Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

On loyalty to your employer (2018)

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 466 posts

Re: On loyalty to your employer (2018)

#61

Post by Peroni »

smokel wrote: post #45

This article is written by a recruiter. Recruiters make less money if everyone stays put. So repeating this trope about employees being transactions might be great for them, but it does not contribute to a more friendly society. A bit of trust and loyalty makes working together a lot more enjoyable. And not every CEO is a narcissist. Just stay away from the really big companies, and you might be fine.

I hadn't considered the idea that my motivation for writing this might be interpreted as a ploy to generate more business. :)

Most of my perspective comes from working for and with startups. There's nothing wrong with a bit of mutual trust and loyalty. I'm simply warning that too much of either can be detrimental.

Re: On loyalty to your employer (2018)

#62

Post by CharlieDigital »

motorest wrote: post #56
CharlieDigital wrote: post #4

> “When I’m on my deathbed, I won’t look back at my life and wish I had worked harder. I’ll look back and wish I spent more time with the people I loved.” I saw a Reddit thread the other day on r/startups or r/entrepreneur where the OP was talking about how they'll be working until the day he or she dies. I immediately wondered if this individual had a family, friends. Had this person already seen the world and its m…

> I immediately wondered if this individual had a family, friends. (...) The saddest thing I ever witnessed in a FANG was a participant of one of those workplace empowerment events. Even though her interview was focused on her bending over backwards to praise their employer's health insurance, the devil was in the details. The interviewee was praising her employer for providing a nice health insurance, but she mentio…

It's a tough trade off. On the one hand, having a child in your 20's is how our biology is wired. On the other hand, in the modern age, those are also prime years for work and professional growth; I get it.

Last year, I (in my 40's) did a trip to Terceira[0] and after a few days of hiking, had shooting pain in my knee. I immediately wondered if I had torn something! It would be quite the pickle since I had traveled with a backpack. Luckily, it was ITBS (Iliotibial band syndrome) and went away with some Acetaminophen and rest.

But it made me regret that in my 20's I spent more time playing computer games than doing things like this hike that would be even challenging if I were to wait until I retired.

[0] https://youtu.be/DlFKc4OfbpM Terceira is a spectacular destination, by the way, and easy to access from JFK.

Re: On loyalty to your employer (2018)

#63

Post by kevmo314 »

CharlieDigital wrote: post #35
paulcole wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the person just doesn’t care about swimming with whales or having friends? Does everybody really think the dense Amazon jungle is neat? You’re projecting what you think makes life worth living onto someone else. Can you really not imagine that for another person working is what they love as much as you seem to love climbing snowy mountains? > Life is too short I agree with this. It’s too short to think about ho…

You're missing the forest for the trees. You have one lifetime on this Earth and it is a big place with many experiences and sights. Do not regret in the end that you exchanged too much of that one lifetime for money rather than enriching it with many experiences be it with family, friends, or even by oneself.

If you're reading r/startups or r/entrepreneur, I suspect original OP drives some satisfaction and meaning from building a money-making machine themselves.

Not everyone wants to travel the world their entire life, and working is an experience in itself that similarly may not resonate with everyone.

Re: On loyalty to your employer (2018)

#65

Post by OutOfHere »

keiferski wrote: post #49
OutOfHere wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's complete nonsense. An employer is nothing like a partner. And as for those who are not loyal to friends, they will quickly find themselves without any. As long as the employer is not solving world hunger or finding a cure for disease, the relationship is strictly transactional, and will remain as such.

I didn't say that they are similar types of things, but that similar incentive structures are at play across them. That seems pretty obvious to me if we look at 1) the way employees make more money by changing jobs often and 2) how people using dating apps are always complaining about FOMO, infinite choice, and so on. In both situations the "user" is incentivized to not be loyal.

They're not the same. Commitment is a thing in personal relationships. In a professional relationship, it is still a thing, but it is contingent on the employer demonstrating it. The first side to break the commitment is the one who is in the wrong.

Infinite choice is something to exercise before making a commitment, not after it.

Re: On loyalty to your employer (2018)

#66

Post by mattgreenrocks »

CharlieDigital wrote: post #19
maccard wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the middle ground is healthy. I'm in my early 30's, I have a job that I get to "create" in (I make video games). > I immediately wondered if this individual had a family, friends. Had this person already seen the world and its many sights and wonders? Had they already experienced everything good there is to experience in this one lifetime that they were so bored of it that they would prefer to work instead? H…

> "I can't wait until I'm 50 and I can finally start doing all those things". I had an uncle pass last year and he was only 30 years older than me. He had already retired and a multi-millionaire in assets. Yet my aunt refused to retire because of a high paying job with little actual work. She kept working. When he passed, the family asked me to put together a montage video and shared their photos with me spanning his…

Spent my 20s grinding away at getting great at building software. I enjoyed it mostly, but there are definite regrets, esp with tech never being able to shut up about how awesome AI is in killing off any notion of craft.

Re: travel: this is one of the big takeaways from the book Die With Zero: travel is much easier when you are younger even if it is more expensive (relative to your assets). Just got back from an Italy trip where I averaged 5mi a day walking. 10 years from now (50s) it’s a coin flip if it would be possible for me to sustain that much walking over 10 days. Probable? Yes. But not guaranteed.

Re: On loyalty to your employer (2018)

#67

Post by mattgreenrocks »

CharlieDigital wrote: post #62
motorest wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I immediately wondered if this individual had a family, friends. (...) The saddest thing I ever witnessed in a FANG was a participant of one of those workplace empowerment events. Even though her interview was focused on her bending over backwards to praise their employer's health insurance, the devil was in the details. The interviewee was praising her employer for providing a nice health insurance, but she mentio…

It's a tough trade off. On the one hand, having a child in your 20's is how our biology is wired. On the other hand, in the modern age, those are also prime years for work and professional growth; I get it. Last year, I (in my 40's) did a trip to Terceira[0] and after a few days of hiking, had shooting pain in my knee. I immediately wondered if I had torn something! It would be quite the pickle since I had traveled w…

20s in tech is basically show up, do your work, and get paid a pittance of the value it generates.

Re: On loyalty to your employer (2018)

#68

Post by motorest »

maccard wrote: post #26
CharlieDigital wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I can't wait until I'm 50 and I can finally start doing all those things". I had an uncle pass last year and he was only 30 years older than me. He had already retired and a multi-millionaire in assets. Yet my aunt refused to retire because of a high paying job with little actual work. She kept working. When he passed, the family asked me to put together a montage video and shared their photos with me spanning his…

Travelling isn’t the be all and end all of things either remember. That might be something that you prioritise but isn’t as important to other people. They might value time with family and friends, and that’s ok too. A bit like with food, “variety is the spice of life”

> Travelling isn’t the be all and end all of things either remember.

I think you're missing the whole point. For you, traveling might not be that fun. For OP's uncle, apparently it was. He had to forego that because of reasons.

I do a fair share of traveling. I love it, and a few of my most cherished memories come from trips I did. This might come as a surprise to you, but the whole point of traveling is not to go from point A to point B or spend time in airports. The whole point is to do things you personally enjoy, including and not limited to spending time with people you enjoy being with. Most of the time, the destinations and the things we do are only the backdrop to the things we actually enjoy.

Re: On loyalty to your employer (2018)

#69

Post by CharlieDigital »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #66
CharlieDigital wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I can't wait until I'm 50 and I can finally start doing all those things". I had an uncle pass last year and he was only 30 years older than me. He had already retired and a multi-millionaire in assets. Yet my aunt refused to retire because of a high paying job with little actual work. She kept working. When he passed, the family asked me to put together a montage video and shared their photos with me spanning his…

Spent my 20s grinding away at getting great at building software. I enjoyed it mostly, but there are definite regrets, esp with tech never being able to shut up about how awesome AI is in killing off any notion of craft. Re: travel: this is one of the big takeaways from the book Die With Zero: travel is much easier when you are younger even if it is more expensive (relative to your assets). Just got back from an Ital…

    > even if it is more expensive (relative to your assets)
A lot of this is relative to one's standards and objectives. You are certainly right that it is expensive relative to assets in one's youth, but it can still be quite attainable if backpacking, hostels, and street food are options.

When we went to Tokyo recently, the room we booked was tiny! The bed was only 6 or so inches away from the walls on each side. But for me, it was only a place to sleep at night and keep my luggage. If I had spent any more time than that in the hotel, it would have meant we did not spend enough time exploring Tokyo.

Post reply on HN