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Cutting your salary by 40%

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Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#331

Post by dogruck »

dogruck wrote: post #101
Twirrim wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For one thing, it's highly convenient that the standard US work-week happens to be the exact "correct" amount of hours to work to maximize productivity. It's not in the slightest bit down to convenience. It's because 40 hours was quite simply discovered to be a more productive length of day, well over a century ago, back in the later stages of the industrial revolution. In the US, if memory serves, the move to a 40…

Ah, Henry Ford experimented? That's just good science. Hehe. Seriously though -- I'd like to read more about that. Do you have a source?

Also, worth pointing out that Henry Ford was an enthusiastic Nazi supporter. https://www.thenation.com/article/ford-and-fuhrer/

Relevant in case you think "Henry Ford thought of the idea, therefore it is correct."

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#332

Post by taysic »

notyourday wrote: post #182
Joe-Z wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but do you know anything about my work as a coder besides that I work 30 hours a week? I bet you, if you were to ask my boss if I've proven a valuable asset to the company he would sing you a song of praise for my work. Working long hours isn't everything.

> I bet you, if you were to ask my boss if I've proven a valuable asset to the company he would sing you a song of praise for my work. Because you work for him and he does not work for you. People rise to one level above their competency. You are a worker-bee. He is a queen. Him singing praises for your work is irrelevant. The only metric that is relevant in this discussion is who is the boss.

What does your comment have to do with OP's boss being willing to give him responsibilities beyond just being a coder - despite being rude?

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#333

Post by dogruck »

grasshopperpurp wrote: post #312
dogruck wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their behavior certainly has a causal relationship with their tax bracket, yes. The attitude pervades their life. * You know how most folks sleep and drink when they fly? They work on their laptop. * You know how most people come home from work exhausted? They come home energized by the things they worked on, filled with new ideas.

I appreciate the perspective. Do you know if these people have similar backgrounds (rags-to-riches vs born into money)?

Most, but not all, grew up very poor. Why do you ask?

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#334

Post by RonanTheGrey »

TheKarateKid wrote: post #325
adambmedia wrote: post #222

I often think about Arthur Rubenstein, the phenom mid-century pianist, for whom a lot has been written about his mission in early life to "practice as little as possible." There's a lot of hyped up romanticism in these quotes and anyone who plays at his level has spent a lifetime playing piano, period. Regardless, his guidance about spontaneity, creativity, and the relationship to practicing too much, which I equate…

I see the point you're making, but I have to disagree. I think a part of mastering any area of expertise is being so good at what it is you do that it becomes second-nature to you. This allows you to use your skills on demand when you need it, whenever and wherever. No prep required. And since it's second nature, you can tweak it as needed to make it fresh and interesting to yourself and other people. A good example…

This is because Lady Gaga is actually an artist, with practiced skills and true talent, vs. a performer that has to be auto-tuned when on stage because they were picked due to their looks or marketability and not due to any inherent talent.

That's what we still SELL as the ideal of art and music, but very rarely deliver. LG is a refreshing presence in modern music.

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#335

Post by RonanTheGrey »

megaduck wrote: post #50

I enforce a militant "40 hours only" policy for my employees, and it's incredible for productivity. When you work longer hours defect rates increase, code quality drops, and things are on fire all the time. You also lose really good people due to burnout. Sustainable pace is super important for creating and maintaining high performance teams. Crassly, it's just a more profitable way of doing business. I wish more man…

You are my new favorite person. I love running into these anecdotes - I keep thinking I'm alone in believing that a business can be run according to this policy.

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#336

Post by cardiffspaceman »

dogruck wrote: post #289
Stranger43 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's what most of the English speaking societies have centred on over time. Other places say Scandinavia might put it at 37 and some Asian companies might be closer to 45. But around 40 hours pr week is where most modern societies tend to think work/life balance is reasonable both for the economy and the individual. The old union slogan used to be 8 hours of work 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of leisure. And in many w…

That's linked to the question of "how many hours can we extract from these human widgets before they revolt?" It doesn't hold true in times of crisis, such as war. When the US ramped up for WWII, people were happily working around the clock. And I'm not sure that it applies to the knowledge workers. My own view is that knowledge workers are productive in bursts.

The US was only in that period from Dec 1941 to Aug 1945, just over 3 1/2 years. Assuming that the build-up years (when "everyone knew" we were going to have a war) were not as intense.

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#337

Post by logfromblammo »

s73ver_ wrote: post #269
mateo411 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not available to salary workers.

Salary non-exempt is a thing.

It would take an examination of the criteria determining the exempt classification.

FLSA 13(a)(17) covers "computer professionals".

If you do not use highly-specialized knowledge, or are not allowed to use your own judgment and discretion, you could potentially challenge the exemption. I would consider the number of hours worked in excess of 40 per week to be part of that discretion. And in my opinion, "at will" employees have significantly reduced discretion, as they can be fired at any time for any reason, or no reason, but I am not a lawyer, and I don't think any judge would ever determine exemptness based solely on that. It might be a contributing factor. If you're at will, and feel like working fewer than 70 hours/week would get you fired, a judge might strip off the exemption just from the pure horror.

But definitely read that section of the law, and ask yourself again whether software professionals need a union. That was specifically written for us--or against us, depending on your opinion of it.

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#338

Post by jawilson2 »

Pharylon wrote: post #283
adambmedia wrote: post #222

I often think about Arthur Rubenstein, the phenom mid-century pianist, for whom a lot has been written about his mission in early life to "practice as little as possible." There's a lot of hyped up romanticism in these quotes and anyone who plays at his level has spent a lifetime playing piano, period. Regardless, his guidance about spontaneity, creativity, and the relationship to practicing too much, which I equate…

My brother is in a bluegrass band. They've been around for 10 years now, and there's a lot of music they've played so many times I'm sure they could do it in their sleep. There are a few songs that I really do think they used to do better, back when they were just starting out. Specifically, some of the fast, most technically difficult songs that they used to play right up until they were at the edge of what was poss…

I think of the Rolling Stones for this. They have played every song 10,000 times now, and it shows. Their 60's and early 70's shows were magic and energetic. It sounded like the song could fall apart at any moment, like we were on a musical quest discovering the song WITH them. Yeah, they're in their 70's, but plenty of other musicians their age pull it off.

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#339

Post by [deleted] »

_m96l wrote: post #316
adambmedia wrote: post #222

I often think about Arthur Rubenstein, the phenom mid-century pianist, for whom a lot has been written about his mission in early life to "practice as little as possible." There's a lot of hyped up romanticism in these quotes and anyone who plays at his level has spent a lifetime playing piano, period. Regardless, his guidance about spontaneity, creativity, and the relationship to practicing too much, which I equate…

There's simply no relation between the constant death-march described in this article and "practice" in the sense of personal improvement and skill-building. In fact, they're antithetical. Even the strongest advocates of "practice makes perfect" doctrines, such as Anders Ericsson, talk about something called deliberate practice , which is an expertly designed regiment, requiring exhausting mental and physical effort,…

[deleted]

Re: Cutting your salary by 40%

#340

Post by notyourday »

taysic wrote: post #332
notyourday wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I bet you, if you were to ask my boss if I've proven a valuable asset to the company he would sing you a song of praise for my work. Because you work for him and he does not work for you. People rise to one level above their competency. You are a worker-bee. He is a queen. Him singing praises for your work is irrelevant. The only metric that is relevant in this discussion is who is the boss.

What does your comment have to do with OP's boss being willing to give him responsibilities beyond just being a coder - despite being rude?

OP's position is:

"I'm valuable, just ask my boss. He sings praises for me"

It is a very naive position that needs to be eradicated If it is not, then "take 50% off your salary and be happy about it" would be a norm. In our society money and power are proxy for the value.

People get promoted to one level above their competency because at the top level of their performance they do well which means that they are promoted one layer higher. That's the last promotion they get.

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