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Mental health in software engineering

vadimkravcenko.com

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Re: Mental health in software engineering

#21

Post by paulcole »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #19
paulcole wrote: post #14

> You cannot take a sick day by telling your team, “I have mental issues and need a day off.” “I’m taking the day off.” Your coworkers don’t need a reason. If your employer demands one, then that’s a different issue.

At my current job, I can. Up to three days a year, I can take a mental health day and charge it to sick time. Note well: I have never had this at any other job. But if you need the day, take the day, even if it has to be vacation.

My point is that no individual you work with (again aside from perhaps HR if the company is hella annoying) needs to know if it’s a mental health day or if you have the flu or whatever. It’s not their business.

Just say you’re not going to be there.

Re: Mental health in software engineering

#22

Post by TimPC »

cjk2 wrote: post #10

I'll dump this one here as it's still annoying me a bit. So one afternoon I'm sitting there and our sales guy John came in (you know who you are if you're reading this) and described what he'd managed to sell a client. I sat there and I scribbled on bits of paper for hours, did some research and went back to him with the point that it wasn't possible from an algorithmic perspective. Basically he'd assumed that if it…

It's good advice if you have the appropriate financial resources or support network, but plenty of us don't have the option to move back in with our parents for six months and need to adult on hard-mode.

Re: Mental health in software engineering

#24

Post by nick7376182 »

cjk2 wrote: post #10

I'll dump this one here as it's still annoying me a bit. So one afternoon I'm sitting there and our sales guy John came in (you know who you are if you're reading this) and described what he'd managed to sell a client. I sat there and I scribbled on bits of paper for hours, did some research and went back to him with the point that it wasn't possible from an algorithmic perspective. Basically he'd assumed that if it…

I'd be curious what the algorithm was. Were/are there any approximate algorithms that could have approached the problem?

Re: Mental health in software engineering

#26

Post by Clubber »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #15
datadrivenangel wrote: post #5

"An example of uncertainty in business is when your CEO tells you they promised a feature to your biggest client and it needs to be built ASAP as highest priority, so all hands on deck. Then a day later they tell you another feature, completely contradictory to the first one, needs to be built as well and is also highest priority. When you tell them they both can't be highest priority, the answer is: make it happen."…

Worse is when it's a salesman, not the CEO. It's infuriating. I always wanted to tell that salesman that he got to go back to the customer and tell them that we weren't going to do it, since he was the one who promised it without finding out whether and when we could do it. Of course, I never had the clout to force that to happen...

It's always sales it seems. We're doing stuff under the gun right now because sales promised a huge new client we had something that wasn't ready yet. They didn't bother to ask us, they just promised so they could get their commission.

Re: Mental health in software engineering

#27

Post by surfingdino »

I used to be in (moderate) awe of young college drop-out CEOs. Then I worked for a couple of them. Now I refuse to work for startups that have 20-somethings at the top, because they really do not know how to manage or lead. They are motivated by fear of failure and having accomplished nothing so far they treat others like garbage. Avoid.

Re: Mental health in software engineering

#29

Post by lioeters »

cjk2 wrote: post #10

I'll dump this one here as it's still annoying me a bit. So one afternoon I'm sitting there and our sales guy John came in (you know who you are if you're reading this) and described what he'd managed to sell a client. I sat there and I scribbled on bits of paper for hours, did some research and went back to him with the point that it wasn't possible from an algorithmic perspective. Basically he'd assumed that if it…

Sadly, a lot of people are too nice to do this, and instead have a mental breakdown trying to solve an impossible situation. Despite the popular expression, "Never give up," sometimes it's important to know when to say fuck it and quit.

Re: Mental health in software engineering

#30

Post by cjk2 »

nick7376182 wrote: post #24
cjk2 wrote: post #10

I'll dump this one here as it's still annoying me a bit. So one afternoon I'm sitting there and our sales guy John came in (you know who you are if you're reading this) and described what he'd managed to sell a client. I sat there and I scribbled on bits of paper for hours, did some research and went back to him with the point that it wasn't possible from an algorithmic perspective. Basically he'd assumed that if it…

I'd be curious what the algorithm was. Were/are there any approximate algorithms that could have approached the problem?

It was proximal routing optimisation in this case to decrease operating costs. They already had good approximation algorithms but they sold better than possible for a higher price than competitors and couldn't deliver.
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