6 ms·

Ya'll are hyper focusing on the nights and weekends. That was my personal decision, not part of the culture.

givemeethekeys 4y ago
Due to the recent news of other tech companies making their employees work nights and weekends before laying them off, it is easy to interpret your earlier message such that Stripe did the same.
- filoleg 4y ago
  > recent news of other tech companies making their employees work nights and weekends Are there any companies aside from Twitter that would fall under this? Because that's the only one I've seen mentioned in the news that way, but you make it sound like there are plenty others. So I was curious if I simply missed something.
  - sushid 4y ago
    Startups. If they do the math and the trendline doesn't seem good, they'll make their teams go through a grind before layoffs. It's not necessarily to eke out a bit of productivity, per se, but they're essentially throwing hail marys in the hope that something will happen. Of course, when it inevitably doesn't they axe a few and the rest go back to work.
    - filoleg 4y ago
      Fair, I agree. For SV startups though, "working day and night" seems to be a fairly common scenario, not specific to these past few months.
whimsicalism 4y ago
The culture is the product of many personal decisions. If I was working nights and (especially) weekends at my current employer (another big tech company), I would be told to stop.
- TearsInTheRain 4y ago
  why is that a good thing?
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    To not drag down everyone else’s quality of life. Culture comes from the top. Defaults matter. Overarching thesis is the people who work to live don’t want to be dragged by those who live to work. Not a judgement about someone’s passion.
    - apozem 4y ago
      The pressure is there if someone on your team works nights and weekends, especially if they are senior to you. They may not even realize they are pressuring you! But it is impossible to avoid. Something to remember, especially if you have anyone working under you - your work level will be seen as the minimum for your team members, not the exception.
    - danielrhodes 4y ago
      It seems unreasonable to dictate the way your colleagues work because it doesn't match your own value system. If the culture of the company/team is fast paced or long hours, maybe it isn't the right fit for you. Generally speaking though, companies should value output and results over hours. Easier said than done. Additionally, value should be placed on what one commits to do and delivers on. So if somebody is constantly having to pull late nights to complete work, they may be overcommitting. It's also possible a manager will consistently push people to overcommit: this is a problem because that can indicate poor boundaries, bad planning, poor resourcing, and so on.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - kdmccormick 4y ago
        > If the culture of the company/team is fast paced or long hours, maybe it isn't the right fit for you. Sure. And if the culture of the company/team is working 40 hours a week max and calling people out when they work more than that, then maybe it isn't the right fit for you.
hnews_account_1 4y ago
Don’t worry. Online forums are always like that. They’ll pretend like they’ve never had a high pressure job that paid out handsomely if you applied yourself and hence motivated you to work harder. To them, they think everyone should have work life balance from the age of 23 just because they’ve discovered its importance at 32 years of age. Young people have to work hard. I don’t expect my reports to work on any evenings or weekends and if they even suggest it, I tell them not to and give them more lead. At the same time, if they override my decision and work through the evening, I am ready to answer questions over IM if I’m free too. I’m not going to say “why are you working evenings?”. People online are daft.
- gurumeditations 4y ago
  That is so willingly naive. A culture that allows something which grants an advantage eventually requires you do that thing by implicit force. Don’t fool yourself. This is 101 stuff and anyone who doesn’t understand this concept shouldn’t be in charge, because it doesn’t just lead to overwork but also to more pernicious evil things, see MeToo and others.
  - hnews_account_1 4y ago
    This is nonsense. You want to muzzle a hard worker because you think the rest of the workforce will not match up? What I count is the output, not if people are working evenings and nights or during the workday. Work output is capped by what I require so I hold all the cards and I’ll pay the guy who wants to work more. Harrison Bergeron much?
- truncate 4y ago
  I just reached my 30s, and have pretty good WLB. Good WLB is just part of the picture though. You can work 5 hours a day and be miserable, and you can work 12 hours a day and be happy. It's also nice to have flexibility and independence I think. Being forced to work 12 hours always sucks over voluntarily working 12 hours. I'd not recommend 23yo to stay chill in job, particularly if they have some ambition. At the same time, don't devoid yourself of other experiences in life if possible. Honestly, there is plenty of time in a day. If we have good discipline and prioritize correctly, lot can be done. That's what I struggle with personally.
reducesuffering 4y ago
Actually, with a 3.1 WLB rating, it seems that it likely is very much part of the culture. https://www.teamblind.com/company/Stripe/reviews https://www.teamblind.com/company/Stripe/reviews
- petrusnonius 4y ago
  It is.
berjin 4y ago
But in doing so were you not influencing the culture? Depending on how promotions etc work others might feel they need to keep up with that one guy working in the weekend.
lmm 4y ago
So you chose to undermine your colleagues and a somewhat decent culture, to gain a lead in a race to the bottom? That's even worse than enabling a company that's already shitty.
- qwertywert_ 4y ago
  Stripe is a competitive company with not great WLB from reviews, maybe he enjoys a fast-paced busy environment. He gets paid for it. If people at Stripe don't like that culture they can very easily leave and get a more relaxed job.

Due to the recent news of other tech companies making their employees work nights and weekends before laying them off, it is easy to interpret your earlier message such that Stripe did the same.

filoleg 4y ago
> recent news of other tech companies making their employees work nights and weekends Are there any companies aside from Twitter that would fall under this? Because that's the only one I've seen mentioned in the news that way, but you make it sound like there are plenty others. So I was curious if I simply missed something.
- sushid 4y ago
  Startups. If they do the math and the trendline doesn't seem good, they'll make their teams go through a grind before layoffs. It's not necessarily to eke out a bit of productivity, per se, but they're essentially throwing hail marys in the hope that something will happen. Of course, when it inevitably doesn't they axe a few and the rest go back to work.
  - filoleg 4y ago
    Fair, I agree. For SV startups though, "working day and night" seems to be a fairly common scenario, not specific to these past few months.

whimsicalism 4y ago

The culture is the product of many personal decisions. If I was working nights and (especially) weekends at my current employer (another big tech company), I would be told to stop.

TearsInTheRain 4y ago
why is that a good thing?
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  To not drag down everyone else’s quality of life. Culture comes from the top. Defaults matter. Overarching thesis is the people who work to live don’t want to be dragged by those who live to work. Not a judgement about someone’s passion.
  - apozem 4y ago
    The pressure is there if someone on your team works nights and weekends, especially if they are senior to you. They may not even realize they are pressuring you! But it is impossible to avoid. Something to remember, especially if you have anyone working under you - your work level will be seen as the minimum for your team members, not the exception.
  - danielrhodes 4y ago
    It seems unreasonable to dictate the way your colleagues work because it doesn't match your own value system. If the culture of the company/team is fast paced or long hours, maybe it isn't the right fit for you. Generally speaking though, companies should value output and results over hours. Easier said than done. Additionally, value should be placed on what one commits to do and delivers on. So if somebody is constantly having to pull late nights to complete work, they may be overcommitting. It's also possible a manager will consistently push people to overcommit: this is a problem because that can indicate poor boundaries, bad planning, poor resourcing, and so on.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - kdmccormick 4y ago
      > If the culture of the company/team is fast paced or long hours, maybe it isn't the right fit for you. Sure. And if the culture of the company/team is working 40 hours a week max and calling people out when they work more than that, then maybe it isn't the right fit for you.

hnews_account_1 4y ago

Don’t worry. Online forums are always like that. They’ll pretend like they’ve never had a high pressure job that paid out handsomely if you applied yourself and hence motivated you to work harder. To them, they think everyone should have work life balance from the age of 23 just because they’ve discovered its importance at 32 years of age. Young people have to work hard. I don’t expect my reports to work on any evenings or weekends and if they even suggest it, I tell them not to and give them more lead. At the same time, if they override my decision and work through the evening, I am ready to answer questions over IM if I’m free too. I’m not going to say “why are you working evenings?”. People online are daft.

gurumeditations 4y ago
That is so willingly naive. A culture that allows something which grants an advantage eventually requires you do that thing by implicit force. Don’t fool yourself. This is 101 stuff and anyone who doesn’t understand this concept shouldn’t be in charge, because it doesn’t just lead to overwork but also to more pernicious evil things, see MeToo and others.
- hnews_account_1 4y ago
  This is nonsense. You want to muzzle a hard worker because you think the rest of the workforce will not match up? What I count is the output, not if people are working evenings and nights or during the workday. Work output is capped by what I require so I hold all the cards and I’ll pay the guy who wants to work more. Harrison Bergeron much?
truncate 4y ago
I just reached my 30s, and have pretty good WLB. Good WLB is just part of the picture though. You can work 5 hours a day and be miserable, and you can work 12 hours a day and be happy. It's also nice to have flexibility and independence I think. Being forced to work 12 hours always sucks over voluntarily working 12 hours. I'd not recommend 23yo to stay chill in job, particularly if they have some ambition. At the same time, don't devoid yourself of other experiences in life if possible. Honestly, there is plenty of time in a day. If we have good discipline and prioritize correctly, lot can be done. That's what I struggle with personally.

reducesuffering 4y ago

Actually, with a 3.1 WLB rating, it seems that it likely is very much part of the culture. https://www.teamblind.com/company/Stripe/reviews https://www.teamblind.com/company/Stripe/reviews

petrusnonius 4y ago
It is.

berjin 4y ago

But in doing so were you not influencing the culture? Depending on how promotions etc work others might feel they need to keep up with that one guy working in the weekend.

lmm 4y ago

So you chose to undermine your colleagues and a somewhat decent culture, to gain a lead in a race to the bottom? That's even worse than enabling a company that's already shitty.

qwertywert_ 4y ago
Stripe is a competitive company with not great WLB from reviews, maybe he enjoys a fast-paced busy environment. He gets paid for it. If people at Stripe don't like that culture they can very easily leave and get a more relaxed job.