5 ms·

How do you get away with working so little? You don't have meetings? Or people pinging you during the day?

xwdv 5y ago
1) Finish your work 2) get a job that doesn’t require tons of meetings 3) use slack on your phone If you meet these requirements you can cut out all the bullshit from your day and just focus on the meaty part that you actually get paid for.
- brundolf 5y ago
  Be careful about doing personal work in those extra hours though. Personally I wouldn't risk it. As an alternative, I know some companies will let you voluntarily cut down your hours in exchange for a pay cut. With tech salaries being what they are, you could make a comfortable living while only working half-time in many cases. And that way you don't have to worry about what legally counts as "on company time".
  - jrochkind1 5y ago
    I'd like to hear more about people who have officially cut down their hours for pay cut at what sorts of companies, and how they negotiated it!
    - samvher 5y ago
      I work Mon-Wed at 60% pay. I built some key infrastructure for the organization I work for, which gives me some leverage. I basically just told them this is how I want things from now on and that was ok. I’m not at MAANG level compensation though (more like European public sector).
  - emerged 5y ago
    There is some risk there, although California has pretty favorable laws to protect you. I wouldn’t work on any project which is even tangentially related to the day job or touch any company resources while working on side projects. I’d also never sacrifice my performance at the W-2 for side work. They get absolute priority. Work in good faith and read up on your rights, but yea even with all that you could unwittingly get yourself in some form of trouble. I’ve weighed the risks and feel comfortable but YMMV.
    - brundolf 5y ago
      Varies widely by state; in Texas I had to fight and turn down offers to even get a contract that would give me full rights to the stuff outside of work-hours. So I'm not going to toe that line.
      - emerged 5y ago
        In your shoes I’d be working remotely for a California company from Texas because the labor laws from California will apply to you. It’s not a choice for me, but I’d love that.
        ok_dad 5y ago
        Do you have a reference for this? Not that i don't believe you, but I recently moved away from California to my home state and I would love to know if this applies to my situation.
      - jmatthews 5y ago
        enforcing even a basic non-compete in Texas is roughly impossible unless you steal existing clients or IP.
  - xwdv 5y ago
    As a remote worker they have zero way of knowing what I’m doing when I’m not working. Doesn’t even matter anyway, I’m no longer at an age where I fantasize about making big money from building pointless side projects. It’s kind of juvenile to think these sort of half-serious side hustles will ever be anything more than a waste of time in the long run. I’m content with drawing a big six-figure tech salary with as little effort as possible and funneling cash into my growing portfolio of investments, which is what will actually make me richer without going through the bullshit of starting a company and providing customer support. Reading up on companies and analyzing which ones will be the best investments is actually something I enjoy doing.
emerged 5y ago
Extremely strict time management and focus. If I go upstairs to put in a load of laundry, that’s a 5 minute time slot I put back into my work time slots. The vast majority of people are very inefficient with time management, spend tons of time bike shedding, etc.
- Jcampuzano2 5y ago
  I usually have a minimum of 15-20 hours a week JUST with meetings. And I can't just tell people I refuse to go to these. And then I also have my own tasks to do. I really have no clue how many people I see claim working 15 hrs total a week when that's already the absolute bare minimum for me.
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xwdv 5y ago

1) Finish your work 2) get a job that doesn’t require tons of meetings 3) use slack on your phone If you meet these requirements you can cut out all the bullshit from your day and just focus on the meaty part that you actually get paid for.

brundolf 5y ago
Be careful about doing personal work in those extra hours though. Personally I wouldn't risk it. As an alternative, I know some companies will let you voluntarily cut down your hours in exchange for a pay cut. With tech salaries being what they are, you could make a comfortable living while only working half-time in many cases. And that way you don't have to worry about what legally counts as "on company time".
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  I'd like to hear more about people who have officially cut down their hours for pay cut at what sorts of companies, and how they negotiated it!
  - samvher 5y ago
    I work Mon-Wed at 60% pay. I built some key infrastructure for the organization I work for, which gives me some leverage. I basically just told them this is how I want things from now on and that was ok. I’m not at MAANG level compensation though (more like European public sector).
- emerged 5y ago
  There is some risk there, although California has pretty favorable laws to protect you. I wouldn’t work on any project which is even tangentially related to the day job or touch any company resources while working on side projects. I’d also never sacrifice my performance at the W-2 for side work. They get absolute priority. Work in good faith and read up on your rights, but yea even with all that you could unwittingly get yourself in some form of trouble. I’ve weighed the risks and feel comfortable but YMMV.
  - brundolf 5y ago
    Varies widely by state; in Texas I had to fight and turn down offers to even get a contract that would give me full rights to the stuff outside of work-hours. So I'm not going to toe that line.
    - emerged 5y ago
      In your shoes I’d be working remotely for a California company from Texas because the labor laws from California will apply to you. It’s not a choice for me, but I’d love that.
      - ok_dad 5y ago
        Do you have a reference for this? Not that i don't believe you, but I recently moved away from California to my home state and I would love to know if this applies to my situation.
    - jmatthews 5y ago
      enforcing even a basic non-compete in Texas is roughly impossible unless you steal existing clients or IP.
- xwdv 5y ago
  As a remote worker they have zero way of knowing what I’m doing when I’m not working. Doesn’t even matter anyway, I’m no longer at an age where I fantasize about making big money from building pointless side projects. It’s kind of juvenile to think these sort of half-serious side hustles will ever be anything more than a waste of time in the long run. I’m content with drawing a big six-figure tech salary with as little effort as possible and funneling cash into my growing portfolio of investments, which is what will actually make me richer without going through the bullshit of starting a company and providing customer support. Reading up on companies and analyzing which ones will be the best investments is actually something I enjoy doing.

emerged 5y ago

Extremely strict time management and focus. If I go upstairs to put in a load of laundry, that’s a 5 minute time slot I put back into my work time slots. The vast majority of people are very inefficient with time management, spend tons of time bike shedding, etc.

Jcampuzano2 5y ago
I usually have a minimum of 15-20 hours a week JUST with meetings. And I can't just tell people I refuse to go to these. And then I also have my own tasks to do. I really have no clue how many people I see claim working 15 hrs total a week when that's already the absolute bare minimum for me.
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- deleted 5y ago
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