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Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

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Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#201
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you guys ever think there's more to life than being really really really ridiculously well compensated?

When you have a wife and kids the pressure is on earning. It’s fucking expensive to have a family.

But do both you and your wife have to be at BigCo? Maybe you could take a more flexible, fulfilling job that lets you have more time with the kids while she focuses on money. Break those gender stereotypes?

Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#202

I see a lot of comments saying to stick it out, etc. But for me, I worked at a fairly Big Co for a year and a half and it really really affected my mental health negatively. The pace the company moved at compared to how much needed to be done created substantial existential dread within myself. I did everything I could to have a good attitude about it, worked the politics of it all, enjoyed side projects and hobbies,…

Yea, the existential dread is real. I don’t understand all the people who are like, “just rest and vest, do side projects, etc” I can’t do that, it makes me feel like a worthless human faking my way through life. Extrapolating on this thread and the industry in general, really just makes me think this is a big fucking waste of time, and makes my skin crawl working with others who don’t seem to think this is a problem…

I'm on the other side, where the grass is greener. Always worked at small companies and early stage startups. Always putting out fires, sometimes worked till the middle of the night. Sometimes pushed to production without code reviews. Stress always at an all time high. Never made great money.

Someone please explain to me why I should not dream of working at BigCo where code reviews take a week. A remote job like OP's is a literal dream to me. No stress? above market average compensation? As long as I can work from home I'll know how to keep myself busy.

Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#203
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you guys ever think there's more to life than being really really really ridiculously well compensated?

When you have a wife and kids the pressure is on earning. It’s fucking expensive to have a family.

I will simply not do that

Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#205
Unfortunately, a lot of big orgs build up process as organisational "scar tissue" after someone has eff-ed something up. It is also used as a way to compensate for hiring cheaper/lower quality people.

I work at environment with a lot of peocess. There are a few approaches you can take:

1. Try and get some consensus of support from your peers and/or managers for improvements to make the processes less onerous

2. Do all you can to foster good relationships with the people in the various processes. You would be surprised how much things can be expedited if you're on good terms with the gatekeepers.

Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#206
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you guys ever think there's more to life than being really really really ridiculously well compensated?

When you have a wife and kids the pressure is on earning. It’s fucking expensive to have a family.

It's expensive to live in the bay area and try to do everything well.

Nobody in my family ever made more than $10/hr growing up. I turned out okay. I think. :)

Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#207

Yes. It even happens at medium sized companies. One answer is to accept the way things are at BigCo and to just coast along in your role, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Another answer is to work at an early-stage startup or a small non-tech company where you can move fast. The tradeoff there is lack of job security and lesser pay. Don't ever expect to move fast at BigCo. It's a BigCo for a reason. By moving fa…

This is corect analysis. BigCo comes with pros and cons, but the pros are typically job security* and a life outside of work. My son was born three months before my father died and wow did that rapidly change my perspective on the relative value of an agile but single threaded rocketship vs. a megalith taking a a six year ootm call option on a few months of brilliant work.

Relatedly, best advice I received was that the grass is green and brown on both sides.

*standard disclaimers about at-will employment

Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#208

I work for a very large corporation (Fortune 100 that everyone has heard of). I was hired by a business unit back in the days before the company even had an IT department (back then everything technical was outsourced to another company). So for decades we did whatever we wanted. Eventually the company created an IT department and about 10 years later they got wind of us and insisted we get moved into IT. Complete he…

Any tips on how to find gigs teaching web development to students?

Look on university websites. I don’t know if there is a meta search. Lots of universities have online course offerings. The courses are typically designed by university professors and staff and then they hire people who actually work in the field to oversee sections of the course. Typically they require you to have a masters degree.

Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any tips on how to find gigs teaching web development to students?

Look on university websites. I don’t know if there is a meta search. Lots of universities have online course offerings. The courses are typically designed by university professors and staff and then they hire people who actually work in the field to oversee sections of the course. Typically they require you to have a masters degree.

Cool, thanks. Any Master’s or one in CS?

Re: Ask HN: New job at BigCo. Everything has friction

#210
post #72

Sorry to piggyback on the question, but I just got an offer from one of those big companies. The starting date is fast approaching, but offer is contingent on the background check which hasn't come in. The third party company hired, generated their background report over two weeks ago, but the hiring company hasn't communicated their approval. The check had some warnings, because I worked for small companies that hav…

I had the same issue. I got every W-2, a paycheck stub from every job, a boss contact from every job, all my school transcripts, and pretty much any and all paper work I could come up with and uploaded to the background check ppl. Then I bugged the background check people literally every 2 to 3 days and asked the status. I would push back your start date until it's confirmed though to be honest.

How long did it take you to finally get approved?

I don't even have a contact with the background people, I filled out information on the third party site, and they finished report within a day or two. But they couldn't reach the companies, and didn't ask me about any proof, just wrote a report that they couldn't reach them.

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