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Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

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Re: Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

#171

Post by MichaelGlass »

cletus wrote: post #160

So there are two issues with this: 1. If I were looking to hire someone and read this, I would immediately be turned off. Why? Because part of being an engineer (or any employee really) is doing a bunch of stuff people don't enjoy doing. This includes: - Writing documentation - Writing tests - Fixing bugs - Talking to partners about a change/launch - Talking to lawyers - etc So I would be wondering: if you're signali…

Regarding your first point: I want to do those things if I'm convinced they help the "good work". I might not want to clean the dishes but I'll do it until I can delegate it.

Re: Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

#172

Post by wsc981 »

blentz wrote: post #55

I’ve been on the receiving end of similar requests before. “I’ll work for free or nothing if you let me do what I love under the umbrella of your organization because I love it so much.” I did one or two agreements like this and then stopped altogether. The individual would start their work, others would start to depend on its existence and the individual would leave in a matter or weeks or months because something e…

Seems like a weird idea to me anyways, to offer to work for very little money or even nothing, as long as the work is interesting.

To me it seems that time is much better spent on a fun personal (side) project. And who knows ... maybe the side project will earn some income in time.

Re: Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

#173

Post by Fomite »

freetime2 wrote: post #150
azhenley wrote: post #10

My advice: pursue a PhD. If you can find the right advisor, then you will have almost complete creative freedom to pursue interesting projects while getting paid to do it.

I have considered retiring from software development and pursuing a PhD. But I have heard some scary things about the culture and competitiveness in academia. Are there “laid back” PhD programs for people for people who don’t really have an interest in tenure track, but just want to learn and apply themselves to some novel problem?

There are plenty of programs that think about things like quality of life, etc. Culture and competitiveness is a function of the school itself and the PI specifically.

Re: Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

#174

Post by christophergs »

farhadhf wrote: post #68
blentz wrote: post #55

I’ve been on the receiving end of similar requests before. “I’ll work for free or nothing if you let me do what I love under the umbrella of your organization because I love it so much.” I did one or two agreements like this and then stopped altogether. The individual would start their work, others would start to depend on its existence and the individual would leave in a matter or weeks or months because something e…

I have some similar experiences. Especially with people saying "let me do what I love" or "give me a position where I can learn new things". People like variety - the initial love doesn't last long. After a few weeks/months it gets boring and repetitive. Learning the shiny new tech is only fun until you you've figured out how it works, but the project doesn't end there and you have to deliver a product in the end. Bu…

Well said. This is why engineers who know how to finish the last 10% are truly valued by good colleagues and managers.

Re: Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

#175

Post by TheCoelacanth »

defaultname wrote: post #129
moritonal wrote: post #7

So Francesco says they refuse to do technical interviews and says their CV and Github are proof enough. The CV shows experience as a freelance engineer at Apple for a bit, then an engineer for Samsung which they were made redundant from. Their GitHub is 3 projects, a python script, a breakout board and then a beta libary. They argue that's fine though because they'd work for £1/hr, but the real cost of an upfront hir…

"but the real cost of an upfront hire is my time, not money" The most arduous hiring processes are often little more than an illusion of selection, yielding a process that is more the rolling of dice. Most hiring processes hire based upon interview skills that have extraordinarily little correlation with job performance. Google has such a famous interview process that everyone tries to clone it. For that they get emp…

Interviews aren't the only cost of hiring. Onboarding is very expensive for knowledge workers.

Re: Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

#176

Post by CleanCoder »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #110

>> No fixed hours, I will work when I want. >> no daily stand-ups >> Meaningful work means work that I care about >> This whole thing is not about money, so what the work is about comes first There is a profound mismatch between what this person is offerring and what anyone would want from a developer, or even the core requirements for effective software development. I'll pass.

I am most curious about the "no technical interview" part and "my work speaks for my skills" while OP's GitHub is just forks.

This all really reads in an uncomfortable way and I would never risk investing into somebody by guessing if whatever I need done, as a business, will be interesting enough for this person to put genuine effort into.

I feel like OP needs hobbies to get the fun/interesting itch scratched and then go back to being a "code monkey" like the rest of us, doing "boring" stuff to pay the bills.

I've been there myself before and the most valuable lesson I've learned is that motivation != discipline. Motivation comes and goes and if you base your productivity solely on that you will burn out. Being disciplined though allows to get the "boring" out of the way first, leaving lots of time to explore other interests.

Re: Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

#179

Post by foobarian »

bikingbismuth wrote: post #116
tenacious_tuna wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not OP, but at that point I imagine the equation changes: stability becomes less important when you aren't the sole provider for a pile of people, and/or once cost-of-living goes down (e.g., paid off mortgage).

I was able to pay off my mortgage about a year ago (I am in my late 30s), and work has taken on a new aspect for me. I feel a bit more comfortable challenging the status quo and trying to take on more "interesting work". With that in mind, I am still attentive to the fact I need to maintain a sustainable career for another 25/30 years.

Many people in my circle are proud of paying off mortgages, so I kind of assumed by default that it is a worthwhile thing. But looking at the numbers I'm not so sure: it seems much better in current market to cash out as much as possible and let that money sit in an index fund. I guess the main issues are some risks with downturns and/or liquidity.

Re: Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work

#180

Post by teachingassist »

cletus wrote: post #160

So there are two issues with this: 1. If I were looking to hire someone and read this, I would immediately be turned off. Why? Because part of being an engineer (or any employee really) is doing a bunch of stuff people don't enjoy doing. This includes: - Writing documentation - Writing tests - Fixing bugs - Talking to partners about a change/launch - Talking to lawyers - etc So I would be wondering: if you're signali…

1.

I agree the author hasn't emphasised those things. If I was in need of those things, I might not automatically engage with the author.

But, you've given a list of what you don't like doing - that isn't a universal list.

Given that the author asks to be deeply involved in a human-centred project, it is not obvious to me that they don't like or are not prepared to do these things.

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