4 ms·

Yeah, I get where you are coming from. We all have to eat. I got the impression from them that they wanted more than 40 hrs a week from me, almost to the point

Yeah, I get where you are coming from. We all have to eat. I got the impression from them that they wanted more than 40 hrs a week from me, almost to the point of wanting to own me. One of the managers had a problem with me continuing to support my own apps after accepting the job. For me, that's a pretty steep job requirement. You'd have to really convince me that what you're doing matters and that lives are literally at stake if I don't come join your company. Otherwise you're just being selfish in my view. I told them I can't accept the job unless they give me more details, and you're right, there's a good chance they will show me the door. But then I'm pretty sure that's a business I wouldn't want to work for anyway.

shakna 10y ago
On the bright side, they might give you some insight, and it might be a great product. In the end though, its not worth risking your humanity over. If they show you the door, it's probably a bullet dodged. I didn't start in software development: I was in forensics. But, though I loved the work, I didn't love what I found. I was losing faith in people, so I moved away to what had been only an interest area. You don't want to get caught up by a company that eats you alive. There's not really a bad outcome here, the worst case is you get something boring on your plate. Though, anecdotally, just about every contract I've had wanted exclusivity, to ensure I didn't steal their ideas, or borrow any code I wrote on their dime. It was annoying, but I mostly dealt with it by: a. Putting my projects on a temporary hold, or b. Getting them to acknowledge I already had support contracts for my projects, and wouldn't they want support from me, too? (I usually have 6 months support in my agreements, after that... Depends how much I like the client.) But again, it isn't really something to sweat over, but it does seem to be getting more common.
- bendixso 10y ago
  Interesting. This wasn't really sold to me as a contract but rather as a full-time employment situation. I think I might be willing to make that sort of compromise if I knew I had a chance to decompress after the six months are over and I'm on to the next thing. And yeah, part-time software dev jobs seem to be increasingly rare these days. People either want your soul or they don't want anything to do with you. I would be totally happy working half as many hours at the same hourly rate with lower living expenses than working full-time or overtime with a high salary. We all have different priorities. I need my tinkering time.
stuaxo 10y ago
Yup, definite red flags. How are you supposed to evaluate if it's worth your time if you don't know what you'll be working on ? Had a similar interview once - the guy just wouldn't give me any specific info. Since I didn't know what the role was and I have very wide experience I couldn't target myself, in the end the feedback was that I was too vague !?

shakna 10y ago

On the bright side, they might give you some insight, and it might be a great product. In the end though, its not worth risking your humanity over. If they show you the door, it's probably a bullet dodged. I didn't start in software development: I was in forensics. But, though I loved the work, I didn't love what I found. I was losing faith in people, so I moved away to what had been only an interest area. You don't want to get caught up by a company that eats you alive. There's not really a bad outcome here, the worst case is you get something boring on your plate. Though, anecdotally, just about every contract I've had wanted exclusivity, to ensure I didn't steal their ideas, or borrow any code I wrote on their dime. It was annoying, but I mostly dealt with it by: a. Putting my projects on a temporary hold, or b. Getting them to acknowledge I already had support contracts for my projects, and wouldn't they want support from me, too? (I usually have 6 months support in my agreements, after that... Depends how much I like the client.) But again, it isn't really something to sweat over, but it does seem to be getting more common.

bendixso 10y ago
Interesting. This wasn't really sold to me as a contract but rather as a full-time employment situation. I think I might be willing to make that sort of compromise if I knew I had a chance to decompress after the six months are over and I'm on to the next thing. And yeah, part-time software dev jobs seem to be increasingly rare these days. People either want your soul or they don't want anything to do with you. I would be totally happy working half as many hours at the same hourly rate with lower living expenses than working full-time or overtime with a high salary. We all have different priorities. I need my tinkering time.

stuaxo 10y ago

Yup, definite red flags. How are you supposed to evaluate if it's worth your time if you don't know what you'll be working on ? Had a similar interview once - the guy just wouldn't give me any specific info. Since I didn't know what the role was and I have very wide experience I couldn't target myself, in the end the feedback was that I was too vague !?