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About a Month at Yahoo

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Re: About a Month at Yahoo

#11

Post by patejam »

_delirium wrote: post #10
koggit wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're nice amenities and not all employers offer them.

They can be, but it depends on the company's culture. I personally prefer to go home and cook for myself, and when places offer free dinner, I worry that it comes with social pressure to stay and eat there, which I'd prefer not to do. If you have a family it's a bit less of a worry (you have an "excuse" for leaving to go eat with your family), but if you're single, there seems to be this expectation that of course yo…

Just to chime in, there is zero pressure at Yahoo to stay and eat dinner on campus. In fact, not too many people stay unless there was an event going on before hand or something. Most people just leave. But as you said, it depends on the company's culture.

Re: About a Month at Yahoo

#12

Post by michaelochurch »

mnglkhn2 wrote: post #8

I hope we are not going to get once again so ecstatic about free food and gym. I know that this looked truly revolutionary during Google's hiring binge.

I worked at a company that had free dinner (which it heavily advertised) but no free lunch. It was a horrible place. I don't know if I'd connect the two; it's a "small data" situation that has me making a correlation.

I'd prefer a higher salary and getting my own meals, but free dinner without free lunch is a huge warning sign.

Office gyms are usually awkward as well, but the shower is useful because you can bike or run to work, so that's a plus.

Re: About a Month at Yahoo

#13

Post by michaelochurch »

Acq-hired people are not going to be having the normal employee experience.

I would honestly rather have a $100k take-home but my employer pay $500k (i.e. 400k goes to charity) and think that's my salary, than a regular $150k. You get treated better if you cost more. Your salary is what it costs your employer to waste your time, so if you're at a high level, management actually fucking listens to you. Taking a long-term career perspective, it's worth a $50k/year drop to be in a situation where management feels like it can't afford not to take your ideas seriously.

In fact, I think that's so many talented engineers quit the employee game and become consultants in their 30s. Even if you're only able to get a few hours of work per week, you at least know that your boss is going to take your suggestions seriously.

Acq-hires are people bought in at a panic price ($1 million+ per engineer) so management actually listens to them because of what they cost. Until the "golden child" aura wears off and they're just regular employees.

Re: About a Month at Yahoo

#14

Post by reid »

codex wrote: post #5

The starry-eyed tone leads me to believe the author is a bit naive--ergo, in his early twenties. Other than that there's nothing interesting here.

I'm 24 and I've been at Yahoo for 5 years as a full-time Software Engineer. This place is a different company with Marissa leading the way. I share the OP's tone. I may also be naive, but the place is a lot flatter and there's a lot less in my way to make new ideas happen. I no longer stay at work late into the night, however. :)

Re: About a Month at Yahoo

#15

Post by reid »

michaelochurch wrote: post #13

Acq-hired people are not going to be having the normal employee experience. I would honestly rather have a $100k take-home but my employer pay $500k (i.e. 400k goes to charity) and think that's my salary, than a regular $150k. You get treated better if you cost more. Your salary is what it costs your employer to waste your time, so if you're at a high level, management actually fucking listens to you. Taking a long-t…

I've been at Yahoo for 5 years as a Software Engineer.

This really is a new company under Marissa. I wasn't special, aqui-hired, or anything. I now can easily access management when I need them, my suggestions are taken seriously and acted on, and I get everything I need from upper management to excel at what I do. My manager has always been great, but now she is more empowered to get stuff done more than ever before.

I'm also 24, so I have a bit of a way to go before I get jaded and go into consulting. Maybe. But I've also been working for 5 years instead of school, which gives me a less than rosy perspective of life at a big company.

Re: About a Month at Yahoo

#18

Post by begurken »

This entire article creeps me out. The whole system described is to encourage people to have no life outside of work.

No family, no community engagement, nothing like that. Come to work for breakfast, stay until dinner, and only sleep at your apartment. Oh sure, you're not required to, but the workaholics who do it sure love the attention lavished on them, and organizations generally reward them for it.

Honestly, half of the Bay Area has become a dysfunctional ghetto of childless twenty-somethings. Work-wise, this area is the least diverse place I have ever encountered in my life. And the description given of Yahoo exemplifies it.

It's a toxic, and ultimately unsustainable culture.

... and I'm not even going to get started on my opinion of Marissa Meyer.

Re: About a Month at Yahoo

#19

Post by BenSchaechter »

jedanbik wrote: post #2

What's comfortable about working until 9 or 10 pm every night? Would you be saying that if you had kids?

So, this is just me. The point I was trying to convey is that it is generally a cool place to be and I enjoy it. Staying to 9 or 10 doesn't feel that long to me personally. It isn't like I'm forced to be there that late -- I would say I'm most definitely in the minority of people staying that late.

If I had kids, I'd most definitely want to be home and be with them. Lots of Yahoos leave at more "standard" times and there is obviously no issue.

Re: About a Month at Yahoo

#20

Post by BenSchaechter »

staunch wrote: post #6

Ahh, the honeymoon period. Look for a post in 11 months (+/- monetary incentives) called "Moving on..."

As I prefaced, I wrote this post to see how my sentiment changes as time moves on. I think it'll be interesting to look back on and see how I felt at this point in time.
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