4 ms·

I'm not sure I understand your first paragraph coupled with the second one. Do you get paid to work 40 hours, but only work 20? Or do you get paid for only 20

by baursak 10y ago

I'm not sure I understand your first paragraph coupled with the second one. Do you get paid to work 40 hours, but only work 20? Or do you get paid for only 20 hours of work? If it's latter, then the problem is that not many salaried jobs can offer such an arrangement without major caveats. Even if you have a formal agreement with your employer for 20 hours of work, the deadlines and expectations from customers and "business" in general will not care if you are only signed up for 20 hours, when the project needs to be delivered by Monday.

kristopolous 10y ago
It's full-time pay and yes you need to know how to pace things and schedule. Getting better at estimates go a long way. The "20 minute" task at the end of the work day that ends up taking 2 hours ... either stop doing that or start being honest that 20 minutes meant 2 hours. Also know what "corporate time" means. Usually the monday deadlines are dependent on a bunch of other things that are rarely if ever done on that monday. Almost universally things are days if not weeks later than scheduled. Have something to go for the monday, but anticipate the reality based on the client relations ... Also position yourself from a business perspective. The company is doing X to make a profit. You are there to help fix a problem in achieving X. Orient all your goals only to that - not in fixing any adjacent problems - your customers ultimately don't care, your boss ultimately doesn't care, and if you did that, you just worked for free.
- baursak 10y ago
  Can you give some more details on how you do it? Do you go to work 5 days and leave office after 4 hours, or do you just work 3 days a week? Are you subjected to daily scrum status reports requirements? Etc.
  - kristopolous 10y ago
    yes to all those. Sometimes I'm there 3 days, sometimes its 2 ... sometimes I'm doing an 8 hour day but only 2 that week, sometimes I'm writing and responding to emails. Sometimes I wake up for scrums then go back to bed for a few hours... There's something called the pace of business. I'm sure there's been slow times when business is moving fine and not much is changing. Instead of finding work, say to the boss, "I'm not going to waste your money in something that doesn't need to be done. everything is fine, here's the semi vacation I'm doing." It may come at a pay cut, but it should work in your favor and improve your trust and relationship with your superiors because you're taking responsibility for not just the work but the amount of it. From a business owner you're essentially saying "I achieved the tasks, things are stable. Now pay me less and I'll go do other things" Sounds like a better deal then "now I shall fill up the time with tasks I claim are important that you don't understand but must pay for." From a non tech perspective, this makes you sound like a bozo who doesn't understand business. Knowing how to negotiate and manage your own labor, especially with respect to business risk and your added value, and if you're expensive is important. Really, it's one of the primary ways you get to be expensive in the first place.
    - baursak 10y ago
      > From a business owner you're essentially saying "I achieved the tasks, things are stable. Now pay me less and I'll go do other things" Sounds like a better deal then "now I shall fill up the time with tasks I claim are important that you don't understand but must pay for." I'm still confused. Are you formally getting paid less than a comparable full-time (40 hours) worker, or are you getting paid with the assumption that you work 40 hours a week? You said you get "full-time pay" earlier, but now it seems you're saying you actually have a special reduced pay arrangement of sorts.
      - kristopolous 10y ago
        I'm throwing together 8 years of doing this at 5 places. Some have been retainers, some have been contracts, some have been 2 or 3 different things. Currently it's officially full time pay at 3 days a week with each day being 6 hours. In practice it's more like 15 hours instead of 18. Don't end negotiations during the interview. Open it up again when things change. Engineers aren't great at business and often hand wave it off as if it's unpleasant and impure. That's nonsense. If you're an employee, the business comes first.

by baursak 10y ago

kristopolous 10y ago

It's full-time pay and yes you need to know how to pace things and schedule. Getting better at estimates go a long way. The "20 minute" task at the end of the work day that ends up taking 2 hours ... either stop doing that or start being honest that 20 minutes meant 2 hours. Also know what "corporate time" means. Usually the monday deadlines are dependent on a bunch of other things that are rarely if ever done on that monday. Almost universally things are days if not weeks later than scheduled. Have something to go for the monday, but anticipate the reality based on the client relations ... Also position yourself from a business perspective. The company is doing X to make a profit. You are there to help fix a problem in achieving X. Orient all your goals only to that - not in fixing any adjacent problems - your customers ultimately don't care, your boss ultimately doesn't care, and if you did that, you just worked for free.

baursak 10y ago
Can you give some more details on how you do it? Do you go to work 5 days and leave office after 4 hours, or do you just work 3 days a week? Are you subjected to daily scrum status reports requirements? Etc.
- kristopolous 10y ago
  yes to all those. Sometimes I'm there 3 days, sometimes its 2 ... sometimes I'm doing an 8 hour day but only 2 that week, sometimes I'm writing and responding to emails. Sometimes I wake up for scrums then go back to bed for a few hours... There's something called the pace of business. I'm sure there's been slow times when business is moving fine and not much is changing. Instead of finding work, say to the boss, "I'm not going to waste your money in something that doesn't need to be done. everything is fine, here's the semi vacation I'm doing." It may come at a pay cut, but it should work in your favor and improve your trust and relationship with your superiors because you're taking responsibility for not just the work but the amount of it. From a business owner you're essentially saying "I achieved the tasks, things are stable. Now pay me less and I'll go do other things" Sounds like a better deal then "now I shall fill up the time with tasks I claim are important that you don't understand but must pay for." From a non tech perspective, this makes you sound like a bozo who doesn't understand business. Knowing how to negotiate and manage your own labor, especially with respect to business risk and your added value, and if you're expensive is important. Really, it's one of the primary ways you get to be expensive in the first place.
  - baursak 10y ago
    > From a business owner you're essentially saying "I achieved the tasks, things are stable. Now pay me less and I'll go do other things" Sounds like a better deal then "now I shall fill up the time with tasks I claim are important that you don't understand but must pay for." I'm still confused. Are you formally getting paid less than a comparable full-time (40 hours) worker, or are you getting paid with the assumption that you work 40 hours a week? You said you get "full-time pay" earlier, but now it seems you're saying you actually have a special reduced pay arrangement of sorts.
    - kristopolous 10y ago
      I'm throwing together 8 years of doing this at 5 places. Some have been retainers, some have been contracts, some have been 2 or 3 different things. Currently it's officially full time pay at 3 days a week with each day being 6 hours. In practice it's more like 15 hours instead of 18. Don't end negotiations during the interview. Open it up again when things change. Engineers aren't great at business and often hand wave it off as if it's unpleasant and impure. That's nonsense. If you're an employee, the business comes first.