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Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

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Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#71

Post by ghaff »

haswell wrote: post #60
hipparchus wrote: post #49

Ok, I'll bite the bullet: how do you train interns and/or junior employees in a fully remote environment? I only have two years of experience so I'm still super new, but it's something I'm confronted with this, and I just don't know how to train people in a fully remote environment. It's from little things to catching an intern who doesn't know a couple extremely handy shortcuts with tools that they are still learnin…

I experienced this when we brought on junior members and an intern right as COVID hit. The short answer is that you do it like anything else you do remotely. Zoom, chat, email, regular check-ins. They join the standups and team calls, learn who to reach out to for help, are assigned a buddy, etc. There can be benefits in terms of teambuilding and camaraderie in a collocated environment, but I don’t think there’s anyt…

>a skill that they have most likely learned by now. And if they can’t collaborate remotely, they may not be a good fit for a remote company.

Those are both good points.

To the first, you really can't look at it through a "when I was a boy" lens. A lot of things are different with respect to communications today, especially those who went through school during the pandemic. Even outside of work, although I certainly still get together with people, I find that a lot of the time, we're quicker to setup a zoom call rather than go to someone's house or travel to some meeting.

And, it's a bit harsh, but you're also right with your second point. Maybe (assuming the company has decent practices) if remote doesn't work for them as an intern or other new hire, they may not be a good fit if that's also going to be the primary mode of work going forward.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#72

Post by ghaff »

tintedfireglass wrote: post #59
hipparchus wrote: post #49

Ok, I'll bite the bullet: how do you train interns and/or junior employees in a fully remote environment? I only have two years of experience so I'm still super new, but it's something I'm confronted with this, and I just don't know how to train people in a fully remote environment. It's from little things to catching an intern who doesn't know a couple extremely handy shortcuts with tools that they are still learnin…

Thank god someone feels the same. No one cares when I put this argument forward against remote work especially for me as a junior/beginner dev

People may care. But, if the company policy is that people can work remotely when they want to, asking others to commute into an office on a regular basis is a pretty high bar.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#73

Post by matwood »

sandworm101 wrote: post #43
dwnvotee wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outsourcing to Indian companies like HCL was a thing way before covid and remote work. Results were varied. I never felt threatened as a remote employee

Everyone looks to india, but that isnt the only cheaper labor market. If you work a tech job in the bay area, the most threatening labor market isnt india or china, but west virginia and alabama. The most direct threat isn't the overseas person willing to work for 10% of your wage, but your drop-in replacement willing to work for 80% of your wage because they are paying 50% less in rent.

I think the issue is you keep saying 'cheap' labor and a 'crash'. It might be better to qualify your statement as SV/FAANG salaries may adjust down, but for the vast majority across the US salaries will likely go up. I would also bet that many in SV will happily take 80% of their salary if they can live anywhere they like.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#74

Post by ghaff »

sheepscreek wrote: post #68
away271828 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know there are a lot of people here who are determined to insist that remote work is an unalloyed good. And that any effort to get people to come into an office is a plot by commercial real estate-owning MBAs. But things really aren't that simple. I work for a company that was pretty remote-friendly before and is quite heavily remote now to the point of closing down some major offices (mostly big suburban ones, not…

Like all things in life, there is a trade-off when we choose remote work over on-site work, or the other way around. I’ll share my personal experience below. I’ll reframe the argument to “can a company be 100% remote (where possible) without affecting profitability and productivity?” Anecdotally, I think the answer is yes. Culture does take a hit. Can be harder for more inexperienced team members to quickly integrate…

That's a good take and, as to:

>It also takes longer to develop bonds with colleagues

I wonder to what degree bonds that developed in-person inevitably decay over time as people leave the company or switch roles, if the primarily virtually-developed bonds will be as strong or effective. I expect not. Off-sites can probably help (though some of the stronger remote proponents object to those as well) but that assumes companies budget for travel and time away from the day-to-day.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#75

Post by matwood »

hipparchus wrote: post #49

Ok, I'll bite the bullet: how do you train interns and/or junior employees in a fully remote environment? I only have two years of experience so I'm still super new, but it's something I'm confronted with this, and I just don't know how to train people in a fully remote environment. It's from little things to catching an intern who doesn't know a couple extremely handy shortcuts with tools that they are still learnin…

Prior to remote, many companies got by without much thought about the onboarding process. Basically, they stuck a new person in an office and assumed it would work out. With remote, companies have to be deliberate in their process. I have found this to be a good thing.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#76

Post by matwood »

ejb999 wrote: post #41
artemonster wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am perfectly fine with that, what are you trying to say with this?

Do you want to compete with people who are just as smart or smarter than you, probably speak multiple languages, and are willing to work for 5-10% of what you get paid? pretty sure that is what the OP is trying to say. Some will thrive, many will not.

> Do you want to compete with people who are just as smart or smarter than you, probably speak multiple languages, and are willing to work for 5-10% of what you get paid?

Where do people find these amazingly smart programmers for only 20-40k/year?!

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#77

Post by kuchenbecker »

mschuster91 wrote: post #27
benreesman wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a law firm, the most senior partner is a lawyer (and usually bills out among the highest). In a hospital, the head of surgery is a surgeon (and usually one of the best). In a fabrication shop, the boss is a pro with the materials. Software is, AFAIK, the only wildly demanding field where senior leaders who can’t even remotely do the thing is considered normal.

> Software is, AFAIK, the only wildly demanding field where senior leaders who can’t even remotely do the thing is considered normal. For what it's worth: just because you're the top dog in your field that doesn't mean you're a good manager. We should actually insist on rolling out separate management and career tracks because either require completely different skillsets.

Many companies do but the IC track gets hard just as the management track starts.

At my company, a Director and a Principal eng are same level, but Principal eng are people with industry renown. There are twice as many Directors than PENG, but you can keep climbing to SR Director, VP, SVP.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#78

Post by x86x87 »

matwood wrote: post #75
hipparchus wrote: post #49

Ok, I'll bite the bullet: how do you train interns and/or junior employees in a fully remote environment? I only have two years of experience so I'm still super new, but it's something I'm confronted with this, and I just don't know how to train people in a fully remote environment. It's from little things to catching an intern who doesn't know a couple extremely handy shortcuts with tools that they are still learnin…

Prior to remote, many companies got by without much thought about the onboarding process. Basically, they stuck a new person in an office and assumed it would work out. With remote, companies have to be deliberate in their process. I have found this to be a good thing.

This x1000. If you think that you're going to do exactly what you were doing before remote work and it's going to work you're going to have a bad time.

The way you work has to evolve and you need to put more effort in initially depending on the area.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#79

Post by re-thc »

matwood wrote: post #75
hipparchus wrote: post #49

Ok, I'll bite the bullet: how do you train interns and/or junior employees in a fully remote environment? I only have two years of experience so I'm still super new, but it's something I'm confronted with this, and I just don't know how to train people in a fully remote environment. It's from little things to catching an intern who doesn't know a couple extremely handy shortcuts with tools that they are still learnin…

Prior to remote, many companies got by without much thought about the onboarding process. Basically, they stuck a new person in an office and assumed it would work out. With remote, companies have to be deliberate in their process. I have found this to be a good thing.

> Basically, they stuck a new person in an office and assumed it would work out.

That still doesn't work and never works. Right might have amplified it but no difference. In places without onboarding and training lots of people are still confused.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#80

Post by re-thc »

xtracto wrote: post #70
jmye wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait till they realize there are high-quality devs in SE Asia, South America and India. That remote job can be done by anyone, anywhere. Literally. Some industries may have regulatory protection, but I don’t think it’ll be long before others start mass-outsourcing the kinds of jobs people thought were safe.

Some already realized that. For USA companies, the problem with Asia, India, and even East Europe is timezones. I used to work at a US company that had offices here in Mexico and had a GREAT QA team in India (despite the hatred they get here in HN, Indian techies are GOOD! ) . The TZ problem is what ended up fracturing the relationship between the teams . Us/Mexico teams synergy was just great, while Indians were gen…

> For USA companies, the problem with Asia, India, and even East Europe is timezones.

I've seen more of a mentality and attitude problem than timezones. Often these other offices are just treated as 2nd class citizens without enough context to act.

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