to be physically present with coworkers and a realization of how much the office actually does offer in terms of productivity and morale boost. I know this is a very unpopular opinion here on HN threads about this situation. And all power to the people who love remote work. But out of all the engineers I know personally and of all the people o…

As someone who's practically spent all of their life, and whose best friends have all been, online, I never thought I'd agree with this, and I'm sad that I do.

>how important it is to be physically present with coworkers and a realization of how much the office actually does offer in terms of productivity and morale boost.

This depends on your home situation, but with mine I wouldn't say the office is more productive. But the frequency and richness of interactions you have with coworkers in person is a world apart from being remote.

Immersive telecommute VR when?

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#127

Post by ud_0 »

lowercased wrote: post #74
ud_0 wrote: post #27

I'm one of these. I'm an allrounder software dev in his late fourties, "lured" into a non-software middle management position by the promise of money and stability a few years ago. In practice, the money has never materialized because our sector took a big hit and much of that promise was tied to incentives based on the company's success. I can't really blame anyone for this, but that's strike one as far as job satis…

"...for a man in my age group, with no significant savings or other safety net, this is extremely scary" I'm sorry you are in this situation. I applaud your self-awareness, and suspect you have enough skills and discipline to turn this around in the next few years. You may never get to the point of having millions tucked away for retirement, but do hope you can get to a point where you do have 'significant savings'.…

Thank you! Don't have too much pity though, I'm doing okay. I live in the EU, no spouse, no kids, no commitments really. Not planning ahead is 100% my fault, but it's not an existential problem (yet). It's just time to finally stop spending everything as it comes in.

It's kind of obnoxious to even admit this, but I always assumed I'd be a successful person at some point down the line. This was of course utterly ridiculous and led to some really bad decisions. It was exploitable by other people, too. My work made a few people rich, and while I was always compensated for my time, I never got a proportional cut from the outcomes. But it wasn't a bad life, and there is still some fuel in the tank :)

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#128

Post by JoeQuery »

caseysoftware wrote: post #110
nickthemagicman wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2/3 of America lives paycheck to paycheck. Taking a year off is definitely not the norm

Most people pay $100+/month for cable, eat out multiple times per week, have thousands of credit card debt, and an unexpected $400 bill would ravage them. If you want to live a un-average life, you need to have un-average priorities and sacrifice. Few on HN should be living paycheck to paycheck. Check out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover for a starting model. And yes, you'll have to sacrifice now to benefit later.

I totally recommend everyone read Dave Ramsay's work to understand how to approach money. It was an eye opener for me.

But you have to understand that consumerism is pushed down our throats from all around starting at a very young age. Dave Ramsay doesn't just come into your consciousness like advertising does, and unless one is close to someone who is very anti consumerism and advertising you will likely be subjected to an onslaught of messages aimed at your subconscious that you are completely ill-equipped to fight.

I think many people in these comments are speaking on behalf of the general population who does not have the luxury of taking a year off.

This comment of yours drips with privilege.

Edit: I was introduced to dave Ramsay's work in my 20s by a close friend who was wealthy and had businesses and homes. He volunteered with some organizations to provide financial literacy classes. I was lucky to have been given that reference.

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#129

Post by [deleted] »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #86
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t you? Why not? Because of financials? Job availability in your region? There’s always an option. It might entail a more extensive change and change is hard, that’s for sure.

If you’re young, have no children, and don’t mind picking up and moving and giving up local connections, sure. That’s not common, though. Really though, the solution is to change jobs. Despite how it looks from HN comments, there are plenty of companies out there with good work life balance. Painting this as a false dichotomy between staying in burnout-inducing jobs or dropping everything to become jobless isn’t help…

[deleted]

Re: As the Pandemic Recedes, Millions of Workers Are Saying 'I Quit'

#130

Post by nickpp »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #116
nickpp wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly 3 things: smoke weed, jerk off and play games on my Xbox. In that exact order. Sorry for my honesty, I have no filter.

I'm more of a PC guy, but yeah, pretty much. For a while. But even that gets boring at some point. Human brains are weird, man.

I really wonder dude, I really wonder. The older I get the harder I find to be excited by shit. I do believe that if I was in the iPhone team I would've been like "another f-ing phone, why should I care?".

The paycheck is pretty much all that is getting me out of bed in the morning, even if at this point I can't say I really need it anymore.

Post reply on HN