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

truzzi.me

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

#321

Post by Tycho »

rad_gruchalski wrote: post #318

There is something in the second paragraph that made me read it four times, I think, until I was able to read the rest of the post. The author somehow manages to turn around the fact of being laid off into freeing themselves from the "golden handcuffs finally". No matter how I read that paragraph, I can't help the feeling that the author misses the point: the author did not make that decision, the author had no choic…

Golden handcuffs means to leave would mean giving up too much money. I think it’s understandable behaviour. It would be financially irresponsible to quit a job that pays very well, especially if you’re not sure of landing another one. Being laid off, however, takes you out of the dilemma, so feels like a relief.

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

#322

Post by wjdp »

qiqitori wrote: post #210
CleanCoder wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 the…

> I am most curious about the "no technical interview" part and "my work speaks for my skills" while OP's GitHub is just forks. On Github you have to fork a project first if you want to create a pull request. I randomly opened three of the forks and saw that he'd made pull requests for two of them.

There is a UI problem on GH with forks. (From my limited experience) most profiles that are full of forks the person just uses forks like they would stars. No branches or PRs made. I'd guess, cynically, this is to fill out their profile.

On the other hand a profile of meaningful contributions looks the same on the surface.

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

#323

Post by mekal »

rad_gruchalski wrote: post #318

There is something in the second paragraph that made me read it four times, I think, until I was able to read the rest of the post. The author somehow manages to turn around the fact of being laid off into freeing themselves from the "golden handcuffs finally". No matter how I read that paragraph, I can't help the feeling that the author misses the point: the author did not make that decision, the author had no choic…

"But what's not landing with me: when the author had the choice....nobody cuffed the author to the desk".

Golden handcuffs: a phrase first recorded in 1976, refers to financial allurements and benefits that have the objective to encourage highly compensated employees to remain within a company or organization instead of moving from company to company (or organization to organization) (opposite of a golden parachute).

Surely you can relate to someone taking a job they might not love because it pays more right? I think the main point he's trying to make is think twice before doing a job you hate, just because it pays more. Life is short, your job takes up a lot of your time, so consider doing something you enjoy...even if it pays less. That part at least is good advice I think.

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

#324

Post by itronitron »

dkyc wrote: post #195

It's almost funny how this is the polar opposite of what you often want when hiring. You're hiring to add manpower to tackle the kind of unexciting tasks that you don't naturally find people drawn towards from your existing team (and then, people's responsibilities expand, or they turn 'boring' work into interesting work by redefining the problem or attacking it on a deeper level). When you have a growing business, m…

If a company is trying to hire people to do the work that current employees don't want to do then it sounds like they have already hired the wrong people.

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

#325

Post by ipaddr »

username90 wrote: post #277
plutonorm wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on personality. For some its poison and burnout and depression are not far behind.

Yeah, personally having a large chunk of the day be simple tedious tasks I don't have any control over makes me depressed and every day becomes a fight to keep the mental breakdown just out of reach. I envy people who can stay sane in such environments, makes life a lot easier.

I feel that way about meetings. Boring tasks can be automated away if they have a pattern.

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

#326

Post by varispeed »

yongjik wrote: post #260

A generic advice: 15 years ago I might have felt similarly, but now I think it's the other way. If you want interesting work, demand higher pays and try to get into such positions. When you're highly paid you will get more interesting work, because the company will see you as a valuable asset that should be working on "hard" things. When you're being paid a penny, the company will think you're worth a penny and will…

This is what I found as well. At high pay, you may be getting into building MVPs and prototypes - these don't require "boring" things like extensive testing or documentation. The board will see that their idea works and then only "boring" part is hand over to dev teams to "productionise" it.

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

#327

Post by travisjungroth »

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…

Those aren't "issues" with his post. They're just reasons that you would hypothetically (you're not even hiring someone) be a bad match. That's it. Doesn't mean you're bad, doesn't mean he's bad, doesn't mean his post needs changing, doesn't mean your company needs changing. None of that. He advertised himself honestly and it's clear it would be a bad fit.

If your concerns are onboarding process and talking to lawyers, you would be absolutely out of your mind to hire someone who says "I'll work on stuff that pleases me when I feel like it for little money. And no tech screens, please!".

A better match is an owner-run tiny software company. "We have an open source Python client library. It needs type hints. Sound interesting? Here's a link to the repo and some docs. I'll give you $5/hr in ETH up to $100 for whatever you do by the end of Friday." Then on Friday afternoon you maybe have some type hints and pay out up to $100.

I'm picking on your comment in particular, but it's crazy to me how much criticism this guy is getting. He wants to try something new, and so many people are telling him what he should be doing, or why being on the other side of this trade is so terrible. Let's just let them make up their own minds. Let's stop trying to cram each other into little boxes.

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

#328

Post by isbvhodnvemrwvn »

tayo42 wrote: post #250
Popegaf wrote: post #141

As others have suggested, have you considered joining an opensource project? - https://github-help-wanted.com/ - https://up-for-grabs.net/ - https://www.codetriage.com/ - https://opencollective.com/discover I'm sure there are organisations that would love to have some technical volunteers. Maybe try and find NGOs you believe in and send them a private or public message? Or, if you want to get politically involved in…

Yeah I don't know why someone would essentially give away their talent and time to a for profit corporation. There are so many better alternatives

Well, money.

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

#329

Post by jascii »

brightball wrote: post #310
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…

I had a developer on my team at my last company who was like this. Avoid at all cost.

What do you mean by "like this" and why in particular should that be avoided at all cost?

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

#330

Post by minblaster »

I think the author is getting stuck in tactics, not strategy.

Problem: OP does not have the freedom to pursue what he finds interesting.

Tactic: Given existing work arrangements, attempt to negotiate a setup where he can just work on what he wants. If the employer changes its mind, OP gets to restart the cycle.

Strategy: Avoid having this problem in the first place.

Pursuing the strategy means taking a high-paying job, saving a large fraction (https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si...) and having the financial freedom to never worry about this problem again.

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