4 ms·

> "They are really good engineers, really indispensable. And then they start to pull 9-5 days" Worthless slackers.

by freyir 9y ago

techsupporter 9y ago
Edit: Never mind all that, I didn't get the joke. My apologies. In my defense, text doesn't convey emotion very well. Leaving up the post for my own shame. What, because they work 40 hours per week? I have a 4x10 schedule (including a weekend day) and I work exactly my assigned hours. The company is paying me for those hours and nothing more--exceptional circumstances excluded, of course--so I feel no qualms about sticking with that. I get to have a life outside of work, too.
- thisone 9y ago
  I believe that was sarcasm
  - Zyst 9y ago
    I also got the same idea. I do dislike forums like ArsTechnica where "/s" is prominent, I believe that if you need to write a sarcasm tag to get that across, you likely should not be writing sarcasm at all. Then again there's people like parent which will miss what I believe to be obvious sarcasm, and I wonder all over again if there's a point to it all. Sometimes I think we should just not write sarcasm at all on written communications.
    - tnecniv 9y ago
      It's just Poe's Law coming into play. It can't be avoided really. Hell, people can't decide if The Prince is a satire or not.
      - sverige 9y ago
        The Prince is easy once you've read Discourses on Livy.
    - thrill 9y ago
      Unless you hold up a sarcasm sign here you will downvoted into oblivion.
    - Tade0 9y ago
      I tend to find typical instances of sarcasm(especially in written form) so unfunny that I don't even recognize them. That being said I had no problem seeing sarcasm in this example, chiefly because the language was obviously different(how often does one use the word "worthless" to describe people?). I guess it makes for a useful rule of thumb regarding what could be reasonably considered sarcasm.
    - mgiannopoulos 9y ago
      There are no verbal or visual elements in written form. We are strangers across continents and cultures. Usually English is not our first language. People reading may be in a different mood or mindset. Etc etc. The Elders of the Internet were right to give us smilies :)
    - cakedoggie 9y ago
      Sure, but look what we have here? A number of people who clearly can't pick up on quite obvious sarcasm.
    - Houshalter 9y ago
      Sarcasm and satire are very effective ways of communicating a point. The above comment added only 2 words to draw attention to the absurdity of that statement.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
mgiannopoulos 9y ago
Only working 8 hours? How dare they? /s
tensor 9y ago
That quote is super cringe worthy. The article is very unclear, they also quote: >"Most of my friends at Google work four hours a day. They are senior engineers and don't work hard. They know the Google system, know when to kick into gear. They are engineers, so they optimized the performance cycles of their own jobs," one engineer described. Probably a lot of cherry picking going on.
- pm90 9y ago
  I don't think its that surprising. Essentially what happens is, engineers do a good job and keep getting promoted. If their service is required/essential, they continue to get funding etc. until they reach such a stage that they know their systems through and through. They're also at a point in their lives where other things take priority (most of the times its children). I don't particularly find this situation to be bad. They are doing the tasks assigned to them, and there is a defacto agreement with the management that they have other things to take care of as well, but will get a ton of shit done when they do work.
- jonas21 9y ago
  They're not really contradictory. A 9 to 5 day can easily turn into 4 hours of real work. Show up, eat breakfast, spend some time reading HN, an hour of work, lunch, an hour or two working, grab coffee, play some foosball, another hour of work, go to the gym, time to go home!
  - madhadron 9y ago
    Conversely, most engineers only have three to five hours of really hard, sustainable technical work in them per day, and that's assuming a regular schedule, adequate sleep, good nutrition, no major emotional upsets going on... Now, that is work. No checking Facebook. No checking email. Process optimized so there are no long periods of waiting around. I have had periods when my day was six hours: five hours of hard work and an hour of eating lunch at my desk while I chatted with someone, dealt with email, got tomorrow planned, and other overhead. It remains my most effective schedule when I'm doing straight technical work as opposed to people work. That hasn't stopped bosses from wanting me to sit around the office for a couple more hours so other people, who did take regular Facebook breaks and the like, didn't feel like I was a part timer.
resonanttoe 9y ago
How dare they work what is written in their contract.. its almost as if they think it's some kind of business arrangement. :P

> "They are really good engineers, really indispensable. And then they start to pull 9-5 days" Worthless slackers.

by freyir 9y ago

> "They are really good engineers, really indispensable. And then they start to pull 9-5 days" Worthless slackers.

Edit: Never mind all that, I didn't get the joke. My apologies. In my defense, text doesn't convey emotion very well. Leaving up the post for my own shame. What, because they work 40 hours per week? I have a 4x10 schedule (including a weekend day) and I work exactly my assigned hours. The company is paying me for those hours and nothing more--exceptional circumstances excluded, of course--so I feel no qualms about sticking with that. I get to have a life outside of work, too.

thisone 9y ago
I believe that was sarcasm
- Zyst 9y ago
  I also got the same idea. I do dislike forums like ArsTechnica where "/s" is prominent, I believe that if you need to write a sarcasm tag to get that across, you likely should not be writing sarcasm at all. Then again there's people like parent which will miss what I believe to be obvious sarcasm, and I wonder all over again if there's a point to it all. Sometimes I think we should just not write sarcasm at all on written communications.
  - tnecniv 9y ago
    It's just Poe's Law coming into play. It can't be avoided really. Hell, people can't decide if The Prince is a satire or not.
    - sverige 9y ago
      The Prince is easy once you've read Discourses on Livy.
  - thrill 9y ago
    Unless you hold up a sarcasm sign here you will downvoted into oblivion.
  - Tade0 9y ago
    I tend to find typical instances of sarcasm(especially in written form) so unfunny that I don't even recognize them. That being said I had no problem seeing sarcasm in this example, chiefly because the language was obviously different(how often does one use the word "worthless" to describe people?). I guess it makes for a useful rule of thumb regarding what could be reasonably considered sarcasm.
  - mgiannopoulos 9y ago
    There are no verbal or visual elements in written form. We are strangers across continents and cultures. Usually English is not our first language. People reading may be in a different mood or mindset. Etc etc. The Elders of the Internet were right to give us smilies :)
  - cakedoggie 9y ago
    Sure, but look what we have here? A number of people who clearly can't pick up on quite obvious sarcasm.
  - Houshalter 9y ago
    Sarcasm and satire are very effective ways of communicating a point. The above comment added only 2 words to draw attention to the absurdity of that statement.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

mgiannopoulos 9y ago

Only working 8 hours? How dare they? /s

tensor 9y ago

That quote is super cringe worthy. The article is very unclear, they also quote: >"Most of my friends at Google work four hours a day. They are senior engineers and don't work hard. They know the Google system, know when to kick into gear. They are engineers, so they optimized the performance cycles of their own jobs," one engineer described. Probably a lot of cherry picking going on.

pm90 9y ago
I don't think its that surprising. Essentially what happens is, engineers do a good job and keep getting promoted. If their service is required/essential, they continue to get funding etc. until they reach such a stage that they know their systems through and through. They're also at a point in their lives where other things take priority (most of the times its children). I don't particularly find this situation to be bad. They are doing the tasks assigned to them, and there is a defacto agreement with the management that they have other things to take care of as well, but will get a ton of shit done when they do work.
jonas21 9y ago
They're not really contradictory. A 9 to 5 day can easily turn into 4 hours of real work. Show up, eat breakfast, spend some time reading HN, an hour of work, lunch, an hour or two working, grab coffee, play some foosball, another hour of work, go to the gym, time to go home!
- madhadron 9y ago
  Conversely, most engineers only have three to five hours of really hard, sustainable technical work in them per day, and that's assuming a regular schedule, adequate sleep, good nutrition, no major emotional upsets going on... Now, that is work. No checking Facebook. No checking email. Process optimized so there are no long periods of waiting around. I have had periods when my day was six hours: five hours of hard work and an hour of eating lunch at my desk while I chatted with someone, dealt with email, got tomorrow planned, and other overhead. It remains my most effective schedule when I'm doing straight technical work as opposed to people work. That hasn't stopped bosses from wanting me to sit around the office for a couple more hours so other people, who did take regular Facebook breaks and the like, didn't feel like I was a part timer.

resonanttoe 9y ago

How dare they work what is written in their contract.. its almost as if they think it's some kind of business arrangement. :P