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How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

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Re: How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

#21

Post by toomuchtodo »

anonzzzies wrote: post #7
throwawaysleep wrote: post #3

Anecdotally, the idea of a career is dying among many I know. People just want the money. So some of it is probably being Overemployed. I have a job where I am just doing the minimum to keep it. Some of it is just waiting to be fired while their build their own businesses.

> People just want the money. I cannot imagine doing a job just for the money myself; I rather sleep under a bridge (probably not really but luckily I don’t have that issue). I just cannot belief it’s true; people here whine about tech all the time and updating to the latest stuff etc while you can make 250-350/hr doing CRUD in Java + Oracle in enterprises with knowledge you hardly have to update for the past two dec…

You need the money to survive and none of the tech or business will matter in the end. Optimize accordingly.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39942397 (examples of useless work)

Re: How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

#23

Post by toomuchtodo »

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote: post #19

Oh, man, I was hoping this thread would be about managers who have mastered the art of time management and are doing their jobs in a few hours per week. One of my old managers had it. I would rarely see the dude -- except for once or twice a month, when we'd happen to be in the same meeting. He'd wait until the last bit of the meeting, and then he'd come in -- calm and measured -- with a comment that would blow every…

Have you considered slowing down to no more than 40 hrs/week and starting to interview for jobs that don’t exploit you?

Re: How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

#25

Post by zzzzzzzzzz10 »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #3

Anecdotally, the idea of a career is dying among many I know. People just want the money. So some of it is probably being Overemployed. I have a job where I am just doing the minimum to keep it. Some of it is just waiting to be fired while their build their own businesses.

Career, dont make me laugh - the concept was failing for my dad already.

There is no loyalty or trust from companies and you can be axed at any minute without notice. It's time to realize that a "career" was just indentured service with extra steps. Take what you can from corporations and give nothing back.

Re: How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

#26

Post by anonzzzies »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #21
anonzzzies wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People just want the money. I cannot imagine doing a job just for the money myself; I rather sleep under a bridge (probably not really but luckily I don’t have that issue). I just cannot belief it’s true; people here whine about tech all the time and updating to the latest stuff etc while you can make 250-350/hr doing CRUD in Java + Oracle in enterprises with knowledge you hardly have to update for the past two dec…

You need the money to survive and none of the tech or business will matter in the end. Optimize accordingly. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39942397 (examples of useless work)

If that is the case, you would end your life (as it doesn’t matter) or optimise the hell out of the apparently miserable time working like I said. Or maybe it does matter and people do pick jobs based on other factors IF they have the choice. And GP was talking about people with a choice as it seems choiceless people don’t hang on HN.

Re: How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

#27

Post by overtomanu »

anonzzzies wrote: post #13
overtomanu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that easy to do Java+enterprise CRUD job. Even though there might not be much to learn technically, you will be expected to learn about functional/business rules related to the application. ERP software can be one of the most complicated soul sucking job. It is in here where stuff gets tough, in that you have to deal with legacy codebase, poorly documented rules, bug would have become feature etc. If you don…

I agree somewhat, but we were talking about maximising money without caring about the work; that, at least to me, means I am working as a company for a company, not in a traditional job. Contracting as a company means I can deduct almost everything I buy and/or charge it to the client which means more money. It also means multiple clients and work from ‘my office’ (which looks a lot like my home) has been allowed for…

Yes, I was talking from the POV of employee. If I am going through the trouble of setting my own company and doing contracting job which involve similar work, then to maximize money for work, I would be thinking of offering some SaaS service via the company. If so many companies want a similar thing, then there is some gap in the market.

Re: How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

#28

Post by toomuchtodo »

anonzzzies wrote: post #26
toomuchtodo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need the money to survive and none of the tech or business will matter in the end. Optimize accordingly. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39942397 (examples of useless work)

If that is the case, you would end your life (as it doesn’t matter) or optimise the hell out of the apparently miserable time working like I said. Or maybe it does matter and people do pick jobs based on other factors IF they have the choice. And GP was talking about people with a choice as it seems choiceless people don’t hang on HN.

Or just coast, as others in the thread have mentioned. It is a perfectly fine choice if you can make it work.

If you “just cannot belief it’s true,” get out more. You haven’t talked to enough people.

Re: How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

#29

Post by rich_sasha »

I had a boss once who was hoarding projects to manage - he wanted to have fingers in all possible pies.

As a result, he basically spent most of his time in transit between meetings (not even in the meetings themselves...).

If it sounds great, it wasn't. He was notionally in charge of ~50 projects or so and a blocker on each one. Nothing definitive could be done without his approval, which was hard, as he wasn't even au fait with the project's status. So to get anything done you had to (a) physically find him and pin him down, (b) explain what approval he needs to give and why, (c) let him go to think about it, and (d) repeat every few days until he makes a decision (or lets you make it instead).

His desk was flanked by two piles of "in-tray" papers about a foot tall, from earlier years when people thought leaving reports and forms on his desk was a way to get them in his job queue. Alas, he basically never sat at his desk, and when he did, he just peeked at the flanked screen with no sense of irony.

Re: How Often Have You Seen Mostly or 100% AWOL Managers?

#30

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

zzzzzzzzzz10 wrote: post #25
throwawaysleep wrote: post #3

Anecdotally, the idea of a career is dying among many I know. People just want the money. So some of it is probably being Overemployed. I have a job where I am just doing the minimum to keep it. Some of it is just waiting to be fired while their build their own businesses.

Career, dont make me laugh - the concept was failing for my dad already. There is no loyalty or trust from companies and you can be axed at any minute without notice. It's time to realize that a "career" was just indentured service with extra steps. Take what you can from corporations and give nothing back.

If you see a career as some kind of progression within a single company, then sure. I always saw it as my own progression, and I've rarely stayed at a single company longer than 2 years. I have no loyalty to companies, and I don't expect it from them either. Doesn't mean I don't have a career!
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