5 ms·

Ask HN: Thread about doing nothing at FAANG

14 points by jimmywetnips 4y ago

there was a post sometime in the last 2 years I think where some new kid was hired and was lamenting about how little gets done at his new job. And then all the commenters were giving their experience of do nothing jobs at FAANG. Anyone still have a link? I can't seem to find it.

bko 4y ago
This thread? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23917131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23917131
- jimmywetnips 4y ago
  Yes! thanks so much!
_jdzr 4y ago
Might be an old thread but still very relevant. Just left Twitch for very similar reasons + some extras.
- booboofixer 4y ago
  What did you do at Twitch? Where are you off to?
  - _jdzr 4y ago
    Worked on the team that put Twitch on consoles. Not sure where I'm off to yet... Taking some time off to figure out how I want to navigate the mess of the recruiting scene at the moment.
jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
I am tormented by the fact that at almost every company, there is so much amazing work that could be done, but everyone sits around blocking it or being lazy.
- runnerup 4y ago
  a lot of the people sitting around being lazy were initially trying to learn to do great work but kept getting blocked and gave up.
  - datavirtue 4y ago
    I'm one of these people. Used to be an absolute workaholic, now I work as slow as is humanly possible. It works for software development since it has this weird property of not really improving much if you speed up. Someone can be really fast and not get much more done than someone who purposefully takes their time. My brain tells me when to quit each day and it has helped tremendously with preventing burnout. I might code for two-four hours per day. However, I don't try to avoid work or block projects or steal credit and I'm always game for a new project--though I hate building greenfield apps because it seems like the devs are the only ones into it and I thrive on being part of a cross functional team. I'm on a project right now where we developers are driving out every requirement. The business is very behind, hasn't really driven any requirements. I warned everyone at the beginning that we were going to outrun them. A few devs were pumping out code like crazy and I tried to just chill. Now we're scrambling for work--well, I'm not.
    - jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
      If you've implemented every requirement, you should focus on refactoring, documentation, performance, cost reduction, fault tolerance...
- MaxPengwing 4y ago
  in my experience this is because larger organisations have incentive structures that counter act each other at different levels, usually related to budgetary constraints and... getting the credit for doing something good. I spoke with a friend who has done the manager track and every time he rises up one step on the ladder he's befuddled on what he's actually measured on in forms of metrics. Moving from Moderation to QA was at least somewhat related, but then going in to TL he found that his teams performance has NOTHING to do with how he's evaluated. it has more to do with what extra projects he has taken on that gives him and his department more visibility and credit in the company. I know people dislike Jordan Peterson, but he does touch on this briefly in one lecture on performance prediction from 2017 (When he was still teaching) https://youtu.be/Q7GKmznaqsQ?t=1296 https://youtu.be/Q7GKmznaqsQ?t=1296 David Gerber did a more in depth anthropological investigation of bullshit jobs and found that there are 5 types https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kehnIQ41y2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kehnIQ41y2o Most of us might find ourselves in that. Im in IT Support and 95 times of a 100 I just read the help document that is published on our website out loud to customers.... and Im in a very large B2B SaaS Tech Support...

14 points by jimmywetnips 4y ago

bko 4y ago

This thread? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23917131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23917131

jimmywetnips 4y ago
Yes! thanks so much!

_jdzr 4y ago

Might be an old thread but still very relevant. Just left Twitch for very similar reasons + some extras.

booboofixer 4y ago
What did you do at Twitch? Where are you off to?
- _jdzr 4y ago
  Worked on the team that put Twitch on consoles. Not sure where I'm off to yet... Taking some time off to figure out how I want to navigate the mess of the recruiting scene at the moment.

jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago

I am tormented by the fact that at almost every company, there is so much amazing work that could be done, but everyone sits around blocking it or being lazy.

runnerup 4y ago
a lot of the people sitting around being lazy were initially trying to learn to do great work but kept getting blocked and gave up.
- datavirtue 4y ago
  I'm one of these people. Used to be an absolute workaholic, now I work as slow as is humanly possible. It works for software development since it has this weird property of not really improving much if you speed up. Someone can be really fast and not get much more done than someone who purposefully takes their time. My brain tells me when to quit each day and it has helped tremendously with preventing burnout. I might code for two-four hours per day. However, I don't try to avoid work or block projects or steal credit and I'm always game for a new project--though I hate building greenfield apps because it seems like the devs are the only ones into it and I thrive on being part of a cross functional team. I'm on a project right now where we developers are driving out every requirement. The business is very behind, hasn't really driven any requirements. I warned everyone at the beginning that we were going to outrun them. A few devs were pumping out code like crazy and I tried to just chill. Now we're scrambling for work--well, I'm not.
  - jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
    If you've implemented every requirement, you should focus on refactoring, documentation, performance, cost reduction, fault tolerance...
MaxPengwing 4y ago
in my experience this is because larger organisations have incentive structures that counter act each other at different levels, usually related to budgetary constraints and... getting the credit for doing something good. I spoke with a friend who has done the manager track and every time he rises up one step on the ladder he's befuddled on what he's actually measured on in forms of metrics. Moving from Moderation to QA was at least somewhat related, but then going in to TL he found that his teams performance has NOTHING to do with how he's evaluated. it has more to do with what extra projects he has taken on that gives him and his department more visibility and credit in the company. I know people dislike Jordan Peterson, but he does touch on this briefly in one lecture on performance prediction from 2017 (When he was still teaching) https://youtu.be/Q7GKmznaqsQ?t=1296 https://youtu.be/Q7GKmznaqsQ?t=1296 David Gerber did a more in depth anthropological investigation of bullshit jobs and found that there are 5 types https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kehnIQ41y2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kehnIQ41y2o Most of us might find ourselves in that. Im in IT Support and 95 times of a 100 I just read the help document that is published on our website out loud to customers.... and Im in a very large B2B SaaS Tech Support...