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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

#131

Post by Zimahl »

taeric wrote: post #90
Zimahl wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. Either way, I would think that having Penny Arcade on a resume would be an interesting story but other than that I can't imagine their infrastructure being anything that would help a career. Penny Arcade is probably only slightly above a real estate office for complexity.

Me thinks you have not seen the scope of their audience. This would be akin to having no respect for the Humble Bundle developers because it is just a tiny shop. I mean, only a few games every few weeks. :)

The scope of their audience is somewhat irrelevant. I'm not criticizing their comic here - other than a somewhat simple blog(ish) design, they just need to handle a lot of users to their semi-static site which is a solved problem. Maybe deal with a ton of users on their forum - once again a solved problem. Otherwise, like I said, most of it is office IT stuff for a handful of people working in an office.

I'm not sure how that is any more impressive than many other businesses that aren't known in the geek world.Their other endeavors (Child's Play, PAX) are more business and logistics and light on the IT. From what I've read most of that stuff is outsourced anyways so that PA can focus on the content and not the tedium.

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

#132

Post by lotyrin »

Domenic_S wrote: post #85
Zimahl wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think Social Security is a safety net, think again. Unless you are completely disabled you aren't going to see a dime from SSI. Anything that is 'short term' you are out of luck. Even cancer is considered 'short term'. A real safety net for disability would be something like what Aflac provides. I had a friend who slipped a disk in his back and was stuck on a couch for months until he had surgery. Fortunately…

> Unless you are completely disabled you aren't going to see a dime from SSI. Anything that is 'short term' you are out of luck. Even cancer is considered 'short term'. Bullshit.

It's written right in that the condition must be expected to last 12 months or more.

Depending on case loads in your jurisdiction, it might take longer than that to apply and appeal your (likely) denial.

Maybe you're thinking of short-term disability insurance, which is a private service unavailable to those who can't afford it?

Edit because we're too deep in this thread: from ssa.gov

"Social Security has a strict definition of disability for children.

The child must have a physical or mental condition(s) that very seriously limits his or her activities; and The condition(s) must have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 1 year or result in death."

Perhaps you were in a state-run program for minors with different eligibility requirements, I'm not sure.

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

#133

Post by angersock »

jblow wrote: post #76
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".

If you believe this then you have never run a company. Being responsible for a company is categorically different from being an employee at a company, even if that employee is very hard-working.

I'm not sure that you two are in disagreement--they are saying that precisely because being an employee is different from being a founder, an employee needs to make sure that their interests are seen to.

(this is all said with respect to an engineering position)

In an early-stage startup, you are likely to be building the product and doing at least as much useful technical work as the tech cofounder from whom you are taking some of the burden.

Moreover, because you're in a small company, you probably don't get benefits, and you probably don't get good pay ("After the next round!"), and you probably don't get much gear, and so on and so forth. The options you're granted may well not pan out, and even if they do they probably will be diluted into something equal to a holiday bonus.

That being the case, it makes great sense to look after your own interests.

This equation, of course, changes once the company is large enough to actually take proper care of its employees and pay proper market rates.

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

#134

Post by munificent »

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…

Perhaps it's rather as the author believes in an objective reality, where there is one true valuation of a thing

Wait, are you proposing that this is actually the case? That all things have one true real value? That if the entire world likes pistachios but I don't, my perceived low value of pistachio is somehow objectively wrong and needs correction?

People value things differently. Whether its because of individual preference, or just different circumstances, the fundamental proposition of commerce is that people want different stuff.

If I have a banana tree and you have a goat, one banana is worth less to me than a cup of goat milk. Meanwhile, a cup of goat milk is worth less to you than a banana. We exchange and now we're both better off. This is the whole reason commerce works: because it's a non-zero game.

people perceive as "cachet" is actually BS and can be bad for them

I'm just flummoxed here that someone can just flatly declare that another's perceptions of their own preferences are bullshit. "No, dude, you really hate chocolate. Trust me. Yeah, that feeling of satisfaction you have right now. Not real. Don't smile like that. It's a fake smile! You hate it!"

How does that make sense?

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

#135

Post by grecy »

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.

> I'm starting to doubt that this kind of thing is hyperbole and starting to think people actually believe it.

I'll re-word what I said to be clearer.

>>But in America, with no social safety net, the alternative is not pretty.

But in America, the social safety net is so grossly inadequate by developed country standards, the alternative is not pretty. America is the only developed country that has many fully employed working people living below the poverty line and ~10% of the population with no health care. (EDIT: re-worded to be per capita, not outright numbers)

This system is such a disgrace, people are forced to take the aforementioned jobs, proving they have no choice.

Ask people from any other developed country, and they'll be shocked, disgusted and outraged that people in a supposedly developed country must live that way.

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

#138

Post by angersock »

OGC wrote: post #127
angersock wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't get that reading at all--it seemed very much a straightforward "folks, don't be starstruck: this job is a set-up." A story: I was the technical cofounder (effectively) for a coworking space once upon a time. I did everything from build websites, handle mailing lists, run cable, deploy and design enterprise-class networking infrastructure, take out the garbage, and power-route through a blocked sewer drain. I…

> I don't regret the time I spent there, and I still help put out fires from time to time What the...? Why would you do that?

Flippantly, because I'm dumber than a sack of rocks.

Honestly, because I consider what they do to be important to my community, and because if they succeed they'll help everyone else; it's a form of community service for me.

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

#139

Post by nucleardog »

nsxwolf wrote: post #126
danudey wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a huge long reply to this comment, but by the time I got to the end I realized you were just making cynical, shitty comments because you're upset with them for whatever reason. 'attention to detail' - If I hire someone I want them to have a good attention to detail and not just do whatever works. It's the little things that make the difference between a good server admin and a great one. 'motivated self-start…

On-call 24/7 is normal? I thought good IT departments had rotating on-call schedules.

I think it depends on the size and how organized you are.

Most of the smaller organizations I've worked at don't have an on-call schedule for various reasons, but I'd posit it's primarily that there aren't enough people for a good rotation.

One guy might be able to do something with a server in a pinch, but there's probably only one guy that deals with them as a regular part of his day.

Imagine if, instead of trying to find one 'unicorn', PA hired four separate positions: Server Admin, Developer, General IT, DBA.

Is it really all that effective to have the Server Admin picking up when the issue is that payments on the website have stopped going through? Or the General IT guy answering because the server's down? Sure, if someone gets hit by a bus the other people can probably put out fires if need be, but it's a lot more effective to have the person who regularly works on something and specializes in it working on it when possible.

The 'good' IT departments you're thinking of are probably large enough to have multiple employees in a role.

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

#140

Post by Domenic_S »

lotyrin wrote: post #132
Domenic_S wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unless you are completely disabled you aren't going to see a dime from SSI. Anything that is 'short term' you are out of luck. Even cancer is considered 'short term'. Bullshit.

It's written right in that the condition must be expected to last 12 months or more. Depending on case loads in your jurisdiction, it might take longer than that to apply and appeal your (likely) denial. Maybe you're thinking of short-term disability insurance, which is a private service unavailable to those who can't afford it? Edit because we're too deep in this thread: from ssa.gov "Social Security has a strict de…

No.

I personally applied for - and received - state disability payments when I was diagnosed with cancer. I was barely an adult and had no financial means to speak of.

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