Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing • Hacker News Board

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#41

Post by cableshaft » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 1:00 PM UTC

defrost wrote: post #22

solraph wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Usually any given country will have one big spot for tech... ...My guess is that Melbourne is not a very good spot. It's not an unreasonable assumption, but in this case it's incorrect. Sydney has more tech work, but only in proportion to its larger size. That said, Melbourne tech work is very heavily (but not exclusively) orientated around finance, insurance, real estate and so on which is not everyone's cup of te…

Indeed. I've clocked ~40 years in Australian tech and managed to avoid all of those domains, web development, cubicle farms, and nearly (but not quite) office politics. Could be why I still have all my hair and good health.

> Could be why I still have all my hair and good health.

If you just mean in regards to stress, then working tech at an insurance company is a pretty low-stress job from my experience.

Finance can be pretty low-stress too in certain sectors. Like I've been working for a wealth management and investment analysis company, and haven't worked more than a 40 hour work week in years, with lots of flexibility during work to go to appointments or run errands, and while we have sprints, they're very malleable, and the real deadlines are more on a quarterly level, and they try to be conservative with their quarterly goals to make sure they hit them.

Now if you meant as far as life fulfillment? Yeah I get that. But I at least have some other things outside of work I can pursue.

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#42

Post by sevagh » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 1:04 PM UTC

>Become an electrician like a friend that just quit engineering? Carpentry? Automobile repair? Write a fantasy novel? Start a cult? Back to privately tutoring statistics?

I think your coworkers or customers as an electrician, carpenter, or car mechanic wouldn't be as polite as your IT colleagues at taking your bullshit.

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#43

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 1:04 PM UTC

melbourneIT wrote: post #15

Fellow Melbourne (though originally from Asia) IT professional here. I too have struggled with AU IT industry a lot since arriving here 10 years ago. AU is a service-driven economy and IT market reflects it i.e. most companies don’t cares much about inventing, creating or innovating and there’s little incentive to think outside the box in this domain. On the flip side, life is easy and as long as you’re not too aspir…

[deleted]

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#44

Post by lkdfjlkdfjlg » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 1:08 PM UTC

> They don't even have the decency to be offended by my rudeness and reply with "Oh, we're just looking for someone to click buttons."

> The recruiter calls me the next day to inform me that my question prompted them to close the role, and re-open a new one at the junior level because they only needed a ClickOps monkey.

They actually learned? Thats not too bad. Sure, theyre ignorant about many other things, but learning is important.

That said, this guy sounds really full of himself. I suspect it must transpire.

> (though the work seemed like more of the "present yourself as a cog in some vast, soulless machinery" stuff I already get

So this guy is a cog and wants "leadership" roles. Cant get them, blames other peoples social skills. Cool story bro.

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#45

Post by defrost » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 1:25 PM UTC

cableshaft wrote: post #41

defrost wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I've clocked ~40 years in Australian tech and managed to avoid all of those domains, web development, cubicle farms, and nearly (but not quite) office politics. Could be why I still have all my hair and good health.

> Could be why I still have all my hair and good health. If you just mean in regards to stress, then working tech at an insurance company is a pretty low-stress job from my experience. Finance can be pretty low-stress too in certain sectors. Like I've been working for a wealth management and investment analysis company, and haven't worked more than a 40 hour work week in years, with lots of flexibility during work to…

More that I've never been much of a fan of working in offices, I like the outdoor life and have done a great deal of coding "on the move" while transitioning old paper mapping systems to WGS84, building and field testing exploration geophysics instrumentation, aquisition and processing software, tagging and tracking trucks and animals in mining and agriculture, and building energy and mineral resource intelligence systems for use and then sale.

I've even managed to squeeze in some work on Cayley|Magma in Sydney (long ago) which is kind of fun as it still seems relevant today, being used to crack Quantum crypto candidates.

I've had burst of planes, trains, and automobiles with a lot of travel about the globe, which I've enjoyed, and long stretches of working from home since I started in the 1980s .. circles and arrows on the back of envelopes, coding and then working in sheds, building etc.

Doesn't work as a lifestyle for everyone but it has for me.

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#46

Post by Clubber » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 1:34 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #37

bananaboy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah he sounds completely insufferable. If he came across like this in an interview with me I would be very put off.

On the one hand the idiocy and incompetence in these interviews is not unusual for corporate hiring of all kinds. So it's reasonable to be infuriated. But there's more than a hint of narcissism in the writing. Which is incredibly toxic to work with, because every interaction becomes less about solving problems and more about aggressive assertions of dominance and superiority. On the upside, if he's as smart as he wan…

A few narcissists I've met in tech have potential but never get past first base because they are incapable of admitting they're wrong, and therefore incapable of improving. They are perpetually junior devs that are good at self promotion.

I'm not saying the author is like that, but he might be.

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#47

Post by lazide » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 1:35 PM UTC

subjectsigma wrote: post #33

coldtea wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't honesty the best policy?

I know you’re just joking, but clearly you’re never met a real-life narcissist. It’s incredible trying to explain to them that they’re wrong about something and seeing the expressions on their face as they literally struggle to understand how they could possibly have failed

Eh, if that’s the worst you’ve seen it probably wasn’t NPD (more garden variety or inexperienced narcissism).

The really ‘fun’ folks are when you never see any confusion, because they ‘know’ they couldn’t fail - they ‘know’ you’re conspiring to destroy them using whatever tricks they tend to use, and have no doubts about it. Regardless of how absurd or illogical that would be.

And then the sabotage, manipulation, gaslighting, triangulation, false accusations, outright attacks, etc. start. With no remorse, because in their eyes they’re the victim and are just being ‘fair’.

That’s when document, document, document, and better hope you’ve got real power and a way to back it up, or you’re going to have a hard time. Probably even then. Because yes, they’re exhausting.

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#48

Post by hellonull » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 1:58 PM UTC

> None of their engineering staff have anything visible on their GitHub accounts - not even a project that they got two lines into and then threw away, which I honestly accept as a sign of baseline competence these days

As much as I want to contribute to FOSS I have kids to take care of, and want to parent. While I’m not star dev, I am certainly competent.

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#49

Post by gambiting » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 2:03 PM UTC

hellonull wrote: post #48

> None of their engineering staff have anything visible on their GitHub accounts - not even a project that they got two lines into and then threw away, which I honestly accept as a sign of baseline competence these days As much as I want to contribute to FOSS I have kids to take care of, and want to parent. While I’m not star dev, I am certainly competent.

I've been a C++ dev for more than a decade and every single project I've ever worked on has been confidential and closed source, there is nothing for me to put on GitHub, other than personal stuff but then why would I ever do that? My hobby projects don't reflect my professional standards for coding, if they did they would no longer be hobby projects :P

Re: Most Tech Jobs Are Jokes and I Am Not Laughing

#50

Post by trimethylpurine » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 2:03 PM UTC

It sounds like you interview very well.

For public job posts 9 months is reasonable to find the right (or closest to that) job. 5 interviews sounds like you're not really looking. I'm not sure if that's how many you had. But, 45 interviews sounds more reasonable for getting a good selection of jobs to choose from.

The largest fish in the lake isn't likely to be the first one you catch on your first visit. Though, sometimes luck hands you a short journey.

>None of their engineering staff have anything visible on their GitHub accounts

Maybe they aren't seeking attention? Do yourself a favor; if you have some GitHub profile photo that looks like a dating site, take it down. No one cares and most people find that annoying. That's especially true at smaller companies where leadership is easier to achieve, as is higher pay.

I hope you find the right gig. Wish you the best of luck.