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I quit the tech industry

eev.ee

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Re: I quit the tech industry

#401

Post by cbr »

lsaferite wrote: post #100
mootothemax wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go to Poland - 19% flat income tax rate for companies - you can get flat by 400 euro / month in biggest cities and work remotely for foreign clients. To expand on this: one can operate as a sole trader company, and enjoy the 19% flat income tax rate. You can also register your company for VAT, and then claim back the VAT on company purchases. The only other cost is ~$270 / ~240 EUR / ~180 GBP per month in social insu…

You know what sucks. As an American I'd still have to pay American income taxes. I cannot wrap my head around how we can say that's ok. Sure, there are ways to get around a portion of the taxes, but those involve things like never coming to the US for more than a set (short) amount of time.

> As an American I'd still have to pay American income taxes.

And as an American you would still receive the support of the US government in case of war or other disasters.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#402

Post by davvid »

brightball wrote: post #265
mschaef wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was actually going to pay close to triple the sale price of the house if I waited the full 30 years. Did you adjust for inflation? Even at today's inflation rates, the dollars you pay in 30 years will be worth considerably less than the dollars you pay today. There's also an opportunity cost issue. Paying off your mortgage means not putting the money somewhere else. > you're really just throwing away money. No...…

Matter of perspective I guess. When I looked at my early mortgage payments and 85% of the payment was interest so after 10 years I would have barely paid down the principle at all. To me, that feels like waste. I invested with steady 12-14% returns for 10 years and then watched it all get wiped out. The interest rate on paying of debt doesn't change. Granted, at current rates it's a lot tougher to make the argument f…

Nobody ever shows a compound interest chart with anything other than a steady interest rate (aka - 30 years of 10% return = millionaire!). A single negative or downturn can have a pretty dramatic effect on those projections.

Exactly. NYTimes had an interesting visualization a few years ago that tracked the S&P 500 to show real-world results. It really shows the effect that doldrum years can have on returns:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/business/20110...

Re: I quit the tech industry

#403

Post by ryandrake »

thwarted wrote: post #396
ryandrake wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like a very silly policy. Would your mind be blown to learn out there exist many MBAs with engineering backgrounds, and that they're actually not idiots?

It's more appropriate to take a "no MBAs" rule as "no one who self identifies primarily as having an MBA". In my experience, an engineer with an MBA who neglects to even mention their engineering schooling/experience in favor of the MBA is a rare animal.

Self-identifies primarily as having an MBA? I don't even know what that means. If I interview with your company, should I not mention the MBA and instead say that during my 15 years of writing software, I took two years off to go wind surfing? Really? That's considered better?

Re: I quit the tech industry

#404

Post by eclipxe »

libria wrote: post #388
rdtsc wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are 2 reasons: 1) Developers cannot reliably estimate software timelines. That often comes with experience and age, but many never learn that skill. It is a skill like programming itself. It comes with practice. 2) Break down in communication between management (product managers) and engineers who are writing code. On the first part. Usually junior software developers simply have not had experience shipping sof…

> 1) Developers cannot reliably estimate software timelines. Disagree. Developers can provide reliable low risk estimates that will most certainly be rejected or truncated by management. The problem is not estimates, the problem is every manager fantasizing that their Captain Kirk strategy, "I'll have it fixed in 4 minutes, Captain" "Do it in 2." is some form of motivating leadership.

EVERY manager? Hyperbole there...

Re: I quit the tech industry

#405

Post by yebyen »

rmc wrote: post #378
yebyen wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's still paying a significantly higher tax rate on that dollar than if he didn't earn it this year. If he is not hurting for cash and he could defer it until next year (or year after that) with no penalty at all and (arguably) negligible risk, thus paying the lower personal income tax rate on that dollar, why not do it? I don't see what part is misunderstood. If you're being paid by your employer, obviously you wan…

Sure, but 50c is better than €0.

That's very short-sighted. If you are incorporated for yourself then:

> each dollar of taxes paid (by either entity) is coming out of your own pocket

You can keep it in pocket A, the corporation, and pay taxes once (on profits only, I guess), or move it to pocket B and pay taxes a second time also, at a much higher rate (and on overall income, again a larger basis than it would be to count up personal profits.) If you can replace some personal expenses with corporate expenses, end-around pocket B completely, now your business has also made less profit, so pays less corporate tax. I am not a tax accountant (or even remotely skilled in taxes) and this is not tax advice, but it makes pretty good sene to me. Certainly some part less than all of what I suggest would be considered illegal tax dodging or corporate malfeasance.

Sounds like a good incentive for CEOs/majority owners of small businesses to live frugally and to refrain from looting their corporate coffers excessively. Sure, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but it also seems very clear to make the case that two whole birds in the bush are worth more than 0.94 birds in the hand.

You are thinking like an employee.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#406

Post by eclipxe »

mikekchar wrote: post #389
exelius wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1) Developers cannot reliably estimate software timelines. That often comes with experience and age, but many never learn that skill. It is a skill like programming itself. It comes with practice. This is true. But this is the problem that Agile is supposed to help solve -- with the caveat that most companies don't do true Agile. I guess people are now calling it Continuous Delivery, but the idea is the same: you d…

Very quick reply because I have to get to bed (it's 1:30 am here!). I shouldn't work so hard... :-P Estimation (i.e. pulling numbers out of your posterier) is not necessary (or usually desirable). What you want to do break down the problems into roughly equal size pieces -- the more the better. Each piece will take a certain amount of time. You can measure this and record the average. This becomes the estimated amoun…

Well said

Re: I quit the tech industry

#408

Post by mootothemax »

OneOneOneOne wrote: post #377
mootothemax wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go to Poland - 19% flat income tax rate for companies - you can get flat by 400 euro / month in biggest cities and work remotely for foreign clients. To expand on this: one can operate as a sole trader company, and enjoy the 19% flat income tax rate. You can also register your company for VAT, and then claim back the VAT on company purchases. The only other cost is ~$270 / ~240 EUR / ~180 GBP per month in social insu…

How are Warsaw and Krakov for families with children?

I can't speak for Kraków, as I've only had a family since being in Warsaw.

I think Warsaw's great. Plenty of green spaces, lots of child-friendly environments, and it's pretty easy - if you choose - to find yourself living in a community of similarly-aged kids where they all look out for one another.

The only downside I can think of is navigating stuff like vaccinations, doctors, and general bureaucracy. The majority you'll be fine with, but some working Polish - and having Polish friends - will be helpful as English is in short supply in some vital areas.

Re: I quit the tech industry

#409

Post by tjradcliffe »

Arjuna wrote: post #225
probablyfiction wrote: post #17

This is what burnout looks like. Unless Yelp has a toxic work culture, it's likely the author brought it on themselves by pushing too hard. After several months, the author will probably start thinking about work again, and begin the job search once more. Not to say that the author's points are invalid; it's a terrible feeling to have to spend your most productive hours working on someone else's problems. He or she m…

This is what burnout looks like. I agree. Boys and girls, as you likely know, burnout is real. But, you can manage it. I'll tell you what I do. Here's the secret: Put yourself first. Now, that sounds quite selfish on first-blush. What exactly does that mean? For me, it means I take care of my health, first and foremost. Before the day is started, before the family is awake, I head off to the gym to be with The Iron.…

> To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price.

Actually, to achieve success, we must do the job.

Some people find lifting heavy weights and whatnot helps them do that. I certainly have. Others find it's quiet contemplation under a tree. I've done that too, in another place, not here.

Time and chance happen to us all, and having a deep toolkit of techniques for dealing with the truly astonishing variety of slings and arrows the world can huck in our direction is at least as important as our dedication to any one of them. Because when we fail--and we will fail, if we truly strive to achieve anything interesting or important--having a different set of techniques to catch ourselves can come in handly.

For myself, the secrect of my success is being able to go on in the certainty of failure, because taking one more step forward is worthwhile, even when I know the destination is unreachable. And sometimes I'm wrong, and reach it anyway.

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