3 ms·

Personal anecdote; I interviewed for Stripe @ Tokyo and had a few discussions on this point. I was pretty sure, based on the research and discussions I had wit

by jbm 9y ago

Personal anecdote; I interviewed for Stripe @ Tokyo and had a few discussions on this point. I was pretty sure, based on the research and discussions I had with people in the company, that they did take family very seriously, certainly much more seriously than the corporation I am working for currently. I didn't get the job, but I believed it enough that I was ready to join if an offer was made. I like to think of myself as a dedicated father to 3 young children.

jpatokal 9y ago
Problem is, Tokyo is among the worst places on the planet to work in terms of both business culture and commuting if you expect to be at home by 6 in time for dinner.
- mkagenius 9y ago
  Most bizzare thing about Japan is high suicide rate (perhaps due to high stress [1]). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_Japan#Ties_with_business https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_Japan#Ties_with_bus...
  - pmiller2 9y ago
    This would have been a better link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi
- jbm 9y ago
  I find it much more likely to be stuck at that for more domestic companies (like the company I'm leaving) than for IT companies. Even then it is not inevitable. Once I decided I didn't want to torture myself or my subordinates it became very easy to kill that culture - on my team at least. I told HR that I would not do OT until they provided x FTEs (which was slightly less than the peak usage rate of my team). When they balked at hiring, I told my team members to go home at 5:45 every day. Suddenly urgent dev requests are not urgent anymore and we have less meetings. If one's manager is selfish or weak, he or she probably wants to score brownie points off of a subordinate's service overtime. It's easy for them to say "this is how it is in Japan" - but it's not a Japanese thing, just a weak leadership thing

by jbm 9y ago

jpatokal 9y ago

Problem is, Tokyo is among the worst places on the planet to work in terms of both business culture and commuting if you expect to be at home by 6 in time for dinner.

mkagenius 9y ago
Most bizzare thing about Japan is high suicide rate (perhaps due to high stress [1]). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_Japan#Ties_with_business https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_Japan#Ties_with_bus...
- pmiller2 9y ago
  This would have been a better link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi
jbm 9y ago
I find it much more likely to be stuck at that for more domestic companies (like the company I'm leaving) than for IT companies. Even then it is not inevitable. Once I decided I didn't want to torture myself or my subordinates it became very easy to kill that culture - on my team at least. I told HR that I would not do OT until they provided x FTEs (which was slightly less than the peak usage rate of my team). When they balked at hiring, I told my team members to go home at 5:45 every day. Suddenly urgent dev requests are not urgent anymore and we have less meetings. If one's manager is selfish or weak, he or she probably wants to score brownie points off of a subordinate's service overtime. It's easy for them to say "this is how it is in Japan" - but it's not a Japanese thing, just a weak leadership thing