I'm Begging for Work • Hacker News Board

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#121

Post by ryan-c » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 7:59 AM UTC

Joeboy wrote: post #105

Bonogongo wrote: post #69

As a manager if someone tries to blackmail me with leaving, I usually say "Then leave". Never let people blackmail you. Would I hire someone who swears and uses f* in a conversation with his boss? No. Would I hire someone who creates a blog to make his boss look bad? No. All of this with 4 kids I surely would not trust on you any responsibibility acting so irresponsible. So everyone here who wants to hire this guy, a…

> Would I hire someone who swears and uses f* in a conversation with his boss? No. Where are you based, out of interest? I don't think I've ever worked anywhere where saying fuck in front of your boss would be any kind of problem whatsoever (in the UK).

I'm in the US and in the (admittedly few) jobs I've had in tech swearing hasn't been a problem so long as it's in conversation. Losing one's temper and swearing at someone is a different story, however I'd argue that in that case the problem is the outburst and not the swearing.

In general, I would expect tolerance for swearing at work in the US to vary significantly by region, industry, and role.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#122

Post by dkarapetyan » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 7:59 AM UTC

selestify wrote: post #117

dkarapetyan wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF devs make 150k+. It doesn't mean anything because at the end of the day after taxes and rent they probably take home less than you.

Come on now, it's not that ridiculous to save $40k+ a year on a $150k salary, even in the Bay Area. That's saving more than the other poster makes in his entire pretax salary.

My point is that absolute numbers don't really mean anything. I'm not saying SF devs are poor or struggling but if you factor in taxes and living costs then the absolute numbers no longer look so impressive.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#123

Post by gayprogrammer » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 8:00 AM UTC

Bonogongo wrote: post #81

Bonogongo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He blackmailed his boss, used f* f* f* in a conversation with him and you think "hink he's shown himself to have good character here."? Holy Batman.

@nilkin "You give me more money or I leave." vs. Just walking away from the negotiation. From my experience if you give in to "You give me more money or I leave" 6 months down the road it will be another "You give me more money or I leave" and then another. Wikipedia: "Blackmail is an act [..] involving unjustified threats to make [..] cause loss to another unless a demand is met."

Paying an employee for work and services is not "a loss". It's an exchange.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#124

Post by fapjacks » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 8:00 AM UTC

marincounty wrote: post #102

mmaunder wrote: post #25

Time to get your game face on. I'm a CEO, we're hiring but not in your skill area. Having interviewed a lot of candidates lately and looked at many more, I wanted to give you my 2c on getting into extremely hirable shape fast: Update your LinkedIn profile as someone has mentioned already. Sweeten it up, get a great looking but professional profile pic up there, get kudos from friends, etc. Do the online profile clean…

You're a CEO, and would hire the Real-Estate King, if he could code? I have a few websites. They don't produce much income, but some guys offer their services for hire; thinking I might hire them if they say the right things? I tell them up front, I can't afford to hire them, but some are very persistent. They send me their resumes, even after telling them I'm a struggling website owner, and I don't make a living doi…

Your liberal use of the question mark has created a very unique narrative style in my head.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#125

Post by fx85ms » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 8:00 AM UTC

Bonogongo wrote: post #69

As a manager if someone tries to blackmail me with leaving, I usually say "Then leave". Never let people blackmail you. Would I hire someone who swears and uses f* in a conversation with his boss? No. Would I hire someone who creates a blog to make his boss look bad? No. All of this with 4 kids I surely would not trust on you any responsibibility acting so irresponsible. So everyone here who wants to hire this guy, a…

How about you calm down instead of spewing nothing but toxic comments at almost every single reply this post has? I fail to see how OP is in any sense blackmailing his boss. All he is doing is asking for a pay raise. Regarding your point about making his boss look bad, may I remind you that never has once did the OP mention the name of his boss or the place he works at? If OP really wanted to make his boss look bad, would he have gone through the trouble of hiding his identity?

I take great offense at "try to understand why your boss only wanted to give you $45k and work on yourself". You're pushing the blame squarely on the OP. He has clarified that this salary is even LOWER than his intern pay. Now, wouldn't it be more reasonable to ask the boss why the pay is even lower than his previous salary?

You have made yourself look like the very kind of obnoxious boss that OP is talking about.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#126

Post by icebraining » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 8:01 AM UTC

Bonogongo wrote: post #87

nilkn wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you've had a bad experience with a former employee, but this is not blackmail. That's just standing up for himself. The OP was working there contingent on his boss's promise of a raise, and both parties knew this, including the boss. In fact, the OP was remarkably generous towards his boss by doing something very foolish: knowingly taking an unlivable wage out of trust that the boss would live up to hi…

It sounds like you have done this in the past, and it is blackmail. And I understand that you don't want to see yourself as a blackmailer. "I'm more worth than that" and leaving is standing up. "Give me more money or I leave" is blackmail. "Regarding your Wikipedia quote, leaving a job in which you are abused and underpaid is not at all unjustified." Leaving is not the blackmail part, threatening to leave is the blac…

First, blackmail is about information, so if anything it would be extortion.

And it's not extortion because the "threat" was not wrongful; the boss is not his owner nor is he entitled to his work.

The word you're looking for is haggling, and it's a common part of negotiations.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#127

Post by xentronium » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 8:02 AM UTC

brobinson wrote: post #6

redpillbluepill wrote: post #2

I'm not a dev per se (I'm a sysadmin), but I perfectly know how it feels ... I didn't graduate from a uni either, and always get passed. But that was years ago. I'm lucky to have the recent two companies I work with are awesome. I hope these will help you out: https://www.reddit.com/r/railsjobs http://www.cybercoders.com/jobs/ruby-on-rails-developer-remo... http://www.indeed.com/q-Ruby-On-Rails-Developer-Work-Remotel…

Being in the US helps a lot for those remote jobs. Many "remote" companies only want people in US timezones. As an expat, this has been very frustrating for me recently since it excludes seemingly 75%+ of remote positions. I went from generating tens of millions of dollars of revenue for startups to being unable to get a reply from startups when applying for their remote positions.

The "being unable to get a reply from startups when applying for their remote positions" part is 100% true. I'm in such a position now and it's amazing how many companies complain about there being not enough good programmers and at the same time don't do a basic courtesy of responding to their candidates.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#128

Post by atroyn » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 8:02 AM UTC

Bonogongo wrote: post #72

cplease wrote: post #48

Dude, you got shit on, but your entire post screams unprofessional. If you want to be a professional, and be treated like a professional, you need to act professional. Harsh perhaps but that's the truth. If this is a serious job solicitation and not just catharsis you are doing it all wrong. Starting with how desperate you are, how proud you made your mom, and how shitty you've been doing and been treated does not ma…

From my point as a hiring manager for quite some time, I can only second "danger, high risk, unprofessional, possibly unstable individual who does not know how to behave in a business setting.

Based on your comments I don't think you've ever been a hiring manager. Or if you have, your organisations must really be hurting. Your comments read like a power fantasy.

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#129

Post by vellum » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 8:02 AM UTC

Bonogongo wrote: post #69

As a manager if someone tries to blackmail me with leaving, I usually say "Then leave". Never let people blackmail you. Would I hire someone who swears and uses f* in a conversation with his boss? No. Would I hire someone who creates a blog to make his boss look bad? No. All of this with 4 kids I surely would not trust on you any responsibibility acting so irresponsible. So everyone here who wants to hire this guy, a…

ultimatum != blackmail

Re: I'm Begging for Work

#130

Post by gliese1337 » Thu, Sep 10, 2015, 8:05 AM UTC

Bonogongo wrote: post #87

nilkn wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you've had a bad experience with a former employee, but this is not blackmail. That's just standing up for himself. The OP was working there contingent on his boss's promise of a raise, and both parties knew this, including the boss. In fact, the OP was remarkably generous towards his boss by doing something very foolish: knowingly taking an unlivable wage out of trust that the boss would live up to hi…

It sounds like you have done this in the past, and it is blackmail. And I understand that you don't want to see yourself as a blackmailer. "I'm more worth than that" and leaving is standing up. "Give me more money or I leave" is blackmail. "Regarding your Wikipedia quote, leaving a job in which you are abused and underpaid is not at all unjustified." Leaving is not the blackmail part, threatening to leave is the blac…

"Give me more money or I leave" is not blackmail. That is called an "ultimatum".

Blackmail is defined as a demand for money in exchange for not revealing compromising or injurious information.

"Give me more money or I will publish these naked photos of you" is blackmail.

One of those is illegal. The other one isn't.