Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors. • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#231

Post by zem » Fri, May 18, 2012, 8:03 PM UTC

joshu wrote: post #229

steve8918 wrote: post #84

Valuing an employee's time is definitely something that should be considered. But even taken a few steps further than "I need another monitor to increase productivity", and you're floating dangerously close to self-entitlement, and simple, pathetic whining. At Yahoo, I distinctly remember a thread on devel-random where one employee, in a single post, complained about things like how ugly the color scheme of the walls…

Mercado -> Mission College? You have to admit the color scheme was really bad. And weren't there giant freaky spiders infesting the main campus? My main memory of the main campus was (aside from the depressed-looking employees) the inexplicably birdshit-splattered sidewalks and pathways.

you'd think that at the very least the spiders would have done something about the flies in the parking lot!

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#232

Post by metageek » Fri, May 18, 2012, 8:41 PM UTC

draz wrote: post #226

RandallBrown wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that would likely have happened in the US also. Most people have health insurance. The ones who don't still get medical care, it just costs them money. If they don't have the money, they can settle with the hospital on a payment plan they can afford. It's definitely not perfect, but it's not as bad as it seems at first glance. I'll see posts about people's 30,000 dollar hospital bill, but in reality they'll never…

I work for one of the top 10 hospitals in the United States. Our health insurance, ironically, isn't all that great. Co-pays are relatively high, certain things not covered, etc. So it got me thinking about health insurance and how it affects us (US residents), in comparison to our European counterparts. One may argue that Europe went too far with their "social" expenses (hence, the current financial meltdown). Possi…

>One may argue that Europe went too far with their "social" expenses (hence, the current financial meltdown).

I'm not sure Greece in particular went too far, as such; isn't the problem that they've got a massive epidemic of tax evasion, and no political will to tackle it? If they were enforcing the tax laws on the books, maybe they'd have the money to pay for the services they're providing.

>So, we "saved" on a silly, cheap follow-up, but ended up spending a huge amount later. And guess what? These patients can't pay their bill anyhow, so we have to write the expense off.

Hear, hear.

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#233

Post by soemoea » Fri, May 18, 2012, 10:08 PM UTC

baggachipz wrote: post #212

_ea1k wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting... I worked in Charlotte for a few years and can't think of anywhere like this. I wonder who you could be referring to?

Let's just say the first word in the name is "Red" and the second is "Ventures". And there is no third word. They're consistently on the Inc. 500's "best places to work" list because they strong-arm employees into rating them well and most likely pay for the recognition.

Interesting. A senior manager from Red Ventures came to my school last year to talk about his company and recruit at my school. He made it sound pretty cool but looks can definitely be deceiving.

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#234

Post by icandoitbetter » Fri, May 18, 2012, 10:45 PM UTC

draz wrote: post #226

RandallBrown wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that would likely have happened in the US also. Most people have health insurance. The ones who don't still get medical care, it just costs them money. If they don't have the money, they can settle with the hospital on a payment plan they can afford. It's definitely not perfect, but it's not as bad as it seems at first glance. I'll see posts about people's 30,000 dollar hospital bill, but in reality they'll never…

I work for one of the top 10 hospitals in the United States. Our health insurance, ironically, isn't all that great. Co-pays are relatively high, certain things not covered, etc. So it got me thinking about health insurance and how it affects us (US residents), in comparison to our European counterparts. One may argue that Europe went too far with their "social" expenses (hence, the current financial meltdown). Possi…

> One may argue that Europe went too far with their "social" expenses (hence, the current financial meltdown)

One may argue that if she has no understanding of the European financial meltdown, and just wants to find evidence for the failure of the welfare state where there is none. The crisis happened primarily because of the Spanish real estate crisis, and it became exacerbated because of (1) structural flaws in the monetary union and (2) imposition of rapid austerity.

As for the rest, I agree.

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#235

Post by RandallBrown » Fri, May 18, 2012, 11:41 PM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #148

nirvana wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big monitors, small offices. Give me a room where I can close the door. I'll share it with one other person, but it can't be a tight fit. If you expect me to work while you're interrupting me every 5 minutes, then you don't really expect me to be productive. Also good- conference rooms for ad hoc meetings. (Maybe for the people who like to work together in a room they can take over a conference room or whatever.... m…

I don't get this new obsession with "let's just put everyone in a giant room so they can collaborate". I think it's a cop-out to not get bigger/better laid out offices. Developers need to write code either alone or in pairs. Large places breed interruptions, killing productivity. All these experimental ideas with unassigned offices where anyone uses them when they need to don't work either because people will simply…

Some people prefer an open office environment. I know I do. I just from a job where our whole team sat in one room to a place where we all have our own offices. I kind of hate it. It's not that I'm any more/less productive, it's that all kinds of other conversations just don't happen.

"Did you see that article on hacker news about X?" "Hey, what do you guys think about this design?"

All of that stuff can happen, but you have to force it to happen by leaving your office. It doesn't happen as naturally. You might think of these as distractions, but I think these are the type of interactions that make people more invested and passionate.

Also, I get WAY more distracted when I have my own office. I find it really easy to just sit and browse the Internet instead of working. When my peers are around me it's harder to get lost on the Internet because I don't want to look like a slacker.

To each their own. I can understand the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#236

Post by dlss » Sat, May 19, 2012, 12:06 AM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #217

knewter wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also sounds like the boss didn't bother asking the employee at their 1:1's about what they thought needed changing, or maybe he was just unapproachable. I'm an owner / CTO of a consultancy, and this point always frustrates me. We are only 12 or so employees, and we're all very comfortable with one another (we'll have game nights at the office, watch the GSL, etc). Still, when me and my partner have a 1:1 or talk…

Sounds like your guy left because he wanted to leave, and the insurance was a made-up excuse.

Oh, I see. People just randomly leave. Of course! No need to look further, nothing that could have been done.

That's a big load off my mind. Thanks for pointing this out :)

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#237

Post by reinhardt » Sat, May 19, 2012, 3:22 AM UTC

dlss wrote: post #236

huhtenberg wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like your guy left because he wanted to leave, and the insurance was a made-up excuse.

Oh, I see. People just randomly leave. Of course! No need to look further, nothing that could have been done. That's a big load off my mind. Thanks for pointing this out :)

Not sure why this sounds so incredulous. I have left (or even better, been laid off and happy to collect severance) more than once. It's not strictly "random" of course, it usually comes down to boredom and need for change but the bottom line is that indeed nothing could have been done.

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#238

Post by wamatt » Sat, May 19, 2012, 5:43 AM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #34

wamatt wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Are you seriously making an argument against convenience, by labelling people "lazy"? sigh

He's not making an argument against convenience, he's making an argument for convenience applied consistently. It's inconvenient for people outside the company to remember your first initial and last name if you can use something else, like your first name or your last name.

I see. Yeah my bad. Didn't read it properly.

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#239

Post by ToastOpt » Sat, May 19, 2012, 6:25 AM UTC

nollidge wrote: post #193

knewter wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also sounds like the boss didn't bother asking the employee at their 1:1's about what they thought needed changing, or maybe he was just unapproachable. I'm an owner / CTO of a consultancy, and this point always frustrates me. We are only 12 or so employees, and we're all very comfortable with one another (we'll have game nights at the office, watch the GSL, etc). Still, when me and my partner have a 1:1 or talk…

Elicit anonymous feedback. It's hard (for me, at least) to complain face-to-face, especially to someone who writes your checks.

Ditto. Also, from previous managers they may have learned that criticism, even constructive criticism, is a great way to bag a negative performance review. Such effects need to be accounted for.

Re: Why Quit? Because the other company has bigger monitors.

#240

Post by ToastOpt » Sat, May 19, 2012, 6:29 AM UTC

reinhardt wrote: post #237

dlss wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I see. People just randomly leave. Of course! No need to look further, nothing that could have been done. That's a big load off my mind. Thanks for pointing this out :)

Not sure why this sounds so incredulous. I have left (or even better, been laid off and happy to collect severance) more than once. It's not strictly "random" of course, it usually comes down to boredom and need for change but the bottom line is that indeed nothing could have been done.

Yeah, there's also "an excellent opportunity arose," and "time for a new challenge," or "looking for a bigger/smaller, riskier/stable team/company/toaster/product.