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Yes. This is something that needs to be discussed. Almost every engineer is using some kind of stim in the morning and sedative in the evening. This can be as
by oceanghost 9y ago
Yes. This is something that needs to be discussed.
Almost every engineer is using some kind of stim in the morning and sedative in the evening. This can be as benign as caffeine/alcohol, but I've seen this escalate to any one of: caffeine, Provigil, cocaine, (meth)amphetamines on the front end, and alcohol, THC, Xanax and even ketamine on the backend.
It's the only way to deal with the abusive hours. We used to joke at a company I worked at-- that if you weren't an alcoholic, you would be in a couple of years.
Bad companies, really bad ones are setup like this: you have to break the rules to get your job done. But some people are blessed by management and others aren't. X breaks the rules because he's a brilliant leader, Y breaks the rules because he's a worthless loser. We had a VP and PM doing coke, fucking each other (very illegal in California), abusing the staff with bizarre and drug-fuelled behavior, all of which was ignored and encouraged. I was fired for "writing a rude e-mail." :-)
For a time, there was even a dealer in the buildings mail room. You put in an order, and in a couple of days, a DHL, FEDEX, etc. comes with your order.
There's a very real human cost to this stuff. I've seen guys have a stroke in the office due to pressure. If there's any way I can help, let me know.
- Eilene 9y agoI'd love to talk to you. Did this happen a long time ago, your experience(s)? or was this in the last 4 years? Also, to reiterate, do not need to use your name, etc. Don't even need to know it to speak to you.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- oceanghost 9y agoAll recently. I assume the e-mail address listed in your e-mail is an appropriate contact point?
- Eilene 9y agoyes, that's perfect. Thank you.
- strictnein 9y ago> "caffeine, Provigil, cocaine, (meth)amphetamines on the front end, and alcohol, THC, Xanax and even ketamine on the backend" I know what you're saying (up vs down), but it's amusing to think of this as what front end and backend devs are taking.
- oceanghost 9y agolol!
- btrettel 9y ago> Bad companies, really bad ones are setup like this: you have to break the rules to get your job done. Rule breaking seems to be incentivized in many industries. Here are someone else's observations: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15894805 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15894805
- oceanghost 9y agoAbsolutely. Thanks for the link I will explore.
- btrettel 9y agoTo add another datapoint, I first made this observation as a cyclist. Delivery truck drivers are notorious for blocking bike lanes. I spoke with people at the regional offices of FedEx, UPS, and Amazon Logistics. I recall that UPS and Amazon Logistics said their drivers are not supposed to block the bike lanes. (I can't remember what FedEx said.) I started talking to the drivers. Often the drivers would park in the bike lane when there was a legal parking spot 50 feet away, and this made no sense to me. The impression I got after speaking to a dozen or so was that seconds matter, and they'd rather risk getting a ticket and save 5 seconds than park legally. It doesn't help that the delivery companies consider these tickets a cost of doing business. As the saying/article states, "a fine is a price". So, basically, the company explicitly says they don't like bad practice X while also implicitly saying they're okay with bad practice X by paying for it.
- oceanghost 9y agoThis is the cuddly version of psychopathy, forcing people to slightly inconvenience cyclists. This type of situation occurs anytime employee and manager incentives are misaligned, and blame can be shifted to the other. It's not that every human will take the bait-- its that ethical humans will be displaced by unethical ones.
- btrettel 9y ago