Did my old job only exist because of fraud? • Hacker News Board

Re: Did my old job only exist because of fraud?

#451

Post by etothepii » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 11:49 PM UTC

nathanhammond wrote: post #292

RandyRanderson wrote: post #272

In Canada this is a huge scam. The government advertizes that it's funding incubators. Great, right? The money doesn't go to the start ups - it all goes to large tech companies like IBM, etc, because, obviously, IBM knows about innovation. The cover is that the government doesn't know tech so it will give money to trusted partners and they will choose who to give the money to because they've been doing such a great j…

If you can read it, here's the same story happening in Hong Kong, but with outright fraud on the recipients' end. https://thecollectivehk.com/%e7%a7%91%e6%8a%80%e5%88%b8%e8%a...

Some Hong Kong money definitely goes to startups. I got flights paid for to go to a pitching competition.

Re: Did my old job only exist because of fraud?

#452

Post by necovek » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 4:16 AM UTC

voakbasda wrote: post #443

necovek wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He can report the incident to digital crimes unit who can subpoena HN/YC for identity of the poster, and then they can take it from there. There is always something you can do — whether you are going to bother is an altogether a different matter.

Your really think this would be investigated? An uncorroborated story shared on online forum by an anonymous poster? You really think highly of authority, don’t you?

Nope, I do not: but if someone is riding the moral high horse, start with themselves ;)

Re: Did my old job only exist because of fraud?

#453

Post by Suppafly » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 4:19 AM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #237

etothepii wrote: post #25

As a junior software engineer, I worked at a large UK bank. Senior management routinely seem baffled that they could announce redundancies or hiring freezes, yet technology costs would continue to rise. One pattern I saw repeatedly was a contractor being let go, only to return via a large outsourcing provider. The provider must have added a substantial markup despite supplying the same engineer back to the same team,…

Most large corporations treat these categories of employment as different budget line items with different rules and limitations: (1) full-time employees, (2) individual contractors, and (3) large contractor "body-shops" or outsourcing providers. Many times in my career, I have seen layoff a few from (1) then way over spend on (2) or (3). The mid-level manager who makes the decision gets to "claim" that expenses were…

>The mid-level manager who makes the decision gets to "claim" that expenses were reduced in (1) and "win" at year-end reviews.

I worked at a company where every 6-sigma project ended up that way. They eventually had to stop giving bonuses for 'saving money' because the projects would only save money for a month or two before ending up costing extra in the long run.

Re: Did my old job only exist because of fraud?

#454

Post by parineum » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:24 AM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #390

throwitaway222 wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Governments should really get out of it's free money crap everywhere. Only people that care should be giving out money so that they can look at their investments and make sure they want to keep spending.

Why can't we, like, hire good people to oversee this stuff? Pay them competitive wages. If they're corrupt, prosecute the corruption. I feel like these discussions always devolve from "a government is doing a thing badly" → "governments always do things badly" → "governments should stop doing things". But governments are basically the only party that can act in the best interest of citizens rather than shareholders.…

> Why can't we, like, hire good people to oversee this stuff? Pay them competitive wages. If they're corrupt, prosecute the corruption.

The important thing about private industry is that everyone's job is dependent not just on doing their job well but also on the company doing well.

Government programs can become corrupt because they can't fail. If a private company was giving out bloated do nothing contracts to their spouses nephew, they'd go out of business.

Re: Did my old job only exist because of fraud?

#455

Post by parineum » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 9:32 AM UTC

N_Lens wrote: post #422

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abuses happen. But they are the exception, not the rule. There's no need to be so cynical and mocking about it.

If a child rapist can become president with the support of the highest court in the country, and repeatedly abuse his position to indict his political enemies while enriching himself, truly all is well in the land of the free.

Do you believe there is evidence that Donald Trump raped a child?

Re: Did my old job only exist because of fraud?

#456

Post by neutronicus » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 1:20 PM UTC

consensus1 wrote: post #351

vintermann wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Managers love the idea that contractors can be fired more easily than employees. Except that this flexibility comes at a cost; people insist on being paid more to have an insecure job. This is true, but it's not the whole of it. In some cases the manager goes to a cabin in the woods to drunkenly shoot at moose with the head of the contracting company. It's a saying that "the purpose of a system is what it does". I…

This doesn't happen nearly as often as people think. I'm involved in multiple single digit million contracts with vendors, and not once has anyone at our company even met the vendor AMs in person. If I choose a vendor that is twice as expensive as a competitor I am going to have to justify that to the VP I report to and "we had fun on the golf course" is just not going to cut it.

My wife works at a big tech contracting company and they definitely make sales (and purchases) this way.

Re: Did my old job only exist because of fraud?

#457

Post by pyuser583 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:35 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #283

pyuser583 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem arises when moving someone from payroll to consulting creates the illusion they are not necessary.

That's not Accounting's problem. This is one of the many situations where counting beans creates idiocies, because GAAP has no concept of context , and management can play games to make the numbers look good while destroying real value. That's Level 1 of the problem. Level 2 is conscious fraud, either of investors or by investors. There are always startups that look suspiciously like their only purpose is to extract…

And yet quality of life keeps improving.