7 ms·

I've been in #7 (perpetual crisis) a few times. Eventually, it's like the boy who cried wolf and you start tuning it out. I was a contractor, luckily, so it was

I've been in #7 (perpetual crisis) a few times. Eventually, it's like the boy who cried wolf and you start tuning it out. I was a contractor, luckily, so it was easier to ignore than a full-time employee. Companies try to trap you in this family mentality, almost like a cult, just to drain you like a vampire. I prefer to be a "mercenary" -- I do great work, get paid, the end. I don't want to be a part of the family or drink the Kool-Aid.

drdeadringer 9y ago
I'm currently in the same situation as you describe. It's been interesting against where I started out.
icantdrive55 9y ago
That "We're a family here!" has been going on forever. Every time I'm told that, by a few hours in, I'm thinking; The Manson Family.
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tiggybear 9y ago
I really, truly believe it is immoral to 'not care about money.' I really think all of this crap that employers shovel on us, care about the mission, changing the world, have passion for what you do every day, and take pride in trying to up your output, etc etc etc, is well, CRAP! In a system that 100% revolves around money, it seems inefficient to heavily prioritize anything besides money. Can you imagine going to a taco stand and saying to the cashier, "I really need 10 tacos, but before I hire you to make them for me I need to know how passionate you are about making tacos. Also, can you let me know where you see yourself in 5 years, I don't want to hire you to make tacos if you don't think you will be doing this in the future! Additionally, I don't think the price you listed is fair. How about I give you 80% of what you typically charge, but you will also get the satisfaction that you are helping me change the world! I am building an app to automate business processes and I need to eat, the more resources you give me at a discounted price the more resources I can dump into accomplishing my dream." I really wish all questions in interviews were illegal other than "can you do this job", "can you prove that you can do this job", and "will you accept this wage to do this job?" Everything else should be illegal and the employment laws should be changed to allow fast firing without detriment to the company. I don't know why, but when I'm analyzing transactions within capitalism I like to frame them around a taco shop :)
- alsetmusic 9y ago
  > changing the world, have passion for what you do every day… I have worked at a company that literally revolutionized modern tech. Luckily, I was also quite well compensated, but the qualities listed above were an essential component to the success of the project I was with. It can mean the difference between a half-baked product and a mind-blowing product. Everyone I worked with was excited about what we were doing because we knew we were changing the world (it sounds hyperbolic, but history has validated our thinking). Money is essential. Indoctrination is soul-sucking. There does exist a realm in between.
  - ChemicalWarfare 9y ago
    +1. When you are genuinely a part of "something big" and trust your leadership to pull through temporary setbacks - the "changing the world" vibe can be the difference between making it and not making it altogether especially in the startup environment. It does get abused/overused though and shouldn't be a substitute for an adequate material compensation in the long run. "Vibe" don't pay the bills after all.
    - thehardsphere 9y ago
      Yeah... the problem starts when you have owners or managers who think they can impose "vibe" rather than harness it where it emerges.
  - oblio 9y ago
    Good for you, but reality says that this is a very rare situation. Most people won't encounter it, even at companies that have departments that move the needle.
- brightball 9y ago
  There's some video that puts those examples together. The Vendor Client Relationship in Real Life Situations? That sounds right.
- 35bge57dtjku 9y ago
flowardnut 9y ago
>#7 The Never-ending crisis: yeah ditto. My company has tons of these shitty crufty systems that need a lot of work whenever we go in to do anything -- because they were thrown together under unrealistic timelines. Now here we are doing yet another layer of unrealistic stuff utilizing these systems -- it's brutal. We start grooming a story and it turns into this sprawling epic of "holy shit this legacy system sucks but we don't have time to rewrite it, nor do an impact analysis of changing it" :(

drdeadringer 9y ago

I'm currently in the same situation as you describe. It's been interesting against where I started out.

icantdrive55 9y ago

That "We're a family here!" has been going on forever. Every time I'm told that, by a few hours in, I'm thinking; The Manson Family.

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tiggybear 9y ago

I really, truly believe it is immoral to 'not care about money.' I really think all of this crap that employers shovel on us, care about the mission, changing the world, have passion for what you do every day, and take pride in trying to up your output, etc etc etc, is well, CRAP! In a system that 100% revolves around money, it seems inefficient to heavily prioritize anything besides money. Can you imagine going to a taco stand and saying to the cashier, "I really need 10 tacos, but before I hire you to make them for me I need to know how passionate you are about making tacos. Also, can you let me know where you see yourself in 5 years, I don't want to hire you to make tacos if you don't think you will be doing this in the future! Additionally, I don't think the price you listed is fair. How about I give you 80% of what you typically charge, but you will also get the satisfaction that you are helping me change the world! I am building an app to automate business processes and I need to eat, the more resources you give me at a discounted price the more resources I can dump into accomplishing my dream." I really wish all questions in interviews were illegal other than "can you do this job", "can you prove that you can do this job", and "will you accept this wage to do this job?" Everything else should be illegal and the employment laws should be changed to allow fast firing without detriment to the company. I don't know why, but when I'm analyzing transactions within capitalism I like to frame them around a taco shop :)

alsetmusic 9y ago
> changing the world, have passion for what you do every day… I have worked at a company that literally revolutionized modern tech. Luckily, I was also quite well compensated, but the qualities listed above were an essential component to the success of the project I was with. It can mean the difference between a half-baked product and a mind-blowing product. Everyone I worked with was excited about what we were doing because we knew we were changing the world (it sounds hyperbolic, but history has validated our thinking). Money is essential. Indoctrination is soul-sucking. There does exist a realm in between.
- ChemicalWarfare 9y ago
  +1. When you are genuinely a part of "something big" and trust your leadership to pull through temporary setbacks - the "changing the world" vibe can be the difference between making it and not making it altogether especially in the startup environment. It does get abused/overused though and shouldn't be a substitute for an adequate material compensation in the long run. "Vibe" don't pay the bills after all.
  - thehardsphere 9y ago
    Yeah... the problem starts when you have owners or managers who think they can impose "vibe" rather than harness it where it emerges.
- oblio 9y ago
  Good for you, but reality says that this is a very rare situation. Most people won't encounter it, even at companies that have departments that move the needle.
brightball 9y ago
There's some video that puts those examples together. The Vendor Client Relationship in Real Life Situations? That sounds right.
35bge57dtjku 9y ago

flowardnut 9y ago

>#7 The Never-ending crisis: yeah ditto. My company has tons of these shitty crufty systems that need a lot of work whenever we go in to do anything -- because they were thrown together under unrealistic timelines. Now here we are doing yet another layer of unrealistic stuff utilizing these systems -- it's brutal. We start grooming a story and it turns into this sprawling epic of "holy shit this legacy system sucks but we don't have time to rewrite it, nor do an impact analysis of changing it" :(