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Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

mcsweeneys.net

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Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#201

Post by htrp »

gavinmckenzie wrote: post #199
l1silver wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But isn't the inbetween contract jobs a tenuous time?

In the first couple of years I would worry about this, but I haven’t in a very long time. The only occasions when I’ve had a gap between contracts is when I’ve chosen to take a break. I manage my finances to ensure I have several months of equivalent income saved. My process is that 60 days before the end of my current contract, whether my current client has said they intend to renew or not, I start seeking other con…

> I should note that I’m in Canada and so I don’t have to worry about healthcare coverage.

Basically anywhere with a robust social safety net (not the USA)

Do you find that you get less comp for your contracts working in Canada?

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#202

Post by Ancalagon »

entropyneur wrote: post #175

> bankrolling your children’s insulin What an utter lack of self-awareness. You guys are some of the best compensated workers in the entire world. At least have some decency not to bring the "little girl who has cancer" into it.

Pretty sure insulin is for diabetes not cancer

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#203

Post by wepple »

aczerepinski wrote: post #168

Why can’t the extremely profitable companies manage their headcount through attrition? Losing 6% of your staff via a hiring freeze would work too wouldn’t it?

I believe the claim that execs would make is that natural attrition isn’t fast enough, especially during economic slowdowns where opportunities to jump ship are at an all time low.

Further, there’s a good chance that the execs have taken it into consideration already, IE they need an 8% reduction so they layoff 6% and assume 2% through attrition.

The skeptic in me also suspects that this isn’t just about cutting expenses - they’re wanting to send a message to those who remain that it’s time to get to work and achieve some results. IMO it actually ends up demotivating and turns people away from trusting the org, but rather prepping to jump ship.

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#204

Post by mrsuprawsm »

commandlinefan wrote: post #194
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it doesn't. It works better for 1% of the population. Everyone else is a health crisis away from bankruptcy. Literally. That's all it takes in the US for everyone who doesn't have an eight-figure-or-more net worth to be staring ruin in the face. Your comment is exactly the mythology that perpetuates the problem. Exploitation is sold as participation. "Well we're paid fairly well so I guess we must be privileged an…

> Everyone else is a health crisis away from bankruptcy But that's exactly why we have bankruptcy. You know the word doesn't mean "losing everything you have", it means "discharging debts you're never going to be able to pay", right? You can do it once, and it ruins your credit for a long time (7 years IIRC), but it saves you from dying of starvation trying to pay off debts you don't have money to pay.

might be a better idea to have a system where you don't need to go into debt to stay alive

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#205

Post by Swizec »

l1silver wrote: post #187
gavinmckenzie wrote: post #172

Amazing. There was a time, nearly 20 years ago, that I was let go from Adobe. My colleagues assumed that because of my position/tenure/knowledge that I was layoff-proof. I told them that I was just a number in a large organization, and that orgs of a certain scale don’t do layoffs in a way that looks at each individual. Sure enough I was let go and after 16 years at the same company, that was acquired by Adobe where…

But isn't the inbetween contract jobs a tenuous time?

> But isn't the inbetween contract jobs a tenuous time?

This is priced into the contract.

I've done both FTE and contracting. They both have their benefits. Looking at my FTE job with the attitude of "This is a business relationship – you pay me, I work" has been the best balance for me. You can do more deeper bigger things than you can as a contractor plus the lottery tickets are nice.

Honestly, if companies wanna pay extra (they do) for me to go "Rah rah rah $Company is changing the world!" and wear swag, so be it. When $OtherCompany pays more/better, I'll do it for them. Just like an athlete changing clubs.

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#206

Post by eweise »

p0pcult wrote: post #183
lowercased wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some analysts were expecting $18b in operating profits - can't you see how much loss MSFT just incurred? EDIT: /s

Youre getting downvoted, but perhaps you meant this as satire? Poe's Law and all...

Seems obvious to me that its satire.

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#207

Post by matheusmoreira »

MintPaw wrote: post #162
cycomanic wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the people who decide exec salaries are execs in other businesses, so they generally have 1) An inflated view of the impact of execs compared to other employees. This is a well studied psychological phenomena. People tend to overestimate their "skill/contribution" even in poor luck or even rigged scenarios. (There was a study which gave some subjects a head start in monopoly, i.e. more money, the subjects ten…

This is a dishonest super one-dimensional analysis, borderline conspiracy theory, I'm disappointed to see it be the most upvoted.

It's rational and makes sense. Elaborate on the flaws of the argument instead of just calling it a "conspiracy theory".

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#208

Post by turdprincess »

gavinmckenzie wrote: post #199
l1silver wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But isn't the inbetween contract jobs a tenuous time?

In the first couple of years I would worry about this, but I haven’t in a very long time. The only occasions when I’ve had a gap between contracts is when I’ve chosen to take a break. I manage my finances to ensure I have several months of equivalent income saved. My process is that 60 days before the end of my current contract, whether my current client has said they intend to renew or not, I start seeking other con…

contacted for many years as well. All my contracts always ran a year or longer. In the end, it felt very similar to full time employment - it was 9 - 5, regular meetings, coworkers, etc.. At the same time, I didn’t get any benefits, health insurance or paid holidays.

I am not sure I want to contract like that again. It has most of the downsides of regular employment but none of the benefits. I think in the USA it would make more sense to just switch full time jobs every two years and take breaks between.

Id love to try contracting again but more like true “consulting” - higher rate and fewer hours. I am not sure though that pure dev work could be high leverage like that - it just takes too damn long

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#209

Post by wmeredith »

chewz wrote: post #159

You might be a proud and valuable person in your personal life. But for a company, you are just an asset - low yielding asset with high depreciation. So it is rational decision for an enterprise to let you go and free some liquidity that could be deployed elsewhere. Even buying Treasury bill yields more then an employee and is more liquid option. Liquidity is important when times get tough and recession is coming.. J…

Google's average salary is $124k/ year and its revenue per employee is $1.365 million. Show me a t-bill with that 1100% annual return.

Re: Macroeconomic changes have made it impossible for me to want to pay you

#210

Post by wmeredith »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #200
severine wrote: post #64

The Cinque Terre (Italian pronunciation: [ˈtʃiŋkwe ˈtɛrre]; Ligurian: Çinque Tære, meaning "Five Lands") is a coastal area within Liguria, in the northwest of Italy. It lies in the west of La Spezia Province, and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park, a…

Yeah, I had to look up that place, too.

I wonder if my company's CEO did.
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