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

How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

jasont.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 183 posts

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#71

Post by AlwaysRock »

b3morales wrote: post #64
huehehue wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a manager - my work habits look pretty similar. If you don't trust your peers or reports, such that you need to monitor the specific hours they're doing asynchronous/solo work, then that's a problem. The challenge is actually getting people to take advantage of this. I work with folks who default to overworking, so I have to be pretty insistent that they take time for themselves.

I currently have a manager like you and honestly this is worth a lot. It's basically part of my compensation, almost like being paid in time . The peace of mind that comes with knowing that when I say "Hey, sorry, I need to take Wednesday off" the reply will be "Hope you've got something fun planned!" instead of the likes of "Hmm, well, we were ahead last sprint so if we slip this one it's okay" is incalculable. (I p…

Yup. I've left most jobs in the past because of a bad to okay manager. I've stayed at jobs that honestly I should have left sooner because of great managers.

Good managers help you improve your skills, give you meaningful feedback, facilitate work getting done, and get out of your way.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#72

Post by AlwaysRock »

bluedino wrote: post #49
lmarcos wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but what would be their argument against it? "Dev X is pushing his features on time, he's a nice college, always learning from him, but... Ah yeah, but he leaves work 1h before everyone else. Please fire him".

An argument could be made that the dev isn't getting either enough work or difficult enough work

So would it be better for the company for me to take on 1-2 more tickets per sprint and then leave 1+ year sooner from the company because I'm burned out?

Retention isnt talked about often but if companies spent half as much time retaining employees as they do hiring new employees then they would be far better off. A new hire needs 3-6 months before they are going to be as functional as someone who has been with a company for several years.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#73

Post by Tabular-Iceberg »

iancmceachern wrote: post #29

It's not your job to feel engaged. It's your employers job, your bosses. You can feel how you want to about it.

While objectively true, it's silly for employers not to exploit the psychology of the engaged employee for the employer's gain.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#76

Post by nisegami »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #50
dangerlibrary wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If managers are spending their days watching the color of the circles next to their team member's names, maybe the managers need more work to do in order to "stay engaged" at work. Of all the bad heuristics for trying to determine whether someone is being productive, this has to be near the bottom of the list. It's the digital equivalent of measuring engineer productivity by looking around the room and seeing who is…

Totally agree but from a SWE perspective on any kind of Agile/Scrum team I think the expectation is usually that you pick up another task if you finish early and there's still time during a sprint for example. This also obviously breeds other bad incentives i.e. the faster you work the more work you get.

>the faster you work the more work you get.

It took me about 2 months to learn this after getting my first job. Nowadays I intentionally add minor bugs that turn up during demos so I have stuff to "go back and fix" later.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#77

Post by bradlys »

To me - this article reads a lot like pure copium. This is the advice from a selfish manager who refuses to invest in their employees and instead tries to be extremely transactional and harvest as much as they can before PIPing them and managing them out.

Engagement is almost entirely dictated by your employer - not the employee. You need a good manager, good team, and decent work to stay engaged.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#80

Post by PretzelPirate »

VyseofArcadia wrote: post #10
imwillofficial wrote: post #3

I won’t spoil the article, but the advice is great. I’ll give number 4 a try. But the hobbies page of Wikipedia is too long and unorganized for my tastes. Anyone have any cool hobbies?

3D printing is a fun hobby that combines engineering skills with actual useful stuff. Just printed a set of tablecloth clamps for camping. Speaking of, camping! Nice to get some fresh air and away from screens for a bit. And I love cooking over an open fire. Speaking of, cooking! Once you get a little practice, you can really dazzle yourself and others with some delicious food. Especially when you realize that cookin…

I’d love to get into 3D printing, but the sheer amount of waste I’d produce is too much for me. I looked into recycling wasted filament into new filament, and all the reviews of different devices made it seem very hit or miss.

Is there a good way to not generate plastic waste and still get into 3D printing?

Post reply on HN