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A - private office B - WFH C - Android D - few meetings E - good management F - mellow, friendly (probably older) colleagues G - no training of underlings

A - private office B - WFH C - Android D - few meetings E - good management F - mellow, friendly (probably older) colleagues G - no training of underlings H - low stress I - interesting work Independent contracting/consulting satisfies A and B; some subset satisfies C; D it likely fails; E is orthogonal or maybe slightly negatively correlated (some portion of those who hire consultants, have to do so because they're bad managers); F doubtful; G yes (just don't sign a scope-of-work that includes it); H probably not, unless you're itching to wear more hats including, especially, sales; I yes Working at any of the big trendy companies: A no way; B maybe; C sure; D no; E orthogonal/tossup; F no; G probably unavoidable; H doubtful; I maybe Working at a startup: A no way; B maybe; C sure; D likely; E tossup; F no; G no; H no; I maybe Working at a boring, big, established company that surfs on a river of money: A possible but receding; B possible; C sure, for some subset; D you're out of luck; E, as always, a tossup (picking up a pattern?); F more likely; G possible but it depends; H yes; I probably not, but it depends more on you and what you find interesting. Anybody else think of any work paradigms that satisfy more of these conditions?

username3 8y ago
Reading variables is hard.
- SomewhatLikely 8y ago
  I think it's a learned skill. Reading academic papers is impossible without it. Perhaps a happy medium would be two or three letter acronyms.
  - qorrect 8y ago
    And so much of reading variables is about context.
- rdiddly 8y ago
  Ironically if I were writing code I would've been much more verbose, like offersPrivateOffice, canWorkFromHome etc.
- vlasev 8y ago
  It would have been much much better to just use the first letters, like A for Android, P for private office, H for working from home.
ospider 8y ago
It would be nice to see it in a table
- shoo 8y ago
  P W D ! G M ! L I O F R M M F T O N F H D T G C U S W --------------------------- indepCoCo Y Y y n ? ? Y n Y bigTrendy N ? Y n ? n n n ? startup N ? Y y ? n n n ? bigBore$$ ? ? y N ? y ? y n subjectively encoded into 5 point Nn?yY scale.
gniv 8y ago
> Anybody else think of any work paradigms that satisfy more of these conditions? Maybe in a university, like a research assistant (I'm thinking med/bio projects that need serious infrastructure). If it's a well-funded university, I could see all being a yes, except C.
- geekbird 8y ago
  No, even the university where I work is dumping its IT people in an open office cesspit next year. I'm over 50, and I don't mind meetings or mentoring juniors, but I absolutely hate open offices. I will probably start looking for remote jobs next year. I can't wear headphones or earbuds for more than an hour or two a day (I get ear infections), and that still doesn't guarantee some jerk wont come tap you on the shoulder and startle you out of a year's growth. Open offices are detrimental to health (60% increase in sick time), productivity (25% - 60% productivity drop), and interactions with coworkers (72% less time in face-to-face interactions). They throw away value (productivity, interactions, lower stress) for a small savings on real estate. They are only loved by cargo-cult management, IMO.
fpierfed 8y ago
Working in a research org: A possible especially in a senior position; B possible; C yes, depending on the project; D possible; E tossup; F quite likely; G possible; H yes; I definitely. Good luck
dTal 8y ago
It's a bit difficult to find, but some large companies run small "skunkworks" research teams largely independent of the main operations. This gives you the general working style of a startup (unusual latitude, variety of work, small and unbureaucratic teams) with the funding and job security of working for a larger company - with some caveats, I imagine. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on 'older colleagues' - it's good to have a range of ages on a team for the different attitudes that they bring. As long as everyone respects one another, it's an asset, not a problem.

username3 8y ago

Reading variables is hard.

SomewhatLikely 8y ago
I think it's a learned skill. Reading academic papers is impossible without it. Perhaps a happy medium would be two or three letter acronyms.
- qorrect 8y ago
  And so much of reading variables is about context.
rdiddly 8y ago
Ironically if I were writing code I would've been much more verbose, like offersPrivateOffice, canWorkFromHome etc.
vlasev 8y ago
It would have been much much better to just use the first letters, like A for Android, P for private office, H for working from home.

ospider 8y ago

It would be nice to see it in a table

shoo 8y ago
P W D ! G M ! L I O F R M M F T O N F H D T G C U S W --------------------------- indepCoCo Y Y y n ? ? Y n Y bigTrendy N ? Y n ? n n n ? startup N ? Y y ? n n n ? bigBore$$ ? ? y N ? y ? y n subjectively encoded into 5 point Nn?yY scale.

gniv 8y ago

> Anybody else think of any work paradigms that satisfy more of these conditions? Maybe in a university, like a research assistant (I'm thinking med/bio projects that need serious infrastructure). If it's a well-funded university, I could see all being a yes, except C.

geekbird 8y ago
No, even the university where I work is dumping its IT people in an open office cesspit next year. I'm over 50, and I don't mind meetings or mentoring juniors, but I absolutely hate open offices. I will probably start looking for remote jobs next year. I can't wear headphones or earbuds for more than an hour or two a day (I get ear infections), and that still doesn't guarantee some jerk wont come tap you on the shoulder and startle you out of a year's growth. Open offices are detrimental to health (60% increase in sick time), productivity (25% - 60% productivity drop), and interactions with coworkers (72% less time in face-to-face interactions). They throw away value (productivity, interactions, lower stress) for a small savings on real estate. They are only loved by cargo-cult management, IMO.

fpierfed 8y ago

Working in a research org: A possible especially in a senior position; B possible; C yes, depending on the project; D possible; E tossup; F quite likely; G possible; H yes; I definitely. Good luck

dTal 8y ago

It's a bit difficult to find, but some large companies run small "skunkworks" research teams largely independent of the main operations. This gives you the general working style of a startup (unusual latitude, variety of work, small and unbureaucratic teams) with the funding and job security of working for a larger company - with some caveats, I imagine. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on 'older colleagues' - it's good to have a range of ages on a team for the different attitudes that they bring. As long as everyone respects one another, it's an asset, not a problem.