61–70 of 306 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve always been able to successfully negotiate those IP ownership clauses. Usually without any hassle at all.
US person detected. Good luck negotiating any terms in Europe. Not happening.
I experienced this in the extreme recently. I'm a very experienced dev in a very in-demand field. Money is not a huge priority for me in my career. Flexibility is. I have a proven track record of success in part-time roles after converting to part time at my previous company (after 2 years of full-time, of course). I spent 3+ months trying to get part-time engagements, and was willing to consider both consulting and…
As someone who's hired part-time developers off and on for years.... the issue is that they typically start out working the agreed-upon number of hours, then begin to work less & less over time. There's no feasible way to make someone work more hours remotely, and they're usually sharp enough to get partway into a project before flaking out so that it's difficult to just replace them- you'd have to hire an entirely n…
If they want to change the hours then renegotiate time and salary.
It is hard to pull yourself away from the nice salary and benefits of the corporate job. The opportunity cost of working for myself and failing for a year or two is very high when salaries are 250k+ for senior devs.
It would be great to reduce the risk with part-time work. I hope it becomes more normalized. The problem I see is the ramp time for new workers to get productive. If the workers are part-time it is longer.
For those who are concerned with “hours worked”, that’s just bad management. Set concrete goals and then evaluate worker output. Hours is irrelevant.
I hope I find the courage to try breaking out “on my own” before it is too late. The one thing we all cannot buy is more time.
I experienced this in the extreme recently. I'm a very experienced dev in a very in-demand field. Money is not a huge priority for me in my career. Flexibility is. I have a proven track record of success in part-time roles after converting to part time at my previous company (after 2 years of full-time, of course). I spent 3+ months trying to get part-time engagements, and was willing to consider both consulting and…
As someone who's hired part-time developers off and on for years.... the issue is that they typically start out working the agreed-upon number of hours, then begin to work less & less over time. There's no feasible way to make someone work more hours remotely, and they're usually sharp enough to get partway into a project before flaking out so that it's difficult to just replace them- you'd have to hire an entirely n…
I've been at 32 hrs/week, in two senior SW engineering jobs (sequentially), for 5 years, with appropriate pay reduction. Many/most people I work with don't know I have a reduced schedule, since I take my off time in the morning before most of my colleagues have caught up on Slack (and my guess is they are not clocking in 40 hrs, even at 100% pay). I also contracted for 50-100% time, variable, for about ten years, and got important work done during this time. So it's possible to work very productively with less than a full time commitment.
I'm at a stage in my career & life where money is less of a concern than time. My next move will definitely be to average less than 32 hrs/week (ideally 20). My preference would be to work at the same / a similar job and just scale back the salary and the hours, but suspect it will wind up as a series of stressful full-time jobs or contracts with gaps in between to recharge and work on personal things, petering out until I get sick of that rhythm and decide there is enough in the piggy bank.
If it plays out this way, that's a shame, because I feel like I add more value to a team the longer I stay; and someone won't benefit from 30 years of experience for a lot less than a full time staff engineer costs. I can't change (much) the cultural things that cause this situation, but it gives me some hope to see it advocated for here.
For less than 40 hours a week, start with: - 5 day a week schedule - 2 hour turnaround time for questions during core business hours
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve always been able to successfully negotiate those IP ownership clauses. Usually without any hassle at all.
US person detected. Good luck negotiating any terms in Europe. Not happening.
"They want rockstars, but they themselves are not that." Yes, that problem. Zappos is a shoe store. Uber is a taxi company.
Question for those who have or have considered part-time work - how does your employer/manager look at this? Do they view you as a regular worker who wants to strike a different work/money balance, or as a slacker who isn't committed to the company or their own career growth and can't be relied upon for any serious project? When it comes to the experiences of people I know, my impression is that it's accepted for wom…
Yet, it is hard to overcome the cultural energy around the implications "part time = low impact", "part time = temporary", "part time = mercenary", "part time = lazy", "part time = not passionate". This sentiment arises from colleagues, investors, leadership, customers, and hell, the part time employee themselves at times (some kind of internalized contempt for wanting/needing/preferring to go part time).
My partner just got their role converted to part-time starting March, after consciously coming to the conclusion that it was the only healthy way to remain in their career, despite not having children. They still processing to get over the feeling of guilt and of being less-than somehow for not being okay with handing over their full cognitive capacity and waking hours, especially without being an "accepted exception", ie someone with kids, being a caretaker, or a person with a (visible) disability.
I want to live in a world where people can passionately work on something as part of a team, long-term, while being fairly compensated for that work, for less than 30 hours a week. If possible, I myself want to have that level of involvement even as a cofounder or leader of a business/project/organization so I can give my diverse passions the attention they deserve, without it "being weird" to my cofounders or other teammates.
If someone wants to work part time with you and don't have any other contracts, they rarely want to do work during predictable hours. If they get blocked outside of business hours, it's ideal if you have someone who can unblock them when they happen to be working. Or you could also work out on some predetermined working hours.