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I spent a decade taking massive risks to gain an extremely rare set of skills. I joined a top company, and was immediately put into a corner and my job devolved

I spent a decade taking massive risks to gain an extremely rare set of skills. I joined a top company, and was immediately put into a corner and my job devolved into a weekly “checklist” meeting. All feedback and input I gave, based on my extensive experience, was ignored. Then I was systematically harassed for expressing innovative or creative ideas. So I redesigned my job to do as little as possible and focus most of my effort on side contracting. I have zero friends at work. I joined a year ago and feel no connection. I never met anyone in person at my role. Haven’t been into an office. I feel like an unwelcome outcast and largely unwanted and no one understands my background, talent or skillset. Basically: I am an intern despite my skills. There is something extremely dehumanizing about remote work. Because corporations can do this to you and no one is the wiser. There is no mechanism to gain any social status it feels like. People who had insider access before I got here will always have advantages over me. I’m not going to have opportunities to stand out or advance my career. Furthermore: The entrenched folks actively shut down anything that isn’t in their interests. It feels like 100% of the exciting projects are automatically assigned to people with inside access. I was removed from all the key meetings and email threads by people threatened by me trying to talk about ways to improve products and systems. Now I’m in an information black hole of exile. So yeah, I’m doing contracts on the side and coasting. This was the same as my last job. Remote work has completely deteriorated white collar work for me.

123abcthrowaway 5y ago
> This was the same as my last job. There's a class of HN comments that combine "I'm being mistreated" with "not the first time it's happened to me." If separate groups of people have the same reaction, it's worth considering common factors, notably the commenters themselves. (Other valid but less likely options include systemic bias or very bad luck.) That said, I empathize with the described lack of connection in remote work. Wishing the commenter a turn of good luck soon.
waynesonfire 5y ago
TLDR, you're stealing and thanks for sharing your justification that I presume allows you to sleep at night.
- s5300 5y ago
  Not exactly what I got out of reading that. Your response sounds slightly like the one professor in my department who screamed out pirating your overpriced books is stealing while every other professor in the dept. told us to pirate our books or simply handed out flash drives with the pirated books on them.
- theknocker 5y ago
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  No one is forcing anybody to employ the OP. If their employer is happy with their output then they'll keep paying them.
- flyinglizard 5y ago
  He's not stealing from anyone. Stealing means taking something that isn't yours. He's engaged in a willful transaction with an employer, it's just that it leaves him enough time and capacity to do side work. I'll believe in good faith that his employment is constantly monitored and evaluated. From the employer side there are sometimes considerations why to keep someone around. Could be morale, regulations, keeping resources for something legacy or something in the future, etc.
- buscoquadnary 5y ago
  No the employer is choosing to pay for him not to work. If a company pays me $200 an hour to write children's stories and then at the end of the day burns all the stories in front of me it isn't me who is stealing from the company, nor is it necessary that I write high quality stories for them. As long as I don't talk about Bruno I'll be fine.
  - hutzlibu 5y ago
    "As long as I don't talk about Bruno I'll be fine." Is that a reference to something known?
jkic47 5y ago
Not judging, but why wouldn't you leave and find another company that values your ideas? Staying sounds like a recipe for ulcers.
- flyinglizard 5y ago
  Not judging but it doesn't seem like the problem is necessarily with their specific employer (or will get better with another employer).
- austhrow743 5y ago
  It sounds to me like they have. They're just collecting a pay check until old company realises it as well.
nojs 5y ago
> I spent a decade taking massive risks to gain an extremely rare set of skills Can you elaborate on this?
akomtu 5y ago
Sounds like a typical corp. You're motivated by doing things right, everyone around is motivated by greed, and quite predictably, they are minimizing your disruption potential. I can see you'd do great as a consultant-advisor to a high-rank exec.
- QuarterReptile 5y ago
  >You're motivated by doing things right, everyone around is motivated by greed, and quite predictably, they are minimizing your disruption potential. Without discounting the frustration of GP, it doesn't exactly seem likely that he's the only one who cares in his entire org..
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dasil003 5y ago
You gotta get out man. If you truly have these unique skills it's just a matter of finding someone who understands the need and you get along with. Remember that corporations are made of people, they have no consciousness and are not homogeneous. Essentially one bad manager or bad team can completely screw your opportunity locally, but it doesn't mean there isn't a good fit elsewhere in the company or in another one. Bias towards the smallest company that needs your particular skillset.
cjsplat 5y ago
+1 on the get out asap statements. If the contracting is actually keeping your skills sharp, you'll probably do better 100% time. I contracted for 5 years and what I found was that I was hired for my skills, but not paid to grow those skills substantially. Given that I focus on multi-year hardware/software projects, I was definitely falling behind true leading edge with each project. In silicon valley, every day you are working on something that doesn't make sense is two days your career falls behind vs. someone who is on a true leading project.

123abcthrowaway 5y ago

> This was the same as my last job. There's a class of HN comments that combine "I'm being mistreated" with "not the first time it's happened to me." If separate groups of people have the same reaction, it's worth considering common factors, notably the commenters themselves. (Other valid but less likely options include systemic bias or very bad luck.) That said, I empathize with the described lack of connection in remote work. Wishing the commenter a turn of good luck soon.

waynesonfire 5y ago

TLDR, you're stealing and thanks for sharing your justification that I presume allows you to sleep at night.

s5300 5y ago
Not exactly what I got out of reading that. Your response sounds slightly like the one professor in my department who screamed out pirating your overpriced books is stealing while every other professor in the dept. told us to pirate our books or simply handed out flash drives with the pirated books on them.
theknocker 5y ago
heavyset_go 5y ago
No one is forcing anybody to employ the OP. If their employer is happy with their output then they'll keep paying them.
flyinglizard 5y ago
He's not stealing from anyone. Stealing means taking something that isn't yours. He's engaged in a willful transaction with an employer, it's just that it leaves him enough time and capacity to do side work. I'll believe in good faith that his employment is constantly monitored and evaluated. From the employer side there are sometimes considerations why to keep someone around. Could be morale, regulations, keeping resources for something legacy or something in the future, etc.
buscoquadnary 5y ago
No the employer is choosing to pay for him not to work. If a company pays me $200 an hour to write children's stories and then at the end of the day burns all the stories in front of me it isn't me who is stealing from the company, nor is it necessary that I write high quality stories for them. As long as I don't talk about Bruno I'll be fine.
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  "As long as I don't talk about Bruno I'll be fine." Is that a reference to something known?

jkic47 5y ago

Not judging, but why wouldn't you leave and find another company that values your ideas? Staying sounds like a recipe for ulcers.

flyinglizard 5y ago
Not judging but it doesn't seem like the problem is necessarily with their specific employer (or will get better with another employer).
austhrow743 5y ago
It sounds to me like they have. They're just collecting a pay check until old company realises it as well.

nojs 5y ago

> I spent a decade taking massive risks to gain an extremely rare set of skills Can you elaborate on this?

akomtu 5y ago

Sounds like a typical corp. You're motivated by doing things right, everyone around is motivated by greed, and quite predictably, they are minimizing your disruption potential. I can see you'd do great as a consultant-advisor to a high-rank exec.

QuarterReptile 5y ago
>You're motivated by doing things right, everyone around is motivated by greed, and quite predictably, they are minimizing your disruption potential. Without discounting the frustration of GP, it doesn't exactly seem likely that he's the only one who cares in his entire org..

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

dasil003 5y ago

You gotta get out man. If you truly have these unique skills it's just a matter of finding someone who understands the need and you get along with. Remember that corporations are made of people, they have no consciousness and are not homogeneous. Essentially one bad manager or bad team can completely screw your opportunity locally, but it doesn't mean there isn't a good fit elsewhere in the company or in another one. Bias towards the smallest company that needs your particular skillset.

cjsplat 5y ago

+1 on the get out asap statements. If the contracting is actually keeping your skills sharp, you'll probably do better 100% time. I contracted for 5 years and what I found was that I was hired for my skills, but not paid to grow those skills substantially. Given that I focus on multi-year hardware/software projects, I was definitely falling behind true leading edge with each project. In silicon valley, every day you are working on something that doesn't make sense is two days your career falls behind vs. someone who is on a true leading project.