251–260 of 1001 posts
I've been a consultant for years, and I'd be unable to work as an employee for any company, especially a larger one. Seeing all the bullshit employees have to put up with at companies would make me scream. I'm not talking about the work, it's everything else. The culture.
What do you do? Contact Fortran code?
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> Maybe it's more of a European thing to do. Yeah, for Americans it means buying health insurance which is quite a lot more expensive than what you get from your employer.
You can continue your employer insurance for 18 months. But, as you say, it's more out of your pocket because your employer is now no longer subsidizing it.
I've been unemployed for a long time, living on benefits, without guilt or remorse. For health and other reasons. One problem being lack of social integration and interaction. But honestly I don't think I can believe in the necessity of having a job, if I can't see purpose or meaning. There are few jobs that matter, and a lot of barriers and filtering. /r/antiwork is really a viewpoint I can understand and defend.
How is this a scalable approach to everyone in the society? Someone has to work to produce food. Someone has to work to produce electricity. Until we can automate everything, most people have to work and contribute to society (unless you choose to be self-sufficient - grow your own food, produce your own electricity etc.)
It is not, but let's not pretend most of us work to increase societal good. It just happens to be that our rent-seeking behavior is aligned with society's interests.
I can tell you all the market for devs is white hot at the moment. I mean it was never cold, but right now seems to be insane. If the work-from-home thing has given you thoughts about what you like, now is the time to go. I see very few firms insisting on onsite work though, having interviewed with quite a few over the last few weeks. Even guys that I know would rather have people in the office and would pay them ver…
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Technical+Product+Managers+%26...
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I think the advice is a reasonable thing to consider; a lot of responses (and presumably downvotes) are either "It doesn't matter to potential employers", which is categorically untrue - it'll matter to some, raise a question to others, and be irrelevant to others yet. How you answer that question is important, and it's fascinating that other half of comments is, basically, "Lie!". When I'm interviewing candidates, a…
Someone who has been doing "independent consulting" for six months or a year is pretty transparently obfuscating that they were unemployed. I'd probably view it in a better light--not that there's anything wrong with doing or trying to do some consulting on the side--if they were just open about taking some time off.
Lol, what? I did exactly that after getting pissed off with $LARGE_CRAPPY_EMPLOYER. Worked for 3-4 companies for 6-8 week periods over that time on a short term basis, and made more than $LARGE_CRAPPY_EMPLOYER by a factor n > 2, and did some work on a startup. But then $LARGE_EMPLOYER came along with an offer I couldn’t refuse.
Don’t project what “independent consulting” might mean for you onto everyone. It would be interview-ending if I caught a hiring manager suggested this was a euphemism, and I’d subsequently recommend every person that asked me about said company steered clear.
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Here is a good pdf where you can calculate it for your age: https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra... Basically, the metal levels are as follows: bronze, silver, gold, platinum are priced so that you the insurance company pays 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% of the healthcare costs. Of course, this is an actuarial calculation, so it’s only true over a large population over a long timeline. But healthcare is…
Wait, so insurance doesn't even cover 100% of the costs? So when you hear about those people who get lumped with $100k medical bills they still have to pay like $20k of that on top of your insurance? What happens if you can't afford the remaining percentage?
>So when you hear about those people who get lumped with $100k medical bills they still have to pay like $20k of that on top of your insurance?
It depends if the person was insured or not, and if the care was provided by healthcare providers who have contracts with the insurance company or not (referred to as being in network).
In the US, when you go to a healthcare provider, the first thing they will ask you to sign is a form acknowledging you know you are responsible for anything your insurance company does not pay for (unless you go to a vertically integrated healthcare / health insurance company like Kaiser Permanente). In fact, health insurance companies are better referred to as managed care organizations (MCOs) in the US.
What happens is people are not capable of knowing what healthcare services they need or do not need. They have no way to determine if they are being ripped of or not. So the MCOs employ legions of doctors and pharmacists and whatnot to double check the doctors performing the services. They also have enough knowledge about pricing healthcare procedures that they are more able to determine a "good" price to pay.
Anyway, after the ACA law, there is an out of pocket maximum for in network providers, so you would not get a $100k bill. the out of pocket maximum for individual / family is $8,550 / $17.1k in 2021:
https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...
So you would only be liable up to that amount at most in a calendar year for all healthcare you receive from an in network provider. Everything else is paid for by insurance.
>What happens if you can't afford the remaining percentage?
The healthcare provider can choose to go after you for it, since you signed the form that says you will pay them if insurance does not. If you feel your insurance denied the doctor inappropriately, you can appeal to a third party to determine if insurance is obliged to pay it (if it is evidence based medicine, then they most likely have to pay it).
Im quitting and not looking for another job. Gonna use the savings to take a gap year, or a couple, work on some stuff I want maybe. Maybe more involvement in OSS is coming too? I've never had a gap year, it was all school, then immigration, work, university, more work. Any holiday time you fly back home. I kept hearing its not unusual for people in the west to take gap years, so thats what Im doing. edit: thank you…
I left my job in May and I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail now. I saved more than enough for living in a tent for 5 months (admittedly the tent was expensive but I already had it). So far it's been great. I've met a lot of folks who are burned out and taking some time to think. If long-distance hiking appeals, I'd be happy to discuss it. Long-distance hiking isn't for everyone but
Good luck out there.
Listen, I am completely on board with giving employees the right to choose the remote situation - but don't be surprised when you're competing against people from all over the globe, who will probably take a lower salary than you, who probably aren't entitled as you, and will bite at the opportunity. Furthermore, what are employers meant to do with their workplaces when employees are half-in, half-out with the office…
It's probably impractical though with regard to payroll, taxes etc but the dream is nice
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I think this is horrible advice. I’ve hired all sorts of people with voluntary time off on their resume. Your experience doesn’t ‘expire’ in a single year. Life is about more than just working, if you have the money to take time off to enjoy your life you shouldn’t not do it out of fear.
>Your experience doesn’t ‘expire’ in a single year You're right, it doesn't. But it brings up all sorts of questions in the mind of your interviewer as to the true nature of your departure, and it immediately puts you at a huge disadvantage.
Great - it can add to the list of disadvantages I have with companies I would never want to work for.