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I don't disagree, but I never said there was no such thing as slackers or that OP definitely isn't one. I provided a test to tell if they really are one or not

I don't disagree, but I never said there was no such thing as slackers or that OP definitely isn't one. I provided a test to tell if they really are one or not. The point I'm making is that some people in our profession think they are slacking when they're not, for the reasons I described. OP's description doesn't convince me that they necessarily are. In particular the comment at the end about having spent the years prior to the pandemic "pretending" to themselves that they were working hard sounds to me like somebody who's never really understood their own mental processes and has encountered a different perspective by doing the job in a different environment. I might be wrong, but that sounds more likely to me than that they have been getting away with minimal contributions throughout what they describe as a 20 year career. Your report didn't get away with it - the evidence is always there in the commit history, and the 2-5 year job length OP mentions is, contrary to their assessment, plenty of time to judge a developer's productivity. Another hint is the fact that this person is seriously proposing the idea that everybody else is slacking off and lying too. This indicates that they don't think their actual output is less than other developers'. As I say, I may be wrong. I don't know this developer - these are just some thoughts based on what they've posted. Unlike some here I'm not assuming I know the truth.

mnrmen 5y ago
I am in a similar position as OP. I do 15-20 hours of work and watch Twitch or YouTube the rest of the time. I am a lead dev at a startup and developed one of their main products. I have always implemented every feature in a few days or less. Bug fixes usually take 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile another lead dev, who handles the development of another product, takes at least 2 days to fix a simple bug, and 1-2 weeks to implement a simple feature. Personally I don't see why I should be overworked if I get all of my stuff done in a short amount of time. Plus because I feel guilty I am always available on Slack and answer or even code on demand if somebody really needs it. I sense that higher ups look at me as a hard worker and a good employee, but if only they knew the thruth. But if I was forced to work a lot more I would probably quit.
- omnicognate 5y ago
  Yeah, that's the common mindset. You feel that you're slacking off, and you feel "guilty" about it, but you have a successful career and describe the prospect of doing more than you do as being "overworked" to the extent that you may have to quit. There's nothing noble about burning out.

mnrmen 5y ago

I am in a similar position as OP. I do 15-20 hours of work and watch Twitch or YouTube the rest of the time. I am a lead dev at a startup and developed one of their main products. I have always implemented every feature in a few days or less. Bug fixes usually take 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile another lead dev, who handles the development of another product, takes at least 2 days to fix a simple bug, and 1-2 weeks to implement a simple feature. Personally I don't see why I should be overworked if I get all of my stuff done in a short amount of time. Plus because I feel guilty I am always available on Slack and answer or even code on demand if somebody really needs it. I sense that higher ups look at me as a hard worker and a good employee, but if only they knew the thruth. But if I was forced to work a lot more I would probably quit.

omnicognate 5y ago
Yeah, that's the common mindset. You feel that you're slacking off, and you feel "guilty" about it, but you have a successful career and describe the prospect of doing more than you do as being "overworked" to the extent that you may have to quit. There's nothing noble about burning out.