I'm convinced that the only people who actually make what they are worth (at least in my industry) are people who either contract or start their own business. During my grad school years, my PI contracted with other companies for a minimum of $300 an hour, but I've seen others in the industry with higher rates. The higher up you go in our company go from being able to reimburse a couple thousand dollars in travel, to capping out at over 8 figures. The way I see it, being self employed is the only way for most people to achieve these types of numbers. Now I don't have aspirations to ever work at those levels, I'm more focused on being debt free in the next ten years so I don't have to work such a high powered job, and I can retire early. But when I see compensation numbers like that, it certainly makes me think twice about picking up more than my fare share of work just to generate good will within the company.
Maybe you should do less 'work'
141–150 of 431 posts
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the bosses usually only care about work the helps produce value. They might like the fact that you know some new tech that they can use in their latest assignment, but they weren't giving you credit while you were learning it the year before just for fun.
I think for going from junior to senior, this is true, but for going from senior beyond, it’s the opposite.
Lord, not my last boss. Basically was dividing salary by # of Jira tickets to measure productivity even for architects and directors. I got out of their asap.
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
> These concerns, in many forms, have been present for years, however we were once instilled with the instinct to overcome, but now frailty is more valued because even in failure you can not criticize those who are less able. Actually I think you are totally off base here. I know in my cohort of age 30+ millennials there is a strong sense of doom. Many people have the attitude of "why should I have kids when they'll…
> boomerisms Kind of ironic, given that "boomers" lived under the 4 decades long threat of total nuclear war. Frankly, as an instance of those "age 30+ millenials", that would instill a far stronger sense of doom in me than the rather gradual, rather benign (compared to WW3 between the US and the USSR) effects of climate change.
Climate change is not comparatively benign. Unpredictable localized calamities can quickly spiral into unpredictable geopolitical conflagrations. There’s no red phone to deescalate the drought that motivated the Syrian Civil War.
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#144I agree with the content of the article, but I don’t agree with the premise that these things aren’t also “work”. Engineers tend to obsess over, “focused work” like it’s the only way to be productive, and anything that’s not “focused work” is wasted time. That is a surefire way to burn out. Instead, finding ways to “riff” on your job by doing work with longer time horizons of payoff keeps your job fun. It’s all “work…
> That is a surefire way to burn out.
Any source on that? I agree with the assessment about engineers (althought it's a generalization), but I always thought it was because their "focused work" is what they actually like doing. In my experience work was most stressful when it strayed the most from focused work.
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#145You are the boss of a company of one. Your company sells labor to the labor market, it makes investments in assets, it borrows funds, etc. It’s your job to decide how that company is run. It’s your job to decide what investments that company needs to make to get good returns. It’s also your job to interpret the contracts your company enters into and decide what is acceptable, and to appropriately risk-manage legal ha…
> When truly internalise that fact is when you become an adult. Implying that everyone who runs a company is mature and makes responsible decisions, which is not true.
Not all companies survive. Some companies, like people survive despite odd choices due to corruption, etc.
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#146I'd like to rewrite this as "Why you should maybe not work so hard for someone else". Intrinsically motivated people (you'll know what I mean is you are one too) know no bounds to the ecstasy of work. Struggling toward a self-defined end is like flying in the clouds. In "flow", work is no longer work at all. It is labour relations within a late-capitalist system of dehumanising exploitation, over-systematisation and…
I am self-employed and I love doing what I get paid to do but there are many other things I like to do as well. I work hard enough to pay my bills and really not much harder.
That "zero surplus" living sounds like a nice balance. As I get older,
and especially with kids around, it's what I aspire to more.
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#147Beyond those arguments, it's also important to remind that we should work between 20 or 30 hours per week, not more. It's about health, being able to rest, do leisure, physical activity, see friends, date, etc. There are things to learn about the antiwork mentality. Not saying everyone should quit their job, but still, it would be nice if everyone could be able to negotiate with their employees. I have often been cal…
> Those people will generate enough taxes and labor for lazy people like me, and it's okay. Feels odd to me to make a statement like this. Is it in jest? In my view everyone should pull the same minimum. Not have some people work more to offset other people working less.
Do you think we should have some cap on wages as well, to keep things fare on the other side of the equation?
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Compensation is best measured as hourly rate: $/h. Working too hard just decreases that ratio because work hours increase while money stays constant.
> Working too hard just decreases that ratio because work hours increase while money stays constant I assume this may hold for the US, but not for many other countries. For example in my country the hourly rate for overtime hours is higher by law. Your hourly compensation decrease while working longer would only decrease if you were an external contractor paid a fixed amount of money for completion of a specific task…
In the USA we have this but not for salaried positions, and most engineers are salaried - hence why they are incentivized to work less.
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#149If you want to work hard because it’s some kind of virtue, pick up a second job in tech. Juggling two full time remote jobs will give you all the work you need for twice the income.
Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'
#150You are the boss of a company of one. Your company sells labor to the labor market, it makes investments in assets, it borrows funds, etc. It’s your job to decide how that company is run. It’s your job to decide what investments that company needs to make to get good returns. It’s also your job to interpret the contracts your company enters into and decide what is acceptable, and to appropriately risk-manage legal ha…
>You are the boss of a company of one.
This is a poor analogy and and an analogy that isn't needed (what exactly have you simplified for the reader here -- the concept of self-determination?). Not sure why you think that every person is basically a temporarily embarrassed CEO of a minuscule company and then to grandstand on that as if anyone who doesn't subscribe hasn't hit the same threshold of maturity.