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> The open plan office itseld is slightly prolonged and has long "corridor" areas cutting through it. I can only guess why they want to maximize the number of d

• parasubvert 10y ago
  "very regimented sweatshop ... The good part is that the developers there have a set 8 hour workday and leave earlier in the afternoon" You use the term sweatshop, and then say everyone goes home early. Really? " rigid working hours" Business hours are not for everyone, but they are for a lot of people, and they help foster collaboration. "everyone is expected to show up at 8am for breakfast" Not mandatory (it's an incentive to come in on time), but it is free.. As is lunch. Not dissimilar from most SV companies. "mostly to prevent procrastination and force people to at least try to code" So, it's a sweatshop because people are encouraged to work, and not browse Facebook behind a closed door? There are lots of opportunities to take a break, from Xbox to ping-pong. "It obviously works for them because they can just churn out sort-of working apps and let some other suckers deal with maintenance/rewrites later." This is quite a conclusion to draw from a video. You do realize that outside of R&D, most Labs teams are balanced customer/Pivotal pairs? There is no belief in handing over to a maintenance team, let alone doing the development by ourselves. You build it, you run it, is the mantra. The whole business model is to build products while teaching companies a culture (open, Devops, collaborative but high discipline) and process (XP, CD) and tools (PaaS, open source) of how to build software productively.
  • chris_wot 10y ago
    Try sprinting at full speed for an hour. Now try walking normally for an hour. Which makes you the most tired?
    • parasubvert 10y ago
      Sprinting, obviously. I'd posit it is a much more fulfilling experience to put a full 8 hours x 5 days sustainably, than the industry's usual "crap we need to work evenings and weekends, we're late"
      • chris_wot 10y ago
        I'm not saying you are a sweatshop, merely pointing out sweatshops can still have workers who operate during normal working hours.
        • parasubvert 10y ago
          I hear you, but I'm saying that's not the generally accepted use of the term which is: long hours, socially unacceptable working conditions, and low wages. It conjures up the image of something that warrants legal/political challenge. I could see this being argued for the traditional game development industry, which was plagued by long hours, harassment, and shit pay.
          • chris_wot 10y ago
            That's a fair point. It was wrong to call Pivotal a sweatshop, I've never worked there or even visited so it would not be right to call the organisation that. Actually, I didn't mean to even imply Pivotal was, I was more focussed on a very narrow point so if I gave you the impression I agreed then I apologise because it isn't the case! I think you've already recognised the work hours aren't for everyone in your previous comment, so it sounds like Pivotal's hiring policy is pretty solid on this point. And in fact, it's not even an unreasonable expectation for everyone to come in on time, but probably a less popular one on HN judging from the downvotes you are getting. To be honest, it's a model I prefer. In my previous workplace I worked ridiculous hours due to understaffing and a few other issues and had to resign from burn-out. I'd much prefer to work for a Pivotal than I would a company like the last one I worked for :-) Heck, if Pivotal can get all their work done without a final crunch time, that's actually pretty amazing! I'd go so far as to say that I've never heard of a company who got this working before, so if that is the case then Pivotal are clearly doing something right. If only you were hiring in Australia, I'd seriously consider applying :P