At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus • Hacker News Board

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#31

Post by razh » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 8:56 PM UTC

m12k wrote: post #8

A tech company in Bellevue Washington with a "shadowy and illusory "peer review" system" - this is Valve we're talking about, right? (fits his Twitter bio)

Yep, he posted a similar set of tweets back in 2018:

https://www.pcgamer.com/ex-valve-employee-describes-ruthless...

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#32

Post by solenoidalslide » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 8:56 PM UTC

randyrand wrote: post #18

tayo42 wrote: post #15

I don't get why you need to sabotage others? Does your bonus size shrink if others get a bonus or something?

yes. that’s pretty typical. managers get a lump sum to distribute among the team, at least at Apple.

All those managers seem to think it's a good enough motivator to keep it around.

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#33

Post by daenz » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 8:56 PM UTC

Many people are highlighting the zero-sum nature of bonuses. I wonder how much of this problem goes away if bonuses are no longer zero-sum. In theory, it shouldn't even cost the business more money, because everyone who meets the bonus requirements should get a bonus, in either system.

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#34

Post by __derek__ » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 8:57 PM UTC

> If you want to see how crazy and mental tech people can get, start making the bulk of their income dependent on 6-7 figure bonuses.

This is unrelated to "tech" people. It's a common trope for shows about bankers, attorneys, consultants, etc.

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#35

Post by krallja » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 8:58 PM UTC

The only bonus I have ever received which didn’t make me feel scummy was profit-sharing. Most companies don’t do it because profit is for the owners. Everything else just feels like a way to decide whether or not to pay me what I’m worth after I’ve already done the work

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#36

Post by uncomputation » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 8:58 PM UTC

> Programmers will purposely subtly sabotage key utility functions, methods, or systems to prevent their bonus competitors

This seems like a potentially self-destructive way to accomplish this. Not sure what company he is referring to, but at all I have worked at, this would be filed as a bug report and a quick git blame tells you all you need to know. Over time, if your name keeps coming up in that commit log, you'll get a bad reputation and your code in particular will acquire a smell ("Oh Bob, wrote this code... better be careful here," etc.)

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#37

Post by SEJeff » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 8:59 PM UTC

Big end of year bonuses are par for the course (in addition to a nice salary) in finance. I've worked as an engineer in the industry for close to 15 years.

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#38

Post by daenz » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 8:59 PM UTC

exdsq wrote: post #10

m12k wrote: post #8

A tech company in Bellevue Washington with a "shadowy and illusory "peer review" system" - this is Valve we're talking about, right? (fits his Twitter bio)

Just coming to say that - he's not the best at keeping things secret lol.

There's a difference between keeping a secret, and avoiding legal trouble by not specifically naming an employer.

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#39

Post by masklinn » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 9:02 PM UTC

solenoidalslide wrote: post #32

randyrand wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes. that’s pretty typical. managers get a lump sum to distribute among the team, at least at Apple.

All those managers seem to think it's a good enough motivator to keep it around.

It's certainly a good way to have a lot of monkeys jumping when you say so.

Re: At one company I worked at only one thing mattered: the yearly bonus

#40

Post by t_mann » Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 9:02 PM UTC

krallja wrote: post #35

The only bonus I have ever received which didn’t make me feel scummy was profit-sharing. Most companies don’t do it because profit is for the owners. Everything else just feels like a way to decide whether or not to pay me what I’m worth after I’ve already done the work

How is that different? Somehow we have to measure what your individual contribution to the company's profits was, which, unless you work in sales maybe, is going to involve a lot of judgment.