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You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

theregister.co.uk

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Re: You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

#31

Post by protomyth »

jrockway wrote: post #20

This is sarcasm, right? All of these things are clear warnings that it's time to flee that company for your life. You get paid what you get paid because someone else is willing to pay you more. The market is competitive and you're being hired by your peers, who recognize the value of "making the backup 50% faster". If you wear a tie and are trying to become a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch, then yes, you need to…

Sadly, every company of a decent size I have worked for seems to fit the profile perfectly. I get the feeling the transition takes place when inertia hits a point that the company can coast on bad decisions and the dedication of a few employees doing the right thing while everyone else plays games.

Re: You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

#32

Post by protomyth »

pagekalisedown wrote: post #5

A recruiter makes the most money by getting the most people hired, not by getting fewer people hired for the most money.

That isn't quite true. A lot of recruiters that I've met get paid based on the salary of the recruited, so fewer people at higher salary might make the recruiter more money.

Re: You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

#33

Post by [deleted] »

ChristianMarks wrote: post #28

This article pertains mostly to large, sclerotic firms with a pronounced suit-geek divide, somewhat like the blood-brain barrier. But it also exists in IT in higher ed as well. I suppose anyone with a modicum of professional pride would not want to work at a firm where the executives believe that managing IT is like herding cats--unless they were paid enough to guarantee the author a sufficiently high commission. (Kn…

[deleted]

Re: You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

#35

Post by pagekalisedown »

protomyth wrote: post #32
pagekalisedown wrote: post #5

A recruiter makes the most money by getting the most people hired, not by getting fewer people hired for the most money.

That isn't quite true. A lot of recruiters that I've met get paid based on the salary of the recruited, so fewer people at higher salary might make the recruiter more money.

It doesn't usually make up the difference.

Re: You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

#37

Post by ChristianMarks »

mattquinn wrote: post #30
ChristianMarks wrote: post #28

This article pertains mostly to large, sclerotic firms with a pronounced suit-geek divide, somewhat like the blood-brain barrier. But it also exists in IT in higher ed as well. I suppose anyone with a modicum of professional pride would not want to work at a firm where the executives believe that managing IT is like herding cats--unless they were paid enough to guarantee the author a sufficiently high commission. (Kn…

When you say "IT in higher ed", are you referring to personal experience? That's a pretty specific domain, just wanted to know if you have any specific anecdotes.

I'm afraid to say now that the original comment was downvoted without explanation. ;)

Re: You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

#38

Post by helmut_hed »

kiba wrote: post #9
wtvanhest wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of your post doesn't really have anything to do with the article but... Very cynical view. If this is what's happening across companies, than the market system wasn't efficient enough or was impeded to make a change. It is a cynical view, but another way the author could have stated it would be to say that in order to have people know who you are, you should do projects that matter to people and make sure th…

but another way the author could have stated it would be to say that in order to have people know who you are, you should do projects that matter to people and make sure they know you are doing them. In my view, it is only about visible progress that they can see, but they cannot easily see invisible progress that actually matters. The worst people I have worked with, on teams, as employees etc. are the ones who deci…

The big picture includes having a backup plan and having a backup plan that works.

Sure, but the grandparent was complaining about overoptimization. I've been in management, and having an engineer who seizes on the wrong thing - something which could be better, but is currently good enough - and ignores the higher priority item I want them to work on, is a terrible headache.

Re: You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

#39

Post by parfe »

mopoke wrote: post #22

Bear in mind that this from The Register whose audience is much more skewed towards those working in large corporates, BOFHs and PFYs than the typical audience here. For me the key sentence to the whole article is "Your boss has no idea if you’re good at your job." Why do we do such a bad job of developing people who are good managers/leaders AND understand technology? There seems to be this idea that IT folks are "s…

>Why do we do such a bad job of developing people who are good managers/leaders AND understand technology?

From my experience I think the issue stems for looking at management as the next rung on a ladder. A good developer might never gain or want the experience needed to make her a good manager. A manager might never learn what it takes to be a developer. But the idea of moving up to management ignores the real issue.

Management relates to handling people and handling projects. If you can't deal with people enough to understand how they fit into your project you manage poorly. If you can't manage a project well enough to use the people you have, then you manage poorly.

The skills to manage, and the skills to be a developer/engineer/designer/widgeteer seem, to me, orthogonal. I could write code for ten more years and never learn a thing about management.

The best run tech project I ever worked on involved a PM who could still remember the Great Depression. She had the ability to ask the right questions and had a clear picture of how to move the project forward. The worst managed projects came from the PM who used to code.

Re: You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do

#40

Post by SatvikBeri »

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #7
SatvikBeri wrote: post #4

You can also just communicate the benefits of your work to people. This works especially well if you do it beforehand...eg with the backup process, tell your boss that it saves X hours/month, and include that in your performance review (you should always be writing your own performance reviews, by the way). There's no need to restrict yourself to tasks with visible, obvious value...you just need to take on the work o…

Well, honestly, for many of the work environments the author refers to, which may not be ones you are I would want to work, the author is correct. The CEO of XYZ corp doesn't care and is not interested in your explanation about how optimizing the thermocouplers makes things better. Even if you tried to relate to how it does save the company, he won't think you know what you're talking about. This is more about playin…

It's a continuum. In maybe 1% of companies you won't have to show your value, because everyone will know. In 10% it won't matter what you do, because you'll be distrusted anyway. But the vast majority of the time, learning to communicate your value will increase others' perception of you and lead to better raises.
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