5 ms·

In the last year or two, I have not "worked" more than 1-2 hours a day on average--some days for a grand total of zero hours. The quote/unquote is not there by

In the last year or two, I have not "worked" more than 1-2 hours a day on average--some days for a grand total of zero hours. The quote/unquote is not there by accident. I manage a team and some projects, and most of the time I let other people do the technical work while I get to chat with higher ups or give some general direction on where the work should go. I consider myself very competent in my field even though I stopped doing purely technical work some time ago, but there are a lot of very good coders out there, but not enough "lazy pragmatists" like me. My team likes me because I don't micromanage, I support them as much as I can and can entertain them with some good jokes, career advice and a general openness that is hard to find in professional circles. I have also been able to work remotely for months, and when I say remotely I mean in very remote places. I also make top money for European standards. Some will see me as a "parasite", but they would be very wrong. I do exactly what I am asked to do, I am positive and upbeat and always ready to support the team at large when needed. Others may ask, "is she not getting bored?", but the answer is "are you kidding me?". I can spend time with my kids and partner, climb mountains, and brunch on the regular with my girlfriends. Maybe (surely?) it will end at some point, but like someone said, "tomorrow is not promised to anyone". I might start a coaching service at some point, as I believe most professionals (forget about the SV types, I am talking about other geographies) are far from having a real understanding on how big companies work and what should be done to have a comfortable and impactful professional life (I am a top performer!), while at the same time enjoying this splendid world we are lucky to live in.

i_love_music 5y ago
I love this comment and your vibe. I agree with the lack of lazy pragmatists.
thewarrior 5y ago
How do I sign up for your service :P
raihansaputra 5y ago
What is your title/job description? Are you more of a team lead/engineering manager?
- jesuis_14 5y ago
  It is a technical director of engineering position, but as we know jobs are more nuanced than the title they have
  - raihansaputra 5y ago
    Yeah definitely. Is it possible to work in a similar way for a lower-level management position? I'm not interested in the Managerial track, but it's worth a try if this is possible.
Hnrobert42 5y ago
I find your attitude repugnant. It is the reason I refuse to work for large companies. I would be the one busting my ass to keep turds like you afloat.
charbuff 5y ago
I'd love to hear more about how you operate. Do you write?
bitcoinmoney 5y ago
Can you say salary too?
- jesuis_14 5y ago
  Between 200k and 250k Euros depending on bonuses and value of shares
laichzeit0 5y ago
> I consider myself very competent in my field even though I stopped doing purely technical work some time ago, but there are a lot of very good coders out there, but not enough "lazy pragmatists" like me. I have found many times that junior developers really love to write code (I did too early in my career). Most of my time is spent stopping people from writing more code. As in, why are you doing this instead of using this library? Why are you even thinking about writing code to do date/time manipulation? Why are even thinking about doing something custom when it’s security related? I guess it’s because modern development is actually mostly boring so anything that looks challenging people love to think they can finally apply that algo/leet code shit they’ve been prepping for. In NormalCorp you can forget about it. It’s my job to actively make sure no one is trying to be clever by writing unnecessary fun code.
abyssin 5y ago
I've met people like you, some as employees, but most as coaches. I believe their role is somehow religious, priest-like: they are able to occupy a spot between leadership and workers to embody the ability to believe in what the company is doing. I think your role is perfectly summarized by your last sentence. You role is to be the person who says: "I'm enjoying the splendid world we are lucky to live in." I envy your ability to see the world as splendid in the context of work. I see exploitation, destruction of the environment, abusive relationships, boredom, meaninglessness. I believe most of your/our bosses feel the same way.
- sdwr 5y ago
  This is it!
Forge36 5y ago
If you're managing a team, they like you, and you're being productive then I wouldn't consider it a parasite. A good manager who helps when needed and stays out of the way when I'm working is amazing.
mathteddybear 5y ago
Ever thought it might be a carrot to dangle to ICs "look at them yo-yos! that's the way to do it! if you work hard and stay in this company, you could be able to enjoy 2-hour week work, too! No need to break away and start a start-up or anything that risky"
timini 5y ago
What practical things can I do to get better at my job? Ive always been a procrastinator but since the pandemic I've become like op. Very little work on job, whole weeks where I don't do anything. It's double edged sword, I have rekindled some old hobbies but I feel a lot of guilt about not being good at my job. I get by just about at work some people love my work some people hate working with me. I would love to learn from successful people like you, is there anything you can recommend reading or any course to learn? I'm in the middle of my life and feeling stuck and confused about working in tech. What's the remedy?
- jesuis_14 5y ago
  It's mostly about deciding what you want your life to be, and then that big decision impacts other decisions about your work life. I grew up in a family where my parents worked normal (non-tech, non-professional) jobs and never talked about work when they were home. We would take cheap vacations in the summer for 3+ weeks and they never checked in at work to hear how things were going or whether or not the xyz project was approved. If you work in technology, you're probably used to your work life spilling over, in terms of time, thoughts and concerns, into your life outside of work. Culture, which is a social phenomenon, has great effects on the lives of individuals, but there is usually ample room for the individual to decide what their approach and attitude will be. People who hate working with you are a problem. It could stem from a cultural mismatch or from people who are better at their jobs than you are and aren't as inclined to work with someone on their level (I'm writing descriptively here, no judgment) or from a toxic environment, like some I've had the displeasure of finding myself in. What's going on there? Look at it honestly and without emotion, which is hard to do at first. By observing and understanding how the world works, which is one of the most important skills you can possess, it is quite easy to observe what is the most common way to achieve a goal, to the point where it is sometimes surprising to see how delusional most people are. For example, if you want to build a muscular physique, it's easy to do the following: observe what most people who are muscular do - given some starting points (endo- or ectomorphic, tall/short, genetically weak or strong points) - and follow what they did at different stages of muscle development. But what you often see when you go to the gym is a large number of non-muscular people doing all sorts of bizarre exercises or protocols that people who have achieved success never did. Same with diets or learning or doing business. And the same with career development. To get a, say, director position at Big Tech, say FAANG and company, the most common way is to move from IC to manager to director at a FAANG and co, either vertically within the company or horizontally with some possible down-leveling or a mix of the two. Now the second step is to look at how people are promoted, and it's a combination of technical skills, personality (someone has to promote you, remember, you're not promoting yourself), actions (e.g., backstabbing or turning the other way often works, this is unfortunately the world we live in, to the point where the "be nice" movement advocated by people in positions of high power makes me laugh, because to get to their position it's very likely they were only being nice in their minds. But I don't tolerate bad actions in my world), and timing. Do I have the technical skills? Do I have the personality? Do I have the right timing? Clearly, it's all situational, which is the second thing you should learn in combat sports (the first is being able to fight), i.e. you have to somehow adapt to the situation that arises in the fight (yourself and your opponent). You might read this and say, no, it's not that easy. But actually it is, conceptually. Then, one sometimes cannot achieve the technical proficiency necessary for a certain position and peace. But at least one doesn't run in circles thinking that the secret to a great career is in adding brown sugar to coffee. Then, one last (of many) aspect to consider is that new positions and advancements often don't provide a linear increase in "professional currency," but at the n increment, where n is much larger than 2. Say, you're working as an IC at the Nooneknows company with a certain skill set and you get by luck, skill and whatever else a position at a FAANG. In 6 months, you'll be contacted by 10-100 times the number of companies that were interested in you before. A good effort can be enormously rewarded. But first, think about what you want to do with your life. You only live once, that will never change, and taking control of your life, forgetting as much as reasonably possible (we all want a piece of it) of validation from friends, family, neighbors and society at large, is the necessary first step toward a great, wonderful life.

i_love_music 5y ago

I love this comment and your vibe. I agree with the lack of lazy pragmatists.

thewarrior 5y ago

How do I sign up for your service :P

raihansaputra 5y ago

What is your title/job description? Are you more of a team lead/engineering manager?

jesuis_14 5y ago
It is a technical director of engineering position, but as we know jobs are more nuanced than the title they have
- raihansaputra 5y ago
  Yeah definitely. Is it possible to work in a similar way for a lower-level management position? I'm not interested in the Managerial track, but it's worth a try if this is possible.

Hnrobert42 5y ago

I find your attitude repugnant. It is the reason I refuse to work for large companies. I would be the one busting my ass to keep turds like you afloat.

charbuff 5y ago

I'd love to hear more about how you operate. Do you write?

bitcoinmoney 5y ago

Can you say salary too?

jesuis_14 5y ago
Between 200k and 250k Euros depending on bonuses and value of shares

laichzeit0 5y ago

> I consider myself very competent in my field even though I stopped doing purely technical work some time ago, but there are a lot of very good coders out there, but not enough "lazy pragmatists" like me. I have found many times that junior developers really love to write code (I did too early in my career). Most of my time is spent stopping people from writing more code. As in, why are you doing this instead of using this library? Why are you even thinking about writing code to do date/time manipulation? Why are even thinking about doing something custom when it’s security related? I guess it’s because modern development is actually mostly boring so anything that looks challenging people love to think they can finally apply that algo/leet code shit they’ve been prepping for. In NormalCorp you can forget about it. It’s my job to actively make sure no one is trying to be clever by writing unnecessary fun code.

abyssin 5y ago

I've met people like you, some as employees, but most as coaches. I believe their role is somehow religious, priest-like: they are able to occupy a spot between leadership and workers to embody the ability to believe in what the company is doing. I think your role is perfectly summarized by your last sentence. You role is to be the person who says: "I'm enjoying the splendid world we are lucky to live in." I envy your ability to see the world as splendid in the context of work. I see exploitation, destruction of the environment, abusive relationships, boredom, meaninglessness. I believe most of your/our bosses feel the same way.

sdwr 5y ago
This is it!

Forge36 5y ago

If you're managing a team, they like you, and you're being productive then I wouldn't consider it a parasite. A good manager who helps when needed and stays out of the way when I'm working is amazing.

mathteddybear 5y ago

Ever thought it might be a carrot to dangle to ICs "look at them yo-yos! that's the way to do it! if you work hard and stay in this company, you could be able to enjoy 2-hour week work, too! No need to break away and start a start-up or anything that risky"

timini 5y ago

What practical things can I do to get better at my job? Ive always been a procrastinator but since the pandemic I've become like op. Very little work on job, whole weeks where I don't do anything. It's double edged sword, I have rekindled some old hobbies but I feel a lot of guilt about not being good at my job. I get by just about at work some people love my work some people hate working with me. I would love to learn from successful people like you, is there anything you can recommend reading or any course to learn? I'm in the middle of my life and feeling stuck and confused about working in tech. What's the remedy?

jesuis_14 5y ago
It's mostly about deciding what you want your life to be, and then that big decision impacts other decisions about your work life. I grew up in a family where my parents worked normal (non-tech, non-professional) jobs and never talked about work when they were home. We would take cheap vacations in the summer for 3+ weeks and they never checked in at work to hear how things were going or whether or not the xyz project was approved. If you work in technology, you're probably used to your work life spilling over, in terms of time, thoughts and concerns, into your life outside of work. Culture, which is a social phenomenon, has great effects on the lives of individuals, but there is usually ample room for the individual to decide what their approach and attitude will be. People who hate working with you are a problem. It could stem from a cultural mismatch or from people who are better at their jobs than you are and aren't as inclined to work with someone on their level (I'm writing descriptively here, no judgment) or from a toxic environment, like some I've had the displeasure of finding myself in. What's going on there? Look at it honestly and without emotion, which is hard to do at first. By observing and understanding how the world works, which is one of the most important skills you can possess, it is quite easy to observe what is the most common way to achieve a goal, to the point where it is sometimes surprising to see how delusional most people are. For example, if you want to build a muscular physique, it's easy to do the following: observe what most people who are muscular do - given some starting points (endo- or ectomorphic, tall/short, genetically weak or strong points) - and follow what they did at different stages of muscle development. But what you often see when you go to the gym is a large number of non-muscular people doing all sorts of bizarre exercises or protocols that people who have achieved success never did. Same with diets or learning or doing business. And the same with career development. To get a, say, director position at Big Tech, say FAANG and company, the most common way is to move from IC to manager to director at a FAANG and co, either vertically within the company or horizontally with some possible down-leveling or a mix of the two. Now the second step is to look at how people are promoted, and it's a combination of technical skills, personality (someone has to promote you, remember, you're not promoting yourself), actions (e.g., backstabbing or turning the other way often works, this is unfortunately the world we live in, to the point where the "be nice" movement advocated by people in positions of high power makes me laugh, because to get to their position it's very likely they were only being nice in their minds. But I don't tolerate bad actions in my world), and timing. Do I have the technical skills? Do I have the personality? Do I have the right timing? Clearly, it's all situational, which is the second thing you should learn in combat sports (the first is being able to fight), i.e. you have to somehow adapt to the situation that arises in the fight (yourself and your opponent). You might read this and say, no, it's not that easy. But actually it is, conceptually. Then, one sometimes cannot achieve the technical proficiency necessary for a certain position and peace. But at least one doesn't run in circles thinking that the secret to a great career is in adding brown sugar to coffee. Then, one last (of many) aspect to consider is that new positions and advancements often don't provide a linear increase in "professional currency," but at the n increment, where n is much larger than 2. Say, you're working as an IC at the Nooneknows company with a certain skill set and you get by luck, skill and whatever else a position at a FAANG. In 6 months, you'll be contacted by 10-100 times the number of companies that were interested in you before. A good effort can be enormously rewarded. But first, think about what you want to do with your life. You only live once, that will never change, and taking control of your life, forgetting as much as reasonably possible (we all want a piece of it) of validation from friends, family, neighbors and society at large, is the necessary first step toward a great, wonderful life.