3 ms·

I once interviewed a guy who put on a great show during the interview. The kind of interview that feels more like a well-practiced sales pitch than an honest co

I once interviewed a guy who put on a great show during the interview. The kind of interview that feels more like a well-practiced sales pitch than an honest conversation with the candidate. Checking his LinkedIn, I discovered that he had a consulting company that ran concurrently with his most recent jobs. His most recent jobs were all less than 12 months of tenure, and the start/end dates didn’t match what he provided on his resume in some cases. Curious, I started digging more. Through some LinkedIn friend-of-friend backchannel references I eventually deduced that he was trying to run his freelancing shop as his primary job while getting full-time employment at companies with flexible and/or remote employment where his real daily activities could go unnoticed (for a time). He collected a paycheck and benefits while running and building his freelance company. He would also try to recruit some of his coworkers to become part of his consulting company “on the side”. I suspect he was trying to outsource his own work to his freelancers as well. Eventually each company would catch on and get sick of his behaviors, strange lack of availability and presence during the day, and work output that varied depending on how much contract work he was trying to do. Then he’d move on to the next company to continue collecting benefits and a paycheck remotely while running his freelance shop.

wly_cdgr 5y ago
True hero of the resistance
- sonograph 5y ago
  Not really. His team paid the price of carrying the burden of his laziness/treachery for a year. If they hired a competent person, they would have been better off.
  - wly_cdgr 5y ago
    That's their problem...shoulda worked less hard
    - breakfastduck 5y ago
      Oh come on, that attitude is shameful
    - tharkun__ 5y ago
      There's a gradient there if you ask me. There's the "gives everything up for the company, no questions asked" types of people. Tesla et al come to mind for companies that like to hire this type. I don't get that to be honest. Your family and life are not worth whatever they're paying you, even if the work is 'fun' and engaging. YMMV as always. Then there's the opposite end which you're alluding to but I'm not entirely sure where on the gradient you are. The slackers or someone like the guy described by the OP. I had someone like that recently. I caught it within the probation period and he was gone after 2 months. Then there's what I would consider the proper position on the gradient line. You do your work, you do your best, every day without question or being 'made' to. But in return you ask for the company to be reasonable too. Proper pay and benefits, flexibility, nice perks but not the kinds of 'perks' that are just designed to make you 'live' at the office, mandatory 'fun' etc. No BS 'do this yesterday because I say so' requests. The list goes on. There are companies out there, that are close enough to that/let you do that if you don't just say yes to everything :)
      - nebula8804 5y ago
        >Tesla et al come to mind for companies that like to hire this type. I don't get that to be honest. Your family and life are not worth whatever they're paying you, even if the work is 'fun' and engaging. YMMV as always. On the other hand these companies are producing some great results. I religiously watch the teardown analysis of the Tesla cars vs others like the Ford Mach-E and the Tesla is just so much better designed in pretty much every regard(except things that require slow methodological improvement such as fit and finish). Whats more, all the Musk companies are moving at the speed of thought. They are so much faster in implementing any new innovation that any competitor makes that they dont have and incorporate it into their product faster than any other company does. >Then there's what I would consider the proper position on the gradient line. You do your work, you do your best, every day without question or being 'made' to. But in return you ask for the company to be reasonable too. Proper pay and benefits, flexibility, nice perks but not the kinds of 'perks' that are just designed to make you 'live' at the office, mandatory 'fun' etc. No BS 'do this yesterday because I say so' requests. The list goes on. Don't you think these companies are going to eventually be eaten by the companies that have the demanding work environment? For better or worse all else being equal, those companies get more done in the same amount of time. I am experiencing this at my company, an old bloated payroll company. They have superb work life balance, I get my work done but I know the company is sinking to Silicon Valley rivals, its just a matter of time. The product is old and competitors are just doing a better job. Im currently in a dilemma where I get paid fairly well but not doing any advanced projects, that will bite me long term but the freedom and 0 stress is just so good. I get my stuff done and have time to take hour long breaks.
  - PragmaticPulp 5y ago
    Exactly. He was taking advantage of everyone around him to enrich himself. The companies were fine (most caught on quickly and fired him) but he left a mark on the teams he left behind. There’s nothing heroic about joining a team and then sabotaging their work.
  - stainforth 5y ago
    Hey, it's just business
keredson 5y ago
That can be done in a non-sleazy way. For a long while there were effective caps on what you could earn as an IC, no matter how good. Everyone talks about 10x devs, but a decade ago the only real way to capitalize on it was to hold multiple remote gigs, each where you're accurately emulating the performance of say a $150-200k dev. 2-3 of those is very do-able, and a darn nice income if you're outside the major tech hubs. As long as you're performing akin to your salary for each position, and you read your employment contracts carefully, I see nothing wrong w/ this approach.
okprod 5y ago
He could have done his job and met all the requirements, including attendance, and had his side business. A former boss of mine worked for a city office where he was in the morning that let him have a flexible schedule, owned a consulting business where he worked in the afternoon, and was a partner in a gym where he worked in the evenings. He did all that for 6 years and eventually reached his goal -- no boss, all passive income (ownership of the gym, tanning salon, real estate), paid-off house, etc.
- jamespo 5y ago
  He could have, but the less than 12 months for all the recent roles is a red flag.
  - rcurry 5y ago
    I’d say that depends. I got sucked into a couple of different “opportunities” that turned out to be clown shows and I had to leave under six months both times. It was pretty hard on my CV, but what are you going to do?
rcurry 5y ago
I got you beat (no offense intended). Back in the dotcom boom my company hired a guy who would come in to the office, throw his jacket over a chair and then go to his other full time job. It took them two months to catch on.
surround 5y ago
Sounds like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27454589 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27454589 "I currently have 10 fully remote engineering jobs"
- MaxBarraclough 5y ago
  One of the comments there raises an interesting question: this is plain old criminal fraud, right? (Whether this person is actually telling the truth is another matter, of course.)

wly_cdgr 5y ago

True hero of the resistance

sonograph 5y ago
Not really. His team paid the price of carrying the burden of his laziness/treachery for a year. If they hired a competent person, they would have been better off.
- wly_cdgr 5y ago
  That's their problem...shoulda worked less hard
  - breakfastduck 5y ago
    Oh come on, that attitude is shameful
  - tharkun__ 5y ago
    There's a gradient there if you ask me. There's the "gives everything up for the company, no questions asked" types of people. Tesla et al come to mind for companies that like to hire this type. I don't get that to be honest. Your family and life are not worth whatever they're paying you, even if the work is 'fun' and engaging. YMMV as always. Then there's the opposite end which you're alluding to but I'm not entirely sure where on the gradient you are. The slackers or someone like the guy described by the OP. I had someone like that recently. I caught it within the probation period and he was gone after 2 months. Then there's what I would consider the proper position on the gradient line. You do your work, you do your best, every day without question or being 'made' to. But in return you ask for the company to be reasonable too. Proper pay and benefits, flexibility, nice perks but not the kinds of 'perks' that are just designed to make you 'live' at the office, mandatory 'fun' etc. No BS 'do this yesterday because I say so' requests. The list goes on. There are companies out there, that are close enough to that/let you do that if you don't just say yes to everything :)
    - nebula8804 5y ago
      >Tesla et al come to mind for companies that like to hire this type. I don't get that to be honest. Your family and life are not worth whatever they're paying you, even if the work is 'fun' and engaging. YMMV as always. On the other hand these companies are producing some great results. I religiously watch the teardown analysis of the Tesla cars vs others like the Ford Mach-E and the Tesla is just so much better designed in pretty much every regard(except things that require slow methodological improvement such as fit and finish). Whats more, all the Musk companies are moving at the speed of thought. They are so much faster in implementing any new innovation that any competitor makes that they dont have and incorporate it into their product faster than any other company does. >Then there's what I would consider the proper position on the gradient line. You do your work, you do your best, every day without question or being 'made' to. But in return you ask for the company to be reasonable too. Proper pay and benefits, flexibility, nice perks but not the kinds of 'perks' that are just designed to make you 'live' at the office, mandatory 'fun' etc. No BS 'do this yesterday because I say so' requests. The list goes on. Don't you think these companies are going to eventually be eaten by the companies that have the demanding work environment? For better or worse all else being equal, those companies get more done in the same amount of time. I am experiencing this at my company, an old bloated payroll company. They have superb work life balance, I get my work done but I know the company is sinking to Silicon Valley rivals, its just a matter of time. The product is old and competitors are just doing a better job. Im currently in a dilemma where I get paid fairly well but not doing any advanced projects, that will bite me long term but the freedom and 0 stress is just so good. I get my stuff done and have time to take hour long breaks.
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  Exactly. He was taking advantage of everyone around him to enrich himself. The companies were fine (most caught on quickly and fired him) but he left a mark on the teams he left behind. There’s nothing heroic about joining a team and then sabotaging their work.
- stainforth 5y ago
  Hey, it's just business

keredson 5y ago

That can be done in a non-sleazy way. For a long while there were effective caps on what you could earn as an IC, no matter how good. Everyone talks about 10x devs, but a decade ago the only real way to capitalize on it was to hold multiple remote gigs, each where you're accurately emulating the performance of say a $150-200k dev. 2-3 of those is very do-able, and a darn nice income if you're outside the major tech hubs. As long as you're performing akin to your salary for each position, and you read your employment contracts carefully, I see nothing wrong w/ this approach.

okprod 5y ago

He could have done his job and met all the requirements, including attendance, and had his side business. A former boss of mine worked for a city office where he was in the morning that let him have a flexible schedule, owned a consulting business where he worked in the afternoon, and was a partner in a gym where he worked in the evenings. He did all that for 6 years and eventually reached his goal -- no boss, all passive income (ownership of the gym, tanning salon, real estate), paid-off house, etc.

jamespo 5y ago
He could have, but the less than 12 months for all the recent roles is a red flag.
- rcurry 5y ago
  I’d say that depends. I got sucked into a couple of different “opportunities” that turned out to be clown shows and I had to leave under six months both times. It was pretty hard on my CV, but what are you going to do?

rcurry 5y ago

I got you beat (no offense intended). Back in the dotcom boom my company hired a guy who would come in to the office, throw his jacket over a chair and then go to his other full time job. It took them two months to catch on.

surround 5y ago

Sounds like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27454589 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27454589 "I currently have 10 fully remote engineering jobs"

MaxBarraclough 5y ago
One of the comments there raises an interesting question: this is plain old criminal fraud, right? (Whether this person is actually telling the truth is another matter, of course.)