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Why not hire part-time developers?

aklos.substack.com

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Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#151

Post by wpietri »

nextaccountic wrote: post #140
carlsborg wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other issue is flow. Flow is vital for execution, and distributing your attention amongst multiple projects means your flow breaks. Also part time devs might not commit to daily meetings, or being on call for downtime incidents.

> Also part time devs might not commit to daily meetings Daily meetings kill flow

They don't have to! I've worked at places with very low meeting load. A first-thing, 15-minute daily standup (with the team actually standing in a circle and going over how to share the day's work) can be lively and energizing, which helps me get into a flow state once I sit down to code.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#152

Post by Traster »

Animats wrote: post #54

"They want rockstars, but they themselves are not that." Yes, that problem. Zappos is a shoe store. Uber is a taxi company.

I've been thinking this a lot recently. Go to Uber, you're working at a taxi company. Go work for Facebook- two choices, nothing you do matters, or you're selling perverts adverts. Go work for Google - you have no choice their entire company is built on a search engine that hasn't changed much in 20 years, but you'll feel real proud of those "various bug fixes" that Google Sheets got in its latest release.

These companies want geniuses, but maybe not because you're going to make them billions, maybe just because if you're working there you won't be building a compatitor that costs them billions.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#153

Post by jupp0r »

cloogshicer wrote: post #149
jupp0r wrote: post #47

I consider a company paying me for a full time job when I "only" have 50% of my work time be super productive focus time a bonus, not something that needs to be fixed. Just imagine you had a 50% job (presumably for half the compensation). Would all of that time be hyper productive focus time? (rhetorical question, the answer is no) Could you take two of those 50% jobs and be productive all the time? (no) I don't unde…

> Would all of that time be hyper productive focus time? (rhetorical question, the answer is no) Have you worked part time? Sorry, but this is exactly how I work. When I work, I do focused work, and when I get tired, I usually finish what I was doing and then stop working. I switch off, relax, repeat. Have worked this way for a few years and I could never go back to the old way. The problem with 40 hour jobs is that…

> The problem with 40 hour jobs is that you're anyways only productive for like 50% of that and then the rest of the day you're stuck in a prison. You can't go outside and do any other things to relax, and you also can't fully focus. I don't understand why not more people are rebelling against that.

I'll go outside and relax after or before work and on weekends. This is fine for me personally, but I can see how it might not be the same for everybody (I don't have a commute for example, which helps). I have not done part time work, but I expect I would just be unproductive 25% of the time and productive 25% of the time, at the same ratio as before. I've had many 4 week vacations and they didn't do much for my productivity (except maintaining it long-term I assume).

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#154

Post by lupire »

wpietri wrote: post #151
nextaccountic wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also part time devs might not commit to daily meetings Daily meetings kill flow

They don't have to! I've worked at places with very low meeting load. A first-thing, 15-minute daily standup (with the team actually standing in a circle and going over how to share the day's work) can be lively and energizing, which helps me get into a flow state once I sit down to code.

What happens to everyone who doesn't start work at exactly the same minute you do?

> 15 minute standup.

It's literally called a "standup" to enforce the most important rule: it should be much shorter than 15 minutes.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#155

Post by xwdv »

cloogshicer wrote: post #149
jupp0r wrote: post #47

I consider a company paying me for a full time job when I "only" have 50% of my work time be super productive focus time a bonus, not something that needs to be fixed. Just imagine you had a 50% job (presumably for half the compensation). Would all of that time be hyper productive focus time? (rhetorical question, the answer is no) Could you take two of those 50% jobs and be productive all the time? (no) I don't unde…

> Would all of that time be hyper productive focus time? (rhetorical question, the answer is no) Have you worked part time? Sorry, but this is exactly how I work. When I work, I do focused work, and when I get tired, I usually finish what I was doing and then stop working. I switch off, relax, repeat. Have worked this way for a few years and I could never go back to the old way. The problem with 40 hour jobs is that…

> Have you worked part time? Sorry, but this is exactly how I work.

You know how I work my full time job? Like your part time job. Only 50% of the time.

> The problem with 40 hour jobs is that you're anyways only productive for like 50% of that and then the rest of the day you're stuck in a prison.

You mean the prison that is my own home? Remote job and a laptop eliminate this problem. If I run errands I bring my laptop in case someone needs me to jump on a terminal real quick, but when I’m not actively working I’m just living my life, not stuck in an office prison.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#156

Post by lupire »

AQuantized wrote: post #20
qrohlf wrote: post #10

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…

The way many people I've known seem to achieve flexibility is to accept a role somewhere relatively laid back, typically at a large but non-tech corporation. If they're coming from a much more intense environment and working remotely, it often requires only a couple of hours work a day to over perform, if that. It seems like it's almost impossible to get a role that's explicitly part time (as you've experienced) but…

How do you in advance if it's relatively laid back?

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#157

Post by lupire »

6345dhjdsf wrote: post #61
ricardobayes wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US person detected. Good luck negotiating any terms in Europe. Not happening.

Brit here. Garbage. I have simply told the mixed US/UK company I worked for that they had no rights over a personal project of mine and they were cool with that. By your dismissive, failure-assured attitude I can guess that you've never tried.

> Brit here.

OK

> Garbage.

Hmm...

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#158

Post by lupire »

ricardobayes wrote: post #57
qrohlf wrote: post #10

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…

I experienced the same. I asked an acquaintance who runs a 1000+ dev company, why is it so difficult for devs to find part-time jobs. He replied that he had thought only admin staff could do that, he found the concept weird. Very much in line with "this is how it works" as the article mentioned.

How did this person come to run the business?

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#159

Post by datavirtue »

I just find places where I can work part time for full time pay. Glowing reviews. Just don't bring it up. 10-3 then it's off to the bike trail.

My biggest problem is boot licking devs who actually hover in front of their machine for ten hours straight and nag me over chat.

Re: Why not hire part-time developers?

#160

Post by urthor »

I don't see how part-time developers will ever work.

As a developer we are not paid for the time in a chair.

We're paid to have the "code base, and all the business context" in our brain.

Then solve problems.

If you're a part time developer, what you're not doing is devoting less time to output.

What you're doing is devoting less time to meetings and knowing the codebase.

Aka input.

And everyone knows, the better you know a codebase, your productivity is logarithmic. As your mental model of your problems improve linearly, your productivity grows exponentially.

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