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What to care about in a job

benkuhn.net

21–30 of 62 posts

Re: What to care about in a job

#21
post #4

I think one important factor to consider, that is not mentioned explicity in the post, is: Manager. Your immediate manager can have a lot of impact on job satisfaction. A good manager would follow a bottom-up approach where he asks the team members what they need (time, equipment, etc.) and would try to get those things so that the team can succeed. This creates an overall higher job satisfaction. An ineffective mana…

> A good manager would follow a bottom-up approach where he asks the team members what they need > An ineffective manager may enforce ridiculous deadlines coming from upper management This is not how it works in modern workplace. In large companies the pressure mechanism is delegated to a whole group of employees in the same place in the hierarchy - POs, PMs, Scrum masters, various process lunatics. In case of proble…

> In large companies...

You could have stopped right there. In large companies the politics have firmly taken their place at the top of everything. And if you don't enjoy politics, they are terrible places to work and you should avoid them like the plague.

Re: What to care about in a job

#22
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Getting jobs and being an employee has opportunities, it's easy for many in our industry to get 200K+ salaries" I wish we would stop repeating this, like it is some kind of universal truth. It might be easy for tech workers living in specific parts of the US, it is simply not true for the vast majority of their collegues in other parts of the world.

I would slightly amend that to say that it's easy for tech workers willing to live in specific parts of the US. Nobody is tying you down to where you live currently except yourself, and probably more commonly, your own obligations and preferences regarding family/friends/lifestyle Edit: and also your work permissions status

Again, this only applies to US workers. If you’re from another country it’s not straightforward to move to the US and even if you do you’re most likely tied to a employer who isn’t going to pay 200k

Re: What to care about in a job

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would slightly amend that to say that it's easy for tech workers willing to live in specific parts of the US. Nobody is tying you down to where you live currently except yourself, and probably more commonly, your own obligations and preferences regarding family/friends/lifestyle Edit: and also your work permissions status

Again, this only applies to US workers. If you’re from another country it’s not straightforward to move to the US and even if you do you’re most likely tied to a employer who isn’t going to pay 200k

Yes, completely agree. I guess I just indicated my US bias but for (competent) developers within the US I'd say it's pretty valid

Re: What to care about in a job

#24
post #3

Wrong question, wrong perspective. Even the very best jobs where everything seems to be perfect still have significant setbacks because of the nature of a job: - Employees suffer from one single dependency which can make their live miserable—their manager; just compare: Entrepreneurs should be independent and build as many options as possible (e.g. not just one client but many) - A job locks you in, means all side ac…

American culture seems to be incredibly bad for living a fulfilling life. Intelligent people on hacker news would do good to look at Sweden for a good balance between capitalism and socialism that actually works very well. Of course lately our politicians have allowed millions of immegrants to come in without having any sort of plan to give them jobs, so I expect Sweden to become pretty crap in the next 10 years. :)

Re: What to care about in a job

#25

Love the fact and the way that the topic presented. I find it hard to apply to other lines of work though, especially classic working class jobs and for example healthcare and teaching. How would you guys modify the list? I for one would rate the security much higher even tough I understand that it's not as important for everyone. For physically demanding jobs (practical nurses, nurses, construction workers etc.) I'd…

Not hard to get a job in healthcare (at least where I love) so I wonder why you'd rate security so high.

Re: What to care about in a job

#27
post #3

Wrong question, wrong perspective. Even the very best jobs where everything seems to be perfect still have significant setbacks because of the nature of a job: - Employees suffer from one single dependency which can make their live miserable—their manager; just compare: Entrepreneurs should be independent and build as many options as possible (e.g. not just one client but many) - A job locks you in, means all side ac…

American culture seems to be incredibly bad for living a fulfilling life. Intelligent people on hacker news would do good to look at Sweden for a good balance between capitalism and socialism that actually works very well. Of course lately our politicians have allowed millions of immegrants to come in without having any sort of plan to give them jobs, so I expect Sweden to become pretty crap in the next 10 years. :)

Would intelligent people from HN do good in looking in Sweden for the sun, female partner, or an apartment for rent (in regions where there are professional opportunities)?

Re: What to care about in a job

#28
post #3

Wrong question, wrong perspective. Even the very best jobs where everything seems to be perfect still have significant setbacks because of the nature of a job: - Employees suffer from one single dependency which can make their live miserable—their manager; just compare: Entrepreneurs should be independent and build as many options as possible (e.g. not just one client but many) - A job locks you in, means all side ac…

> Wrong question, wrong perspective. Even the very best jobs where everything seems to be perfect still have significant setbacks because of the nature of a job

This is a strawman. The article isn't about how jobs are perfect and magical, it's about how to deal with the fact that jobs aren't those things, and how to maximise your advantage from the job you do take.

The thing is, jobs exist and are part of reality for practically everybody. Thinking about how to act to get the most out of them is perfectly reasonable and actionable for most people.

Incidentally, the advise in the article substantially mitigates the impact of the "nature of a job" problems as you list them, so even accepting your premise, this is a worthwhile article.

Re: What to care about in a job

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A good manager would follow a bottom-up approach where he asks the team members what they need > An ineffective manager may enforce ridiculous deadlines coming from upper management This is not how it works in modern workplace. In large companies the pressure mechanism is delegated to a whole group of employees in the same place in the hierarchy - POs, PMs, Scrum masters, various process lunatics. In case of proble…

> In large companies... You could have stopped right there. In large companies the politics have firmly taken their place at the top of everything. And if you don't enjoy politics, they are terrible places to work and you should avoid them like the plague.

There are too many places in Europe (e.g. Dublin, Prague, Warsaw, smaller cities with job market dominated by one company/industry) where local branches of global companies are the only viable places to work in.

Re: What to care about in a job

#30
post #3

Wrong question, wrong perspective. Even the very best jobs where everything seems to be perfect still have significant setbacks because of the nature of a job: - Employees suffer from one single dependency which can make their live miserable—their manager; just compare: Entrepreneurs should be independent and build as many options as possible (e.g. not just one client but many) - A job locks you in, means all side ac…

> seamless job transitions with no gaps, min 2 years at one job, steady growth re titles, headcount, responsibilities > Getting jobs and being an employee has opportunities, it's easy for many in our industry to get 200K+ salaries but the price is high: reducing your options until you hit a depression. This is not how it works in most of the EU, in particular DE/IT/AT/CH. There they value loyalty the most and they as…

All of what you just said is favorable to employers.
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