59 ms·
Highly skilled software engineers get to make their own hours, and don't have to look for a job that has reduced hours (and pay) on paper, since they can just A
by kache_ 5y ago
Highly skilled software engineers get to make their own hours, and don't have to look for a job that has reduced hours (and pay) on paper, since they can just AFK on a Wednesday and no one will say otherwise - because of their tenure and leverage.
- Swizec 5y ago> and no one will say otherwise - because of their tenure and leverage. Disagree on the last part. Because everything still gets done. I write code slower than I used to but I throw away a lot less of it. Turns out going slower is faster.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- UncleMeat 5y agoThe important part is the reduced expectations.
- michaelcampbell 5y agoIt will be interesting to see how that part actually works out.
- mike_d 5y agoThe important part is output. If you produce enough work to satisfy your manager, and show up to enough meetings that nobody asks them where you are, when you work does not matter at all.
- UncleMeat 5y agoSure. But not everybody wants to try to achieve those marks on 30h per week. Instead, they might prefer to achieve 75% of expectations on 30h per week. The "do enough to not get fired" plan also leads to fundamental career stagnation, whereas a reduced schedule can actually still let you advance in your career.
- uejfiweun 5y agoThis is one of my favorite things about the job. Apart from a couple meetings, you really have complete control over your schedule - you aren't dictated by regular business hours or the opening and closing hours of markets. Such a far cry from the typical high school or college experience.
- kache_ 5y agoDoubly so if you're remote
- hintymad 5y agoIt not that simple. Most engineers still want to get a good perf rating. Amazon plans projects with the assumption that everyone works 5 days a week. Therefore, 4 days a week means you plan at most 4 days a week. If you choose to take a day off every week, then you will be at least 20% more productive than your peers to output at the same level. Unless you assume that your peers are 20% less productive than you, you will be at a disadvantage by working only 4 days a week.
- ilrwbwrkhv 5y agoGood engineers don't join Amazon.
- rubyfan 5y agoI read a lot that Amazon has a challenging culture. Is it just in dev/tech roles or is it a culture thing?
- GoldenMonkey 5y agoEverywhere. They even made their warehouse staff come in during a tornado. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59641784 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59641784
- fhood 5y agoLarge portions of AWS are widely regarded as waking nightmares. Elsewhere largely seems to be fine.
- rubyfan 5y agoThey seem like two different companies to me.
- yurishimo 5y agoThere are plenty of stories out there about teams hiring people for the sole purpose of having someone to fire to meet a culling quota. If there is a company initiative to cut dead weight every year, it's going to develop cliques and clubs of people who want to keep their jobs above all else. I've also heard that people on those teams can generally be happy in their roles as long as they feel secure they aren't on the chopping block.
- nfw2 5y agoMost companies still expect people to document their availability and absences. Some people still frown upon those that don't follow the butt-in-seat rules. Some managers (I've had some really bad ones) will try to keep you under your thumb if they can. Everything else equal, I would prefer to explicitly have the days off and not have to deal with that.
- jazzkingrt 5y agoI think even highly skilled engineers end up needing to be available for certain kinds of meetings. To whatever extent I'm highly skilled, I'd prefer that it be reflected in my responsibilities and compensation, rather than leverage to blow off meetings.
- errcorrectcode 5y agoYes. Communication and availability overlap is important to get certain kinds of things unblocked. Plus, career-wise, it's bad to be a vampire no one ever meets or sees regardless of electronic responsiveness within their working hours. Although, I think butt-in-seat mentality was always broken if an employee could broadcast or interact from anywhere. There are certain kinds of pair programming, whiteboarding, co-design, collab, and conversations that lead to higher signal in-person vs. remote.
- devoutsalsa 5y agoThat’s why a lot of jobs have core office hours. My company’s main office works East Coast USA hours & we have a lot of team members in Europe, too. Unofficial our core hours tend to be like 9a to 1p eastern.
- dennisy 5y agoDo you think that sounds fair? Would you agree with other highly skilled individuals working a smaller subset of agreed hours due to their competency being high?
- zem 5y agoabsolutely. if company A pays me to get my job done and company B pays me the same amount to "be at work" I know which one I'd pick.
- granshaw 5y agoHow would you know in advance which was which? (And often “getting work done early” just becomes “here’s more work”)
- MrStonedOne 5y ago
- ipaddr 5y agoSubmitting work early leads to more work.
- zem 5y agoi wouldn't for sure, but flexible hours would be a good hint that they cared about what i did more than when i did it.
- kache_ 5y agoThat's actually.. totally fine. If I need to get good, I'll get good.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]