You're crap and paid too much for the little work you actually do • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by SatvikBeri » Thu, Mar 22, 2012, 6:57 PM UTC

ticks wrote: post #63

marvin wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. I didn't realize there is actually peer pressure in IT companies not to use knowledge of social relationships and human nature for your own benefit. In my opinion, the general unwillingness of computer workers to stand up for their own rights and interests is keeping our entire profession back from getting the money and respect it deserves. If we actively sabotage efforts of people who are trying to improve thin…

A lot of IT people just want an easy life - doing what they [used to] love, and gradually progress up the chain based on their skills and experience. People who take short-cuts like this probably don't care about the work, their focus is manipulating their way up the organisation.

In my experience this isn't really true. People are perfectly capable of being ambitious, enjoying their work, and wanting to make a big impact. And there's definitely a positive correlation between social skills and impact.

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

#112

Post by jbooth » Thu, Mar 22, 2012, 7:11 PM UTC

william42 wrote: post #106

tatsuke95 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big companies are incredibly efficient at generating wealth. Look around you. > They then use tricks and more tricks to hide the reality(GM or Enron) so the party continues one more day. You cherry pick two large companies, only one of which can actually be considered a failure (if you think GM has been a failure, I don't know what to tell you). You don't think fraud goes on on a massive scale at the small business l…

GM was at least on the verge of bankruptcy a few years ago, but I'm pretty sure that can be attributed more to massively underestimating how much healthcare would cost in 2008 during a union negotiation several decades prior than to any sort of dirty tricks.

Thank you.

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

#113

Post by kpennell » Thu, Mar 22, 2012, 10:31 PM UTC

billybob wrote: post #74

I'm not huge on the cynicism, but there are solid points here that I wanted to remember. Here's my less-cynical spin in a motivational-speaker style condensation: Show, Celebrate, Support. Show: make sure the awesome stuff you do is visible to people, and prioritize stuff that will be visible. Celebrate: do something visible to celebrate your successes and your team's. It makes people feel good and reinforces a sense…

I like this TLDR much better than the article!

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

#114

Post by batista » Fri, Mar 23, 2012, 7:14 AM UTC

pja wrote: post #66

skrebbel wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on, seriously. A team of 20 ships a product and some junior engineer buys everybody a dinner out, incl all the bosses and their bosses? Yeah, OK, that's one way of making all your peers feel really awkward and uncomfortable. And wondering what the little suckup is up to.

To be fair to the author of the original article, he suggests buying a round at the pub, which isn't quite on the same scale as buying dinner out for everyone. In the UK that would only be appropriate if you were the manager of the team in question & you had reached a significant milestone in development IMO. Reciprocal buying of rounds on the other hand is standard issue UK social lubricant. Using "We shipped, yay!"…

In the UK that would only be appropriate if you were the manager of the team in question & you had reached a significant milestone in development IMO.

Then again, the UK has a messed up class system.

People even love the Queen, for Turing's sake!

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

#115

Post by tatsuke95 » Fri, Mar 23, 2012, 3:54 PM UTC

william42 wrote: post #106

tatsuke95 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big companies are incredibly efficient at generating wealth. Look around you. > They then use tricks and more tricks to hide the reality(GM or Enron) so the party continues one more day. You cherry pick two large companies, only one of which can actually be considered a failure (if you think GM has been a failure, I don't know what to tell you). You don't think fraud goes on on a massive scale at the small business l…

GM was at least on the verge of bankruptcy a few years ago, but I'm pretty sure that can be attributed more to massively underestimating how much healthcare would cost in 2008 during a union negotiation several decades prior than to any sort of dirty tricks.

Right. And prior to that they produced trillions in revenues over 100+ years of being in business, selling more cars worldwide than ANY other company.

The 2008 bailout is naught but a blip on the radar, so implying that GM hasn't been a good company, and putting them in the same sentence as Enron is sort of out to lunch. GM has been a wealth generation machine for a long time. That's my point.