Tell HN: Take vacation • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#81

Post by T-hawk » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:16 PM UTC

nicolethenerd wrote: post #68

michaelochurch wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from Brazil and got curious about the "unlimited vacation", how it works? The U.S. is the only advanced economy without a vacation floor. (To join the EU, 20 days is the lower limit.) Three weeks is typical for an average job (but some companies are sleazy and pool sick time and vacation under "PTO") and two for a crap job. It's surprising how reliably you can predict the quality of a company and job based on vac…

Honestly curious, what is the alternative to PTO? I don't see why this is such a bad thing - you get X days off, you can use them for whatever reason you want - sick or vacation - as long as X is a reasonable number, what's the issue here?

It's fine if that combined PTO is a healthy number like 25 days. It's sleazy if a company promises three weeks vacation trying to look generous when that three weeks is really combined vacation+sick+personal.

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#82

Post by dm2 » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:18 PM UTC

andrewd18 wrote: post #69

shurcooL wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But... but it kills your github contribution streak.

Quick, before you go, write two scripts and corresponding cron jobs that convert tabs to N spaces, or N spaces to tabs. Then, set them up to commit to your favorite repo on alternating days. Now you can enjoy your vacation while pissing off your fellow contributors at the same time!

Spaces to tabs please.

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#83

Post by Spooky23 » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:18 PM UTC

nicolethenerd wrote: post #68

michaelochurch wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from Brazil and got curious about the "unlimited vacation", how it works? The U.S. is the only advanced economy without a vacation floor. (To join the EU, 20 days is the lower limit.) Three weeks is typical for an average job (but some companies are sleazy and pool sick time and vacation under "PTO") and two for a crap job. It's surprising how reliably you can predict the quality of a company and job based on vac…

Honestly curious, what is the alternative to PTO? I don't see why this is such a bad thing - you get X days off, you can use them for whatever reason you want - sick or vacation - as long as X is a reasonable number, what's the issue here?

"PTO" is an accounting ploy to avoid having to pay off leave balances.

The alternative to to accrue leave.

Where I work, we have vacation/sick/personal leave. There are different rules for each, and vacation time accrues and you get paid upon separation.

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#84

Post by zrail » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:22 PM UTC

In the last two years I've

* gotten cancer

* gone through surgery and chemotherapy

* beaten cancer

* watched my stepfather die of cancer

* wrote and self-published a book

* gotten married earlier than planned

* moved across the country

* watched my mother-in-law die of cancer (why we got married early)

* bought a house

* gotten married again on our original date

In that time I have been away from work for quite a bit of time but I have taken exactly three real days of "vacation", when we went on a short honeymoon after the big wedding.

I need a break, preferably multiple consecutive months, but we don't have the cash to make it through. And so I continue.

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#85

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:23 PM UTC

glasnoster wrote: post #27

After a horrible year and a half, which included moving to a new city without any support structures, working remotely for a company not geared for it, losing my mom to suicide, working for a startup which I had to threaten to pay me, doing part-time work for another startup which will probably not pay me, and a failed relationship, I am happy to say that I have a month long holiday abroad coming up soon! Looking for…

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#86

Post by CalRobert » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:27 PM UTC

maccard wrote: post #52

rsynnott wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I mean, Dublin's very expensive, but it's not as expensive as San Francisco, say.

You sure about that? A quick glance at http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun... tells me that there is a difference in rent, (I know it's not accurate) but I know that the rent in Dublin has increased from that figure. Most people I know are now paying 1400-1600 USD for 2bed apartments, so I guess SF could have changed too.

I think the main difference is that in Dublin you can get cheaper without going terribly far from the city center. The sense of scale here is drastically different; the "suburbs" are 4 km from the city center. I live right in the middle of the city (not the poshest part, admittedly) a 5 minute walk from work and a 10-15 minute walk from basically every major attraction, and pay €800 per month for a 1 bedroom. By comparison, I used to pay $650 for one bedroom in a Victorian in Berkeley near Ashby BART, and that was 4 years ago before rents quite blew up. That $650 was stunningly cheap, in my view; my friends had higher rents for worse places. Fortunately I had awesome roommates.

Also, while it is certainly possible to live in SF without a car, it's even easier in Dublin, which saves money as well.

And again, I'm just a sucker for Europe. I was spending $2 grand a year on plane tickets to get over here, and now it's an €80 (or so) flight away.

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#87

Post by bkorte » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:27 PM UTC

Deal. Heading to Portland in a few weeks!

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#88

Post by JoshTriplett » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:27 PM UTC

pgeorgi wrote: post #75

shurcooL wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But... but it kills your github contribution streak.

Luckily github only looks at the commit date :-)

Which is quite easy to manipulate, with amusing results: https://github.com/jbranchaud/commitart

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#89

Post by CalRobert » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:28 PM UTC

geekam wrote: post #13

CalRobert wrote: post #11

I moved to Europe, mostly because I wanted more vacation time and the opportunity presented itself. Don't regret it for a minute. Three and a half years ago I had 5 days of PTO per year. Admittedly it was a crappy job, but even so. Now I have 22 days' PTO, plus 12 annual holidays. I make more money and pay less in rent, too.

Would you mind sharing which country are you working and what are the visa restrictions, if any?

geekam - I don't see any contact info in your profile; email me if you want to chat re: visa stuff. gettingoutofamerica.com can be helpful as well. I actually have meant to start my own repository of immigration information at pond-crosser.com but haven't gotten around to really getting it up and running.

Re: Tell HN: Take vacation

#90

Post by malyk » Fri, Jul 18, 2014, 4:30 PM UTC

dm2 wrote: post #82

andrewd18 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick, before you go, write two scripts and corresponding cron jobs that convert tabs to N spaces, or N spaces to tabs. Then, set them up to commit to your favorite repo on alternating days. Now you can enjoy your vacation while pissing off your fellow contributors at the same time!

Spaces to tabs please.

2 spaces 4eva!