51–60 of 393 posts
If you're mature and hardworking, I have no problem with you taking PTO whenever you need it or not committing to hard deadlines. But those are earned privileges based on trust and a history of delivering.
It is so hard to hire software engineers and there are tons of them. Bootcamps are not the answer. It is not a quantity problem, it is a quality problem.
"They can take an arbitrary sabbatical from work, they cannot be told no or reprimanded, and they make so much money that they can just take random breaks from employment to chill." I have yet to hear a convincing argument why this is a bad thing.
Honestly? It isn't sustainable and its not a productive use of capital. This lifestyle is going to implode when the economy stumbles.
JM Keynes said eons ago that with increases in efficiency we will eventually be able to get to a 15-hour work week. So, a particular industry in a particular area was able to get to an approximation of that, and the counter-argument is that this is not a productive use of capital?
Besides, TFA complains that all these people are working on silly startups, which is presumably not a productive use of capital either. You can't have it both ways.
"Engineers are particularly spoiled. They can take an arbitrary sabbatical from work..." (on the about page) "...Currently a principal engineer at AppNexus on sabbatical..." ???
Who cares if people are spending money to get shit done for them that they don't want to personally do (laundry, groceries). As long as they can pay for it and are utilizing hours to what they actually want to do in life I don't see the harm.
And expensive food exists in most major cities.
There might be some truth to the title, but the article lacked the data to support any of it. I'm flabbergasted that it got upvoted on the frontpage of HN.
"Engineers are particularly spoiled. They can take an arbitrary sabbatical from work..." (on the about page) "...Currently a principal engineer at AppNexus on sabbatical..." ???
If you're an engineer with a family here in SV, you cannot take a sabbatical. In most cases you need to get a job in a week or the rent will drive you to bankruptcy.
I have to say that I didn't really understand the perspective the writer was coming from. It kind of felt like he just wanted to finger wag at SF. > Everything is too expensive. Just normal supply and demand economics. This happens all the time all over the world when lots of high earning people suddenly move to an area. > There are thousands of dumb startups. Yup. And most of them will die. And some of them will bec…
I have to say that I didn't really understand the perspective the writer was coming from. It kind of felt like he just wanted to finger wag at SF. > Everything is too expensive. Just normal supply and demand economics. This happens all the time all over the world when lots of high earning people suddenly move to an area. > There are thousands of dumb startups. Yup. And most of them will die. And some of them will bec…
My favorite example is YouTube. If you had asked me if I wanted to invest in a video upload site where 95% of the material were pirated clips off of TV I would have said "you're crazy! You'll be sued out of existence."
"Engineers are particularly spoiled. They can take an arbitrary sabbatical from work..." (on the about page) "...Currently a principal engineer at AppNexus on sabbatical..." ???
I'm very hypocritical.
"AppNexus helps brands connect with consumers, empowering agencies and advertisers with a uniquely powerful approach to programmatic online advertising."
Thanks for working on Ad Tech, the very thing that powers this bubble by trading attention as a commodity. Other people work on silly startups, but this shit is akin to HFT.
Companies evolve, and some don't stay dumb forever.
Money has been close to free for years. As the interest rate ticks up everything will change. It's already starting to. More expensive borrowing, less leverage, and better places to put dollars than venture. The one thing I really agree with though is the funny thing that happens here with the word "engineer". If you can make a website you somehow qualify for the title software engineer. By Bay Area standards, I myse…