Mental health impacts of a big tech job • Hacker News Board

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#11

Post by QuarterReptile » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:25 AM UTC

brundolf wrote: post #5

I don't know if I've just gotten lucky - I have only ever worked at smaller companies I guess - but I've never really dealt with a blurring of time boundaries by my employer. I think at each of my four jobs there was exactly one time I had to deal with an emergency in off-hours. One of those jobs was even toxic in other ways, but invasion of personal time was not one of them. Is it really that common? Does it mainly…

This read like a normal workplace to me. It exists somewhere in the space between poor management, not setting boundaries (because you're too worried someone will be disappointed), and all of that leading to abuse of the zero marginal cost of a salaried employee's time. Anyway, I mostly think the writer was just not standing up for himself.

It read like something in the military, but when there's no legal implications to telling someone his request is unreasonable... then I think it's self-inflicted.

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#12

Post by zz865 » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:27 AM UTC

mathgladiator wrote: post #2

So, recently I achieved happiness because I just don't care about the job anymore. I didn't even do my performance self review, and I wrote a poem instead. I got a Meets-Most, and I've never been happier. I'm writing my final proposal as one final swing at the bat and the title is "XYZ or Bust" where either I get buy-in or I'm leaving. I've never felt better in my entire career. This is made possible because I'm old…

This is one of the main reasons companies love hiring 20-29 yo people. They work their ass off because that is all they know, as well has having the time to do it. Once people hit 35-50 people realize there are more things to life.

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#13

Post by kleinsch » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:28 AM UTC

Ocerge wrote: post #7

> This may seem outrageous to someone that hasn’t experienced this type of situation, but in the Big Tech world this expectation is normal. I work at a FAANG, and it's probably a team-by-team thing, but that is absolutely not normal in my experience. That's a particularly shitty circumstance, and it's a bummer your management didn't stick up for you.

Yup, me too. Have always met or exceeded expectations working a straight 40. This article is trying to generalize their experience on a bad team to the 500K+ people that work at Big Tech companies.

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#14

Post by khazhoux » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:28 AM UTC

mathgladiator wrote: post #2

So, recently I achieved happiness because I just don't care about the job anymore. I didn't even do my performance self review, and I wrote a poem instead. I got a Meets-Most, and I've never been happier. I'm writing my final proposal as one final swing at the bat and the title is "XYZ or Bust" where either I get buy-in or I'm leaving. I've never felt better in my entire career. This is made possible because I'm old…

> So, recently I achieved happiness because I just don't care about the job anymore. I didn't even do my performance self review, and I wrote a poem instead. I got a Meets-Most, and I've never been happier.

You can't do that! Hey, come back here! You're not allowed to do that! Can you hear me? Get back over here, don't walk away. Don't keep walking away. Stop!

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#15

Post by murgindrag » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:29 AM UTC

Quotes like this bug me:

> If you find yourself in this type of situation, please do what’s best for you and get help if you are feeling stuck or overwhelmed.

Get help the !@#$% where? There isn't a magic American "help" fairy who bails people out of trouble.

These issues are complex, and therapists/counselors/psychologists suck up time and don't really address root causes.

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#16

Post by thethethethe » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:30 AM UTC

Not really my experience at Google tbh. I've been at Google for a little under 4 years and been promoted twice but only work about 4 hours a day. Sometimes I don't do shit for weeks at a time and things seem to pan out ok. I'm not trying to humble brag that I'm 10x or anything--im not, I'm a B grade engineer at best. Sure it can be stressful sometimes, but I'd say that 80% of the time it's really chill.

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#17

Post by 1minusp » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:31 AM UTC

A lot of this rings true. But I also can’t help but think (I’m not FAANG), given the kind of pay at these companies couldn’t or shouldn’t one treat these gigs like 3-4 year tour of duty, and have enough to go away and refresh for a couple of years (with a ton socked away for nest egg/ retirement?)

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#18

Post by analyst74 » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:31 AM UTC

mathgladiator wrote: post #6

chillwaves wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I didn't even do my performance self review, and I wrote a poem instead. It's not just the brazenness of the act, it's the fact you made your defiance into art that I really respect.

Here is the poem: I will not do this PSC. There is a future that I foresee. No longer shall I bend the knee to this process called PSC.

This is the way

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#19

Post by sidibe » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:31 AM UTC

It's the requirements that kind of bubble up from very far away in a large org that cause the most stress. Almost no one wants their reports or close colleagues to feel inundated and always scrambling but in a big org it's still really hard to mitigate when the originator of a request is a few teams away from the one that is made to feel like a bottleneck (actually there'll be a ton of people feeling like the bottleneck on any project which is by definition not true). Actually the originator might not even feel it's urgent it just feels a little more escalated all along the path.

If you firmly say "no" or "I can't" people will be a lot more accommodating than you think. Easier said than done in the actual situation but it seems almost always true.

Re: Mental health impacts of a big tech job

#20

Post by rufus_foreman » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 1:32 AM UTC

mathgladiator wrote: post #2

So, recently I achieved happiness because I just don't care about the job anymore. I didn't even do my performance self review, and I wrote a poem instead. I got a Meets-Most, and I've never been happier. I'm writing my final proposal as one final swing at the bat and the title is "XYZ or Bust" where either I get buy-in or I'm leaving. I've never felt better in my entire career. This is made possible because I'm old…

>> This is made possible because I'm old enough with enough assets that I can quit and retire

This is the life changing part.