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> It's not such a favorable outcome for engineers It's a favorable outcome for people who want stability. There is huge value in knowing that you're not going

> It's not such a favorable outcome for engineers It's a favorable outcome for people who want stability. There is huge value in knowing that you're not going to get fired unless you do something actively malicious. Some people aren't interested in climbing, have poor interviewing skills, and don't want to deal with the cognitive overhead of learning a different company's tech stack every two years. Plus, most companies tie vacation time to seniority, so being able to stay at a company for 10+ years means you'll get to have four weeks of vacation every year, while people who switch jobs every two years will always be stuck at two.

kragen 7y ago
I wasn't talking about a situation where the company can't fire you. I was talking about a situation where you can't quit the company. If the company has a credible legal case against any prior employee who works for a competitor, then firing you ends your career. That makes your job less secure, not more.
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  Only in a very small industry. If I work in medical x-ray machines, say, when I quit, I don't go to another medical x-ray company. I can still work in embedded systems, though - it's a really big world out there. Your argument works a bit better for Shockley and Fairchild, because semiconductors was not a big world then. And it perhaps works for Levandowski today, because self-driving cars skills aren't super portable to other industries. I could see some market for his skills in more general robotics, though.
tigershark 7y ago
You are saying it like having just 4 weeks of paid holidays is a great achievement. I don’t want to disillude you, but when I was very, very junior in EU 5-6 weeks were taken for granted from the first day of work, and in one case I had 7 weeks. Now I an not a permanent anymore, I don’t have any paid holidays whatsoever and I’m much, much happier.
- jdietrich 7y ago
  In the EU, four weeks is the legal minimum.
- kragen 7y ago
  Also, people who change jobs every two years can get unpaid six-month vacations every two years. The idea that the benefit of working at a company for a long time is that you can not work is terribly amusing to me.

kragen 7y ago

I wasn't talking about a situation where the company can't fire you. I was talking about a situation where you can't quit the company. If the company has a credible legal case against any prior employee who works for a competitor, then firing you ends your career. That makes your job less secure, not more.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago
Only in a very small industry. If I work in medical x-ray machines, say, when I quit, I don't go to another medical x-ray company. I can still work in embedded systems, though - it's a really big world out there. Your argument works a bit better for Shockley and Fairchild, because semiconductors was not a big world then. And it perhaps works for Levandowski today, because self-driving cars skills aren't super portable to other industries. I could see some market for his skills in more general robotics, though.

tigershark 7y ago

You are saying it like having just 4 weeks of paid holidays is a great achievement. I don’t want to disillude you, but when I was very, very junior in EU 5-6 weeks were taken for granted from the first day of work, and in one case I had 7 weeks. Now I an not a permanent anymore, I don’t have any paid holidays whatsoever and I’m much, much happier.

jdietrich 7y ago
In the EU, four weeks is the legal minimum.
kragen 7y ago
Also, people who change jobs every two years can get unpaid six-month vacations every two years. The idea that the benefit of working at a company for a long time is that you can not work is terribly amusing to me.