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At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

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Re: At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

#12
Earlier today, someone told me that I've "drunk the kool-aid" of my employers, Pivotal Labs.

Well, it happens that I decided to work for Labs after visiting the Facebook campus. Literally while I was driving back to SF from Palo Alto.

At Labs I work for 40 hours per week. Not an on-paper 40 hours -- actually 40 hours. When I was new to the company I found myself one night on a train to Philadelphia for a personal trip. I was bored, so I opened my laptop and answered some emails from a client. The following week I got a mild dressing down from my colleagues for working after-hours and I was told by my manager not to do it again.

If I am at a computer more than 10 minutes after 6pm, co-workers start wandering up and saying "you're not working, are you?". I've only worked late twice, and the latest I've worked is 6.30pm (because I thought I'd broken Golang support on Pivotal Web Services and wanted to be sure I hadn't before going home).

Meanwhile, at Facebook, after being shown all the cool workspaces and the free food, I asked what the hours were. "There are no hours, you set your own with your team". On my drive back to where I was staying in SF, I remembered that on their campus, I'd seen a barber's shop.

It struck me that, so that you don't leave for 30 minutes, once a month, Facebook has a barber on the campus. Someone later pointed out to me that the buses they run have wifi. So life becomes: wake up, shower, get on bus, work, get off bus, breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, work, get on bus, work, get home, sleep.

Frankly? I prefer the damn kool-aid.

Re: At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

#13
The biggest thing that Facebook gets right is having respect & trust in their employees regardless of their position or prior experience. They're willing to let their employees own an idea and fail if necessary. Traditional top-down organizations (99% of companies) equate respect & trust directly with title & seniority.

Re: At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

#14
post #11

At Hacker News, Paywall is a Dirty Word

I have to agree. Why waste space on the front page with paywalled content? I have no inclination to ever subscribe to this. I appreciate that others may have different sentiment, but this feels wasted on the majority of us.

Re: At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

#15

Earlier today, someone told me that I've "drunk the kool-aid" of my employers, Pivotal Labs. Well, it happens that I decided to work for Labs after visiting the Facebook campus. Literally while I was driving back to SF from Palo Alto. At Labs I work for 40 hours per week. Not an on-paper 40 hours -- actually 40 hours . When I was new to the company I found myself one night on a train to Philadelphia for a personal tr…

[deleted]

Re: At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

#16

Earlier today, someone told me that I've "drunk the kool-aid" of my employers, Pivotal Labs. Well, it happens that I decided to work for Labs after visiting the Facebook campus. Literally while I was driving back to SF from Palo Alto. At Labs I work for 40 hours per week. Not an on-paper 40 hours -- actually 40 hours . When I was new to the company I found myself one night on a train to Philadelphia for a personal tr…

I'm an engineer at FB and I work 6-8 hours most days. Most people with families don't work crazy hours. Most people that do choose to because they love their work.

Re: At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

#17
post #11

At Hacker News, Paywall is a Dirty Word

I have to agree. Why waste space on the front page with paywalled content? I have no inclination to ever subscribe to this. I appreciate that others may have different sentiment, but this feels wasted on the majority of us.

Just Google the title and click the link to the story. Goes right around the paywall.

Re: At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

#18

Earlier today, someone told me that I've "drunk the kool-aid" of my employers, Pivotal Labs. Well, it happens that I decided to work for Labs after visiting the Facebook campus. Literally while I was driving back to SF from Palo Alto. At Labs I work for 40 hours per week. Not an on-paper 40 hours -- actually 40 hours . When I was new to the company I found myself one night on a train to Philadelphia for a personal tr…

I'm an engineer at FB and I work 6-8 hours most days. Most people with families don't work crazy hours. Most people that do choose to because they love their work.

We love our work too.

We just think it should stay at work, during sustainable working hours.

Re: At Facebook, Boss Is a Dirty Word

#19

Earlier today, someone told me that I've "drunk the kool-aid" of my employers, Pivotal Labs. Well, it happens that I decided to work for Labs after visiting the Facebook campus. Literally while I was driving back to SF from Palo Alto. At Labs I work for 40 hours per week. Not an on-paper 40 hours -- actually 40 hours . When I was new to the company I found myself one night on a train to Philadelphia for a personal tr…

I'm an engineer at FB and I work 6-8 hours most days. Most people with families don't work crazy hours. Most people that do choose to because they love their work.

"Most people with families don't work crazy hours."

With an average age of 28[0].. what percentage do you think have families?

0. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/technology-workers-...

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