How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not • Hacker News Board

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#211

Post by throwanem » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:01 PM UTC

bigtunacan wrote: post #199

throwanem wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm well aware there is a large Rails shop with famously strong engineering practices, which I believe deserve much credit that accrues for some reason instead to the framework.

Yes, yes, yes, everyone knows about Shopify and no that’s not the multi billion dollar monolith shop I’m referring to, but we definitely have taken some inspiration from their excellent practices. We also brought in a lot of best in breed from Microsoft and Amazon. Bottom line is it’s about the talent and the discipline. At the end of the day it’s not bad languages that are the problem it’s bad engineers.

Well, good enough engineers can get the most out of even the worst tools, that's true. I'm glad not to be among the ones you describe.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#212

Post by marklubi » Sat, Jun 14, 2025, 12:01 AM UTC

mock-possum wrote: post #200

marklubi wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Culture is a fourth one. Currently working towards the end of a contract/earn-out at a company where people just toss stuff they don't want to deal with over the fence for others to handle with usually zero communication about why/what/how. Just suddenly get a new project with no context. Also, three different bosses in two years because they keep leaving. Second worst company I've ever worked for. The worst one invo…

Sounds like culture is colleagues

While similar, I think the culture more involves the attitudes that's been fostered by the company itself (likely decisions made by their board and upper management).

Most of my colleagues are really nice and friendly one-on-one or even in a group. However, the culture problem is across all departments (~500 employees).

There's a poor attitude that's a result of a perverse options and bonus incentive structure. At least for the software teams, it results in shipping a product regardless of the quality. Essentially, as long as your group ships the bare minimum of something that was planned for that quarter, you get your bonuses.

They're a software company and they don't even have a QA/Test team.

It's a toxic culture and they wonder why there's massive turnover.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#213

Post by wirelessRice » Sat, Jun 14, 2025, 3:00 AM UTC

sour-taste wrote: post #38

This isn't at all a rebuttal of the post, more a different perspective. I started a new job while basically deeply depressed. It colored all my opinions of the company and my coworkers. As I'm coming out of that through a combination of medication and intensive CBT I'm realizing that a lot of the negativity I felt towards my job was the result of the depression. As things improve I'm realizing that the job is mostly…

Good on you for figuring that out. Not everyone is able to deduce that, it's good for your own accountability

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#214

Post by whstl » Sat, Jun 14, 2025, 8:17 PM UTC

McAlpine5892 wrote: post #180

whstl wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d argue that you can still have an accurate model of the world without the depression part. I can’t back it up but recovering from depression by simply putting “rose colored glasses” is a recipe for bouncing back later. Happened to me. In HN’s case: admitting that companies are quite toxic and more often than not working against you, that most people around you is probably an incompetent if put under a microscope a…

> admitting that companies are quite toxic and more often than not working against you, that most people around you is probably an incompetent if put under a microscope and that the things you’re working on aren’t exactly changing the world for the better It would be so much easier to deal with if I wasn't surrounded by people, especially management, that act like we're on a mission from $DEITY. Seriously, I can get…

Yeah, the scalability of software definitely puts us our industry in a weird spot. Everyone must act as if they're Apple or Google and project confidence.

Plumbers are more impactful than tech, but since the impact is collective and local, there's no crazy talking.

About depression: Classic medication was enough to stop the panic attacks and the crippling negative thoughts, but it wasn't permanent. I would have tried ketamine if it were available to me. Behavioral Therapy helped me avoid bouncing back when lowering the medication. It helped me recognize when I was stuck in a mental loop. Later on we both realized that relationships, jobs and founding startups wasn't giving me structure and purpose in life, and lack of purpose was making me bad again over time. To fix this, some people have religion, others self improvement, others make companies, some get kids... I got a cat. It might not be a "sexy" purpose but it works. Now I can have imperfect relationships, bad days at my job, or pursue the other things that tickle my brain without feeling empty inside. The depression is still looming there but now I know how to deal with it before it takes over.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#215

Post by throwaway2037 » Sun, Jun 15, 2025, 5:24 AM UTC

lurking_swe wrote: post #195

paulryanrogers wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The advice is reductive and wide open for interpretation. Also rich coming from a lucky sociopath who cheated even his closest coworker for (relative) pennies.

i try not to judge people holistically when listening to them give advice in a very narrow area, like work in this case. We all have faults, some more than others obviously. Example: a rapist could be an EXCELLENT plumber as his occupation. One has nothing to do with the other. Pretending like they have no useful plumbing advice to give just makes one look silly. Steve jobs was a shit human being. But i won’t sit her…

    > give advice in a very narrow area, like work in this case

For most working folks, work is about one half of their waking hours. Nothing about that is "narrow". Do your consider advice about sleep to be similarly narrow? It uses about the same time as work.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#216

Post by n4r9 » Mon, Jun 16, 2025, 2:18 PM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #209

n4r9 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I reckon the negative reactions are at least partly down to your wording, e.g. > there is no good work > total lack of discipline > impossible to build This level of absolutism is problematic for a couple of reasons. Firstly it's ambiguous: a "total" lack of discipline would entail never releasing anything. This is clearly inaccurate, and the reader is left guessing what level of discipline is implied. Secondly, with…

Yeah, everyone wants a treatise here, always and only on whatever they happen to disagree with. There's no kind of intellectual consistency more consistent than imposing an effectively unsatisfiable bar for standing to dissent, but letting whatever you like to hear slide without a second thought or question. Meanwhile detailed and substantive technical critiques provided by other users - critiques of the sort I learn…

I think if you resort less to absolutist phrasing and knee-jerk insults, you might have more fulfilling interactions with other users. Perhaps that's not really what you're looking for when you post. It's difficult to understand why you post.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#217

Post by CrackerNews » Mon, Jun 16, 2025, 2:46 PM UTC

I wonder what society would look like once it becomes common to trust your gut instincts. It used to be that you never judge a book by its cover, but now that is increasingly never the case.

I think we'd find a broken society that becomes even more broken without anyone wanting to fix it. It'd more profitable to destroy and rebuild under a new regime.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#218

Post by auggierose » Mon, Jun 16, 2025, 11:36 PM UTC

lazide wrote: post #163

auggierose wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we both interpret the mere words in specific ways. It is just that my interpretation is more logical, and also more general, than yours.

It’s basic English grammar. But you do you.

There is syntax (grammar), and there is semantics. You seem to have trouble understanding the full range of semantics that the given syntax allows for.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#219

Post by throwanem » Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 1:04 PM UTC

n4r9 wrote: post #216

throwanem wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, everyone wants a treatise here, always and only on whatever they happen to disagree with. There's no kind of intellectual consistency more consistent than imposing an effectively unsatisfiable bar for standing to dissent, but letting whatever you like to hear slide without a second thought or question. Meanwhile detailed and substantive technical critiques provided by other users - critiques of the sort I learn…

I think if you resort less to absolutist phrasing and knee-jerk insults, you might have more fulfilling interactions with other users. Perhaps that's not really what you're looking for when you post. It's difficult to understand why you post.

I could explain it.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#220

Post by throwanem » Fri, Jun 20, 2025, 4:26 AM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #219

n4r9 wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if you resort less to absolutist phrasing and knee-jerk insults, you might have more fulfilling interactions with other users. Perhaps that's not really what you're looking for when you post. It's difficult to understand why you post.

I could explain it.

"It was eye-opening to see how little attention was paid to serious [people] vs hucksters," you said in a comment last week. That's a good start, and the right frame of thought in which to try to infer an answer to the question you didn't quite ask.

I also realize the insult you didn't quite offer, but while there are grounds for anyone with a Ph.D. to offer me offense, breadth of knowledge is really none of them. You are an expert specialist and I respect that as it deserves, which is less than you imagine but more than you fear.