4 ms·

Well first of all, we need to abandon the concept of the 40 hour work week. Very few people are actually working all of those 40 hours and even if they were, it

Well first of all, we need to abandon the concept of the 40 hour work week. Very few people are actually working all of those 40 hours and even if they were, it's just a bad way to work for any client or company. In all likelihood, the people managing you aren't technical and have a very small window into the work you're actually doing. On top of that, even if you can outperform your colleagues by as much as 200% by working more or working "harder", there's no point in doing so because our work world doesn't really understand how to deal with exceptional individuals. You'll just get 15% more pay and some meaningless title for all of that hard work anyway. So you work up to the point where people tell you "that's amazing", then you go work on side projects. Simple customer management. They're happy, you're happy. No more exchanging hours for dollars, we all get what we want. Just focus on what matters, both for your own longterm happiness (building skills, scratching an itch, whatever) and for the happiness of your customers (they won't get their project completed if you're burned out and disengaged). Reject the 40 hours. This isn't a factory and we aren't slaves. It will all be fine.

quickthrower2 7y ago
I agree! But shame we have contracts that say stuff like work you do at work is the property of the company, and you need to be at work for 40 hours per week. I'm sure individuals on HN do negotiate, and working remote gives you this freedom probably, but for most of us it doesn't seem realistic.
- sloopy543 7y ago
  My only advice is to get your finances together and have a giant ball of "FU" money so you can afford to quit situations where you're wasting your time. Software engineers have the luxury of making large sums of money, so it shouldn't take too long to get a few hundred K together. Things start to look much more rosy after that. Just remember to think like a business person. They're doing that. Why not you?
  - quickthrower2 7y ago
    Saving "A few 100k" is one solution, probably for the American FAANG (or equivalent) engineers. But there are other solutions. Frugality helps - less money is required if you live in a shared house or a couch (you can invest in property at the same time but not live in it). Having a life partner helps, one of you can have a job at all times, so one of you has the FU card. Other sources of income. I think coding side projects are hard to make work, but real estate is more doable (but there is more risk and patience required). Even with none of that, a good CV, interviewing technique, keeping up with the interview puzzles, and living somewhere with plenty of jobs will give you a FU card to your current company (but not the industry).
    - sloopy543 7y ago
      Oh for sure! There are so many different FU cards, money being the obvious one

quickthrower2 7y ago

I agree! But shame we have contracts that say stuff like work you do at work is the property of the company, and you need to be at work for 40 hours per week. I'm sure individuals on HN do negotiate, and working remote gives you this freedom probably, but for most of us it doesn't seem realistic.

sloopy543 7y ago
My only advice is to get your finances together and have a giant ball of "FU" money so you can afford to quit situations where you're wasting your time. Software engineers have the luxury of making large sums of money, so it shouldn't take too long to get a few hundred K together. Things start to look much more rosy after that. Just remember to think like a business person. They're doing that. Why not you?
- quickthrower2 7y ago
  Saving "A few 100k" is one solution, probably for the American FAANG (or equivalent) engineers. But there are other solutions. Frugality helps - less money is required if you live in a shared house or a couch (you can invest in property at the same time but not live in it). Having a life partner helps, one of you can have a job at all times, so one of you has the FU card. Other sources of income. I think coding side projects are hard to make work, but real estate is more doable (but there is more risk and patience required). Even with none of that, a good CV, interviewing technique, keeping up with the interview puzzles, and living somewhere with plenty of jobs will give you a FU card to your current company (but not the industry).
  - sloopy543 7y ago
    Oh for sure! There are so many different FU cards, money being the obvious one