In the dot-com heyday my team had nothing to do. A manager explained that they had hired extra developers “just in case they needed them later”. I couldn’t tak

In the dot-com heyday my team had nothing to do. A manager explained that they had hired extra developers “just in case they needed them later”. I couldn’t take the boredom and quit to do a round the world backpacking trip. My co-worker stayed and wrote a novel. It was a perfect setup: he got payed to come in and sit at the computer all day typing, and always looked busy. I think he played his hand well.