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On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

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Re: On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

#41

Post by zanny »

GFischer wrote: post #6

"you know what’s even more rare? A guy who can write excellent code in several disparate languages, manage multiple different server installs, administrate databases, and configure office firewalls." Is that really so hard to find? I might be selling myself short... (I actually thought I'm worth less on the marketplace by being a "generalist")

They don't mention time requirements. While I have independently done all those things mentioned, nobody can do them all at average joe 40 hour a week level combined without having absurd burnout quickly or dying from sleep deprivation.

And even then, you aren't working at average levels, you would be far below it due to overexertion.

You can't have one guy write the website, maintain the servers, support the office IT, act as tech support, and manage all the site databases. Not on something as big as PA, at least. Maybe on a site with 100k views a month, where the server is just an ECS2 instance and your office firewall is a dlink router with iptables.

Re: On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

#42

Post by [deleted] »

dllthomas wrote: post #40
nerfhammer wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The DKE means people rate themselves closer to average for both those below average and above average. But people below average still think they are below those at the top, just not by the amount they think.

So if I think I'm above average, I'm good?

[deleted]

Re: On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

#43

Post by angersock »

jdminhbg wrote: post #33
grecy wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone is free, or not, to go along with what they want. But in America, with no social safety net, the alternative is not pretty. Reading about unpaid internships, Wal-mart having food drives for their employees and McDonald's recommending employees get a second job makes me sick to my stomach. The very fact that people even take these jobs is proof they don't have another choice - what sane person would work th…

> But in America, with no social safety net I'm starting to doubt that this kind of thing is hyperbole and starting to think people actually believe it.

Break your leg, don't claim insurance, and have your car break down, and lose your job.

Tell me about that safety net.

Re: On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

#44

Post by jonlucc »

gaius wrote: post #5

This is the dirty little secret of startups too. As an early hire you will work as hard as the founders, and take at least as much personal financial risk as them if it doesn't work out, yet with minimal exposure to any upside - so the sane options are, full co-founder, or double market rate salary to offset the risk. Not pennies and "stock options".

I thought it was standard at startups to offer company stock in exchange for small salaries for the first set of employees. If so, those employees with stock have at least some upside for the risk.

Re: On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

#46

Post by xixi77 »

coldtea wrote: post #16
jmduke wrote: post #7

I think the thing that frustrates me the most about it is: they’ll probably get a thousand applicants. A bunch of 25 year-old kids with a ton of talent and stars in their eyes are going to try to get this crap job for crap pay so they can work somewhere “cool” and feel like a part of something big. The Penny Arcade “machine” (their term) will roll on, making its millions of dollars while somehow retaining the “little…

> This confuses me, because its as if the author tries to force his valuation of the opportunity onto all prospective applicants. Perhaps it's rather as the author believes in an objective reality, where there is one true valuation of a thing, and he's not so much trying to "force his valuation onto all prospective applicants" as trying to "communicate the real valuation to all prospective applicants". > He recognize…

One true valuation of anything is only possible in a world populated by precisely identical people. I call that a fantasy, not "objective reality".

Re: On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

#47

Post by dllthomas »

dllthomas wrote: post #40
nerfhammer wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The DKE means people rate themselves closer to average for both those below average and above average. But people below average still think they are below those at the top, just not by the amount they think.

So if I think I'm above average, I'm good?

From the Wikipedia link:

"Although test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd."

Re: On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

#48

Post by scarecrowbob »

tvladeck wrote: post #3

I have the opposite reaction to this posting: Penny Arcade are being abundantly clear and transparent about the requirements and drawbacks of the role. It's not exploitation; it's a trade, and Penny Arcade have listed out their terms. Everyone is free, or not, to go along with what they want. The author mixes two messages: (1) the merits of the offer, and (2) the ethics of the offer. The author may be right about (1)…

Being up front about your unethical behavior just makes you more culpable, because not only _should_ you know better, you do in fact know better but will proceed anyhow.

Re: On Penny Arcade, Exploitation, and the Myth of the Do-Everything Rock Star

#50

Post by pseut »

GFischer wrote: post #6

"you know what’s even more rare? A guy who can write excellent code in several disparate languages, manage multiple different server installs, administrate databases, and configure office firewalls." Is that really so hard to find? I might be selling myself short... (I actually thought I'm worth less on the marketplace by being a "generalist")

It's "excellent code," not "self-perceived excellent code" or "good code."
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