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Personally that sounds like barf ... politics, stress, insecurities, backstabbing, stress, burn out. I am much happier working in boring government where worki

Personally that sounds like barf ... politics, stress, insecurities, backstabbing, stress, burn out. I am much happier working in boring government where working hard for family and with mature/secure with themselves (older) adults is paramount & prevalent. Thankfully not an enticing environment for douchebags.

chillacy 7y ago
Doesn't government come with its own hurdles? I have friends who have to deal with securing grant money (it's own game of flexing how important your project is with decision makers).
- paul7986 7y ago
  From the developers standpoint its not something that matters until the 1 to 3 to many year contract expires. THen it times to find another govt. gig working with other nice/older/secure family focused peers. For those under 40 everyone makes it harder on themselves then it ever needs to be. Not saying people over 40 aren't backstabbers, but its way less and going to work is more enjoyable then you worrying always about looking better then the next, you not believing in yourself and or dealing with those that fall under those categories and are a horror to work with and for.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  Government and Fortune 50 are similar in that they are big command economy type things that make decisions that don’t make any sense. The only real differences are that leadership people generally won’t fuck you for personal financial gain, because everyone makes about the same at senior levels, and employees rarely get fired, just shuffled around. If you’re a contractor and are smart, you stay friendly with everyone and always listen. Events that will get you purged are either procurement problems or bad political decisions with respect to the budget for whatever you do. With employees, you need to do the dance of getting shit done while avoiding accountability. You need to get attention for performance without pisiing people off. It’s critical to find and attach yourself to a good leader.
Zach_the_Lizard 7y ago
Funny, I worked as a government contractor in a past life. The government was worse IMO in that work was very slow and bureaucratic even beyond the big company overhead. Politics couldn't be ignored; you need to keep the contract, outmaneuver the other guys going golfing with the agency head every weekend, deal with having 10 half-backed solutions you contractually cannot touch but need to in order to get things done. Promotions were almost always about tenure, certification, and education. You could never get far ahead if you're more skilled. Worse: you couldn't really fall behind, either. In the right spot, though, it would be lower stress. But much lower pay
2rsf 7y ago
> Personally that sounds like barf It is and it's not. I got mediocre plus results without too much politics, and I guess that for the long run I could advance without back stabbing anyone (the site was closed before I had a chance to test my assumption) but I agree that most of the moving up had to include politics, stress, insecurities, backstabbing and stress. On the other hand you can relatively easy get to positions where you influence tens or more engineers while in smaller places those positions are rare and super senior

chillacy 7y ago

Doesn't government come with its own hurdles? I have friends who have to deal with securing grant money (it's own game of flexing how important your project is with decision makers).

paul7986 7y ago
From the developers standpoint its not something that matters until the 1 to 3 to many year contract expires. THen it times to find another govt. gig working with other nice/older/secure family focused peers. For those under 40 everyone makes it harder on themselves then it ever needs to be. Not saying people over 40 aren't backstabbers, but its way less and going to work is more enjoyable then you worrying always about looking better then the next, you not believing in yourself and or dealing with those that fall under those categories and are a horror to work with and for.
Spooky23 7y ago
Government and Fortune 50 are similar in that they are big command economy type things that make decisions that don’t make any sense. The only real differences are that leadership people generally won’t fuck you for personal financial gain, because everyone makes about the same at senior levels, and employees rarely get fired, just shuffled around. If you’re a contractor and are smart, you stay friendly with everyone and always listen. Events that will get you purged are either procurement problems or bad political decisions with respect to the budget for whatever you do. With employees, you need to do the dance of getting shit done while avoiding accountability. You need to get attention for performance without pisiing people off. It’s critical to find and attach yourself to a good leader.

Zach_the_Lizard 7y ago

Funny, I worked as a government contractor in a past life. The government was worse IMO in that work was very slow and bureaucratic even beyond the big company overhead. Politics couldn't be ignored; you need to keep the contract, outmaneuver the other guys going golfing with the agency head every weekend, deal with having 10 half-backed solutions you contractually cannot touch but need to in order to get things done. Promotions were almost always about tenure, certification, and education. You could never get far ahead if you're more skilled. Worse: you couldn't really fall behind, either. In the right spot, though, it would be lower stress. But much lower pay

2rsf 7y ago

> Personally that sounds like barf It is and it's not. I got mediocre plus results without too much politics, and I guess that for the long run I could advance without back stabbing anyone (the site was closed before I had a chance to test my assumption) but I agree that most of the moving up had to include politics, stress, insecurities, backstabbing and stress. On the other hand you can relatively easy get to positions where you influence tens or more engineers while in smaller places those positions are rare and super senior