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I just don’t want to be busy anymore

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Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#191

Post by edmundsauto »

viciousplant wrote: post #175
bumby wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is tough if you actually try to have a team-oriented mindset. I’ve worked in groups (hard to really call them a team) where everyone, everyone , stiff armed duties. The end result is that the hard stuff, or low status stuff, never got done. I get there’s a balance, but if you entered a career where you actually care about the mission, it’s hard to just see that mission suffer because people want to take the easy…

Have you ever thought how and why the “it’s not my job” attitude fostered? Most people at least myself on their first day working would never thought they would end up at some point as people they despised so much.

I have had a similar career experience. In time, I’ve decided to accept that I’m much more like those people than I wanted to accept when I felt I was a young and hungry “disruptor”

I am much more a product of the systems than I wanted to accept. That’s the most mature perspective I have had to date - and has led to more empathy than I thought I was capable of.

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#192

Post by bamboozled »

rubicon33 wrote: post #77
bamboozled wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m younger than you, had the same issue and solved it by working less and doing more outside. Lifting weights in the sun, mountain biking, golf, surfing. In understand this is a luxury not everyone can afford but what I do now is work from about 6-9am, go out during the day until about 3, work 4-6. Which if you add it up is still a solid 5 hour day. For whatever reason it just makes me more productive and sleep bett…

How did you manage this with your employer?

Doing this:

* Plan ahead

* Establish a clear list of goals and objectives with your manager. Make sure your moving toward completion of the goals and they can see that. This keeps them off your back.

* Make it clear that you want to manage your own time and ask if that’s going to be an issue. If it is, find out what can be done to alleviate it.

Sorry if that sounded obvious but it’s taken me years to figure this out.

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#193

Post by edmundsauto »

ryan_lane wrote: post #152
knightofmars wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was how you could get rich. Maybe I'm overly cynical, but I feel that these days VC and founders know all the right tricks to play to remove value from the contributors and reallocate it to the investors.

Nope. You can still get rich from equity, especially by being an early employee. It's all a giant lottery though. The easiest way is to join companies that are obviously doing well and will likely IPO in 2-3 years. This is still a lottery, but one with much higher odds and a lower potential payout. You can make $600k-1m every few years in equity alone by hopping around these companies. If you ever wondered why so man…

This is a great narrative! It just doesn’t work out for most people.

I would say that if you want to hit a lotto ticket, this is your best route. Increased variance is your friend when you are at the downside and it’s all uphill.

But if you want to get rich, and you are the average HN reader, it’s better to bet on the typical case.

(That said, if you have a list of companies that meet your current criteria, I would love to know! I know a lot of faang engineers who are bored and would love a shot at millions.)

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#194

Post by sillysaurusx »

xur17 wrote: post #185
dreyfan wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get RSUs and RSAs from a private company, it's just often undesirable because you pay income tax on the valuation of the shares vested but you can't sell your shares until a liquidity event or IPO.

Some employers will structure these as double trigger RSUs that do not vest until a date passes + a liquidity event occurs to avoid this.

I had no idea that you can get RSUs this way. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to search for related to this?

Part of why I wanted to be a contractor was precisely because I didn’t want to play the startup lottery. But RSUs would give an alternative.

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#195

Post by jjulius »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #109

One thing that helped me is not to care so much about my employer's goals. It's almost heretical. But once you embrace this mindset, it does wonders. Or at least, it has for me so far. I think a lot of us want to be proud of the work we do, and we feel that if we slack off, then we shouldn't be proud. But it's the other way around. I think the slackers have it right. You're probably not going to get rich from working…

>You're probably not going to get rich from working a day job. You're replaceable, and if you left your job tomorrow then you'll soon be forgotten. This is true for the majority of software engineers.

I'd honestly be replace "software engineers" with "all jobs"; your post is highly relevant to most fields.

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#196

Post by bamboozled »

bitcoinmoney wrote: post #189
bamboozled wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m younger than you, had the same issue and solved it by working less and doing more outside. Lifting weights in the sun, mountain biking, golf, surfing. In understand this is a luxury not everyone can afford but what I do now is work from about 6-9am, go out during the day until about 3, work 4-6. Which if you add it up is still a solid 5 hour day. For whatever reason it just makes me more productive and sleep bett…

How do you handle meeting from 9-4pm?

I’m lucky in this respect, I’m in a different timezone to the main teams. They’re asleep when I’m awake mostly.

I know smart people manage this by blocking calendars etc though.

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#197

Post by edmundsauto »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #188
argc wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by big payout in this context?

Enough to retire early.

I think this is around $2M in the US, using what the FIrE community says. Does that seem reasonable, Or are you thinking about $20M+ payouts? (That’s what I would need to retire now.)

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#198

Post by resonious »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #109

One thing that helped me is not to care so much about my employer's goals. It's almost heretical. But once you embrace this mindset, it does wonders. Or at least, it has for me so far. I think a lot of us want to be proud of the work we do, and we feel that if we slack off, then we shouldn't be proud. But it's the other way around. I think the slackers have it right. You're probably not going to get rich from working…

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like the premise here is that the only purpose for a career is to "get rich". I think a lot of people genuinely enjoy the work they do, and the relationships they have with their co-workers. Or, on the darker side of things, over-work themselves because they can't find anything engaging _outside of work_. For both of those groups of people, they might not actually enjoy getting rich and retiring early.

At the same time, it seems like your yes-person friend is both willingly over-working themselves and complaining that they are overworked. So I'll agree that it doesn't make much sense - unless they truly are aiming for an early retirement.

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#199

Post by idontwantthis »

nly wrote: post #169
caminante wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Old Company said if I stayed I could achieve a 25% increase [within 2 years] For existing employees, this is rather high, but as you did, you should discount this. To get that boost with your current employer, you need to (i) be irreplaceable for a critical service; or (ii) show proof of external offers. HR/Finance will sets wages at low-mid market so that the 10 other high performing/underpaid employees in your sit…

My TC increased 7-10%/yr each year I was there, so the promise is inline with expectations. Me and my partner just can't wait 2 years for 25% when I can have 2x now. Even with 2x, raising kids will be financially challenging.

Were you making a very small amount then? You said you were in college 20 years ago. Did you start your career very late or do you want an very large salary before you have kids? I made $60K right out of college (far less than 20 years ago) as a software developer at a small consultancy in one of the cheapest cities in the country.

People on here are always talking about changing jobs and getting a huge salary increase, but these numbers don't make sense unless you were tremendously underpaid for many years.

Re: I just don’t want to be busy anymore

#200

Post by [deleted] »

bumby wrote: post #155
sillysaurusx wrote: post #109

One thing that helped me is not to care so much about my employer's goals. It's almost heretical. But once you embrace this mindset, it does wonders. Or at least, it has for me so far. I think a lot of us want to be proud of the work we do, and we feel that if we slack off, then we shouldn't be proud. But it's the other way around. I think the slackers have it right. You're probably not going to get rich from working…

This is tough if you actually try to have a team-oriented mindset. I’ve worked in groups (hard to really call them a team) where everyone, everyone , stiff armed duties. The end result is that the hard stuff, or low status stuff, never got done. I get there’s a balance, but if you entered a career where you actually care about the mission, it’s hard to just see that mission suffer because people want to take the easy…

[deleted]
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