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Strange article, as if people needed to be "shielded" into their jobs. Also I'd argue that you can be perfectly happy and still resign. Sometimes someone simpl

by Mahn 11y ago

Strange article, as if people needed to be "shielded" into their jobs. Also I'd argue that you can be perfectly happy and still resign. Sometimes someone simply comes along and offers more money.

pavlov 11y ago
If you're perfectly happy, you're probably not going to leave to get a 10% raise. If someone comes along and offers you 50% more than you're currently making, doesn't that implicitly mean you're not being properly compensated at your current job? I guess that's the "shields down" moment, when you realize that you'll become chronically underpaid if you stick around.
- samastur 11y ago
  Depends on what you mean by properly. Yes, in a sense that your market value seems to be higher than what you were making. However you might have been earning appropriately considering your current environment (based on your work, compared to peers and what company itself can actually make). Last year I turned down an offer that would be 2.5x increase on what I was making. This year I will nevertheless reduce my involvement in my current company to work on other things (while certainly earning less than the offer I turned down). The reason for change isn't that I would suddenly be unhappy. I have a habit of regularly re-evaluating what I do and it just happened that last autumn it became clear to me that working in international development exclusively will severely limit my options as developer in future in ways that I am not comfortable. I have been doing this evaluations for years and certainly all the while I was happily working at the company even though I was happy on an assumption that things change and someday I might come to a different conclusion. As I did.
- Sacho 11y ago
  There's plenty reasons other than work that you might resign a perfect job for. For some people, hobbies are more important than jobs, and those hobbies might include traveling around the world, living in a different country, etc. Similarly, some people value family over work, so if their family relocates they would go along as well, giving up their job. But even in just the realm of money and career, there are companies that offer benefits beyond money - like a certain freedom and culture - so you might feel "properly compensated" there. A monetary crisis(children, health issues, accidents..) could easily force you to take a higher paying job and leave your dream workplace, though.
- CM30 11y ago
  Not really. Companies can easily offer wages far above the standard market rate (or what others can afford). That doesn't make it so anyone not earning the same as those in the top paying company are being underpaid. Otherwise you'd be implying that the 'proper' rate is whatever the best paying company is offering in that field.
- nightcracker 11y ago
  That depends on the lifestyle and income of that person. Beyond a certain point 50% more might be entirely meaningless.
- jghn 11y ago
  Depends on if you already know your compensation situation or not. I had a job years ago where I was happy enough but completely unaware that I was massively underpaid. Once I realized that, I left as the pay difference did not warrant my comfort level I had with that job. My current job is such that i could easily go find more money but there's no guarantee an offer would exceed my salary, let's call it the lower end of average. However I'm very happy. I'd consider leaving, but it'd have to be a lot of money, 10% isn't going to do it. There are certainly companies out there that could offer me a 50% increase though and while I won't go seeking them out I'd consider it if they came calling
- blakeyrat 11y ago
  Everybody has different priorities. I'd easily take a 20% pay cut (all else being equal) if I could find a job I don't need to commute into Seattle, Redmond or Bellevue for. Unfortunately, I've had zilch luck so far.
  - vmarsy 11y ago
    Another option could be to find a place with flexible hours, during NON-rush hours, the commute around the places you mention isn't that bad!
joepvd 11y ago
I got the metaphor differently: People have natural shields to ward off thoughts about other possible (employment) futures. Actually considering someplace else means that some holes have been punched in this shield.
- vilhelm_s 11y ago
  I mean, yeah, but... Warding off thoughts about other possible futures seems like a classic bias: in order to protect your self-image, you handicap yourself when evaluating other offers. This may be "natural", but it seems bad, like a fully actualized person would not need to do that. And then the author of the blogpost takes advantage of this psychological tendency in order to keep people working for him even when they would have better options. The whole metaphor gives off manipulative, cult-like vibes to me.
  - joepvd 11y ago
    I am not sure I am agreeing with you here... I mean, take, for example, learning computer related stuff. Learning six languages at the same time, togther with operating systems, shells, databases, network protocols, frameworks, all at the same time. For me, that does not work. It is better to find some area to grow in, and to stick to that area for a while. Pretend the rest of all-the-things-to-learn does not exist. Only after becoming fluent, it pays to take on a different thing. I guess the same goes for relationships; with significant others as well as with employers.

by Mahn 11y ago

Strange article, as if people needed to be "shielded" into their jobs. Also I'd argue that you can be perfectly happy and still resign. Sometimes someone simply comes along and offers more money.

pavlov 11y ago

If you're perfectly happy, you're probably not going to leave to get a 10% raise. If someone comes along and offers you 50% more than you're currently making, doesn't that implicitly mean you're not being properly compensated at your current job? I guess that's the "shields down" moment, when you realize that you'll become chronically underpaid if you stick around.

samastur 11y ago
Depends on what you mean by properly. Yes, in a sense that your market value seems to be higher than what you were making. However you might have been earning appropriately considering your current environment (based on your work, compared to peers and what company itself can actually make). Last year I turned down an offer that would be 2.5x increase on what I was making. This year I will nevertheless reduce my involvement in my current company to work on other things (while certainly earning less than the offer I turned down). The reason for change isn't that I would suddenly be unhappy. I have a habit of regularly re-evaluating what I do and it just happened that last autumn it became clear to me that working in international development exclusively will severely limit my options as developer in future in ways that I am not comfortable. I have been doing this evaluations for years and certainly all the while I was happily working at the company even though I was happy on an assumption that things change and someday I might come to a different conclusion. As I did.
Sacho 11y ago
There's plenty reasons other than work that you might resign a perfect job for. For some people, hobbies are more important than jobs, and those hobbies might include traveling around the world, living in a different country, etc. Similarly, some people value family over work, so if their family relocates they would go along as well, giving up their job. But even in just the realm of money and career, there are companies that offer benefits beyond money - like a certain freedom and culture - so you might feel "properly compensated" there. A monetary crisis(children, health issues, accidents..) could easily force you to take a higher paying job and leave your dream workplace, though.
CM30 11y ago
Not really. Companies can easily offer wages far above the standard market rate (or what others can afford). That doesn't make it so anyone not earning the same as those in the top paying company are being underpaid. Otherwise you'd be implying that the 'proper' rate is whatever the best paying company is offering in that field.
nightcracker 11y ago
That depends on the lifestyle and income of that person. Beyond a certain point 50% more might be entirely meaningless.
jghn 11y ago
Depends on if you already know your compensation situation or not. I had a job years ago where I was happy enough but completely unaware that I was massively underpaid. Once I realized that, I left as the pay difference did not warrant my comfort level I had with that job. My current job is such that i could easily go find more money but there's no guarantee an offer would exceed my salary, let's call it the lower end of average. However I'm very happy. I'd consider leaving, but it'd have to be a lot of money, 10% isn't going to do it. There are certainly companies out there that could offer me a 50% increase though and while I won't go seeking them out I'd consider it if they came calling
blakeyrat 11y ago
Everybody has different priorities. I'd easily take a 20% pay cut (all else being equal) if I could find a job I don't need to commute into Seattle, Redmond or Bellevue for. Unfortunately, I've had zilch luck so far.
- vmarsy 11y ago
  Another option could be to find a place with flexible hours, during NON-rush hours, the commute around the places you mention isn't that bad!

joepvd 11y ago

I got the metaphor differently: People have natural shields to ward off thoughts about other possible (employment) futures. Actually considering someplace else means that some holes have been punched in this shield.

vilhelm_s 11y ago
I mean, yeah, but... Warding off thoughts about other possible futures seems like a classic bias: in order to protect your self-image, you handicap yourself when evaluating other offers. This may be "natural", but it seems bad, like a fully actualized person would not need to do that. And then the author of the blogpost takes advantage of this psychological tendency in order to keep people working for him even when they would have better options. The whole metaphor gives off manipulative, cult-like vibes to me.
- joepvd 11y ago
  I am not sure I am agreeing with you here... I mean, take, for example, learning computer related stuff. Learning six languages at the same time, togther with operating systems, shells, databases, network protocols, frameworks, all at the same time. For me, that does not work. It is better to find some area to grow in, and to stick to that area for a while. Pretend the rest of all-the-things-to-learn does not exist. Only after becoming fluent, it pays to take on a different thing. I guess the same goes for relationships; with significant others as well as with employers.