5 ms·

> I solved it, I got nothing. Alas one of the most defining aspects of business seems to be an entire lack of rewards for being the Johnny On The Spot, for tac

> I solved it, I got nothing. Alas one of the most defining aspects of business seems to be an entire lack of rewards for being the Johnny On The Spot, for tackling shit. It's absurd how little benefit there is to being good or caring or taking on the hard shit.

esafak 3y ago
Move to greener pastures and let the competition eat their lunch. Voting with your feet is how we have nice things.
- 93po 3y ago
  Yep. I just quit my last job because I bust my ass with zero recognition or credit. Annual pay raise was less than inflation. I'm out.
  - esafak 3y ago
    I used that very line about the inflation when I left too! And my last manager was nice, but the company was rudderless and mismanaged. I believed I could do better.
    - 93po 3y ago
      My employer interestingly didn't ask anything about compensation during my exit interview, and I wasn't about to say anything that was negative or not prompted. Benefits me not at all to be honest. I don't think it's "wrong" for employers to not at least match inflation. Ultimately I accepted the job for a set salary. If I want to negotiate higher, that's on me. If they want to do a better job retaining me, they need to offer it without me prompting it. After a promotion I got while there, I was getting paid $110k for a job that averages $190k in my city. Didn't make any sense and the raise was 4%, so I left.
TeMPOraL 3y ago
I don't know if this is even solvable in principle. There's just little to no correlation between the tough parts of this job, and the outcomes visible to stakeholders (even technical managers). Spent two days dealing with memory corruption caused by a badly-written third-party library (proprietary, binary-only distributed)? I may have felt like I own the universe when I finally found the problem, but what does my manager see? Me having promised the feature today, and now saying it'll be next week.
- jdbernard 3y ago
  One of the many ways management benefits from having hands-on experience prior.
- esafak 3y ago
  Options including selling your accomplishment, not doing thankless work, moving to a better-run company, and starting your own. I made my choice.
  - AH4oFVbPT4f8 3y ago
    Which option did you decide?
    - esafak 3y ago
      Started my own company. If you want something done right...
      - AH4oFVbPT4f8 3y ago
        Congrats on taking that step, I've often debated on doing the same but can't seem to make the leap. I checked out your company and am very impressed. While the site says "Sorry, we don't currently have any open positions." I'll take this opportunity to ask: Could there be a need for someone with two decades of diverse technology expertise, or a role that specifically requires skills in C#, SQL, or AWS, which hasn't yet been filled within your company?
tennisflyi 3y ago
There was an article about these very people working at Google.
alex_lav 3y ago
> Alas one of the most defining aspects of business seems to be an entire lack of rewards for being the Johnny On The Spot, for tackling shit. Rewarding this behavior incentivizes the creation of unnecessary problems only Johnny knows how to solve.
amelius 3y ago
They look at you as a process. Paying you more is like disturbing the process. Better keep the process running without touching it. They can always offer you more if you decide to look for a job elsewhere.
agumonkey 3y ago
It's sadly very true. Yes-men, doing their best to handle everything without asking .. get nothing[0]. I think it should be taught that any favor in a professional context should start with a negotiation until you trust these people to respect your engagement and involvement into caring for the project. [0] it can go even worse, I was thrown under the bus while doing everything.. i have no proof but i assume the other people were too happy to see me burn so they can go back to pretend working without someone showing what's the normal output is
thelastgallon 3y ago
I heard Google has a peer bonus. Maybe for situations like this?

esafak 3y ago

Move to greener pastures and let the competition eat their lunch. Voting with your feet is how we have nice things.

93po 3y ago
Yep. I just quit my last job because I bust my ass with zero recognition or credit. Annual pay raise was less than inflation. I'm out.
- esafak 3y ago
  I used that very line about the inflation when I left too! And my last manager was nice, but the company was rudderless and mismanaged. I believed I could do better.
  - 93po 3y ago
    My employer interestingly didn't ask anything about compensation during my exit interview, and I wasn't about to say anything that was negative or not prompted. Benefits me not at all to be honest. I don't think it's "wrong" for employers to not at least match inflation. Ultimately I accepted the job for a set salary. If I want to negotiate higher, that's on me. If they want to do a better job retaining me, they need to offer it without me prompting it. After a promotion I got while there, I was getting paid $110k for a job that averages $190k in my city. Didn't make any sense and the raise was 4%, so I left.

TeMPOraL 3y ago

I don't know if this is even solvable in principle. There's just little to no correlation between the tough parts of this job, and the outcomes visible to stakeholders (even technical managers). Spent two days dealing with memory corruption caused by a badly-written third-party library (proprietary, binary-only distributed)? I may have felt like I own the universe when I finally found the problem, but what does my manager see? Me having promised the feature today, and now saying it'll be next week.

jdbernard 3y ago
One of the many ways management benefits from having hands-on experience prior.
esafak 3y ago
Options including selling your accomplishment, not doing thankless work, moving to a better-run company, and starting your own. I made my choice.
- AH4oFVbPT4f8 3y ago
  Which option did you decide?
  - esafak 3y ago
    Started my own company. If you want something done right...
    - AH4oFVbPT4f8 3y ago
      Congrats on taking that step, I've often debated on doing the same but can't seem to make the leap. I checked out your company and am very impressed. While the site says "Sorry, we don't currently have any open positions." I'll take this opportunity to ask: Could there be a need for someone with two decades of diverse technology expertise, or a role that specifically requires skills in C#, SQL, or AWS, which hasn't yet been filled within your company?

tennisflyi 3y ago

There was an article about these very people working at Google.

alex_lav 3y ago

> Alas one of the most defining aspects of business seems to be an entire lack of rewards for being the Johnny On The Spot, for tackling shit. Rewarding this behavior incentivizes the creation of unnecessary problems only Johnny knows how to solve.

amelius 3y ago

They look at you as a process. Paying you more is like disturbing the process. Better keep the process running without touching it. They can always offer you more if you decide to look for a job elsewhere.

agumonkey 3y ago

It's sadly very true. Yes-men, doing their best to handle everything without asking .. get nothing[0]. I think it should be taught that any favor in a professional context should start with a negotiation until you trust these people to respect your engagement and involvement into caring for the project. [0] it can go even worse, I was thrown under the bus while doing everything.. i have no proof but i assume the other people were too happy to see me burn so they can go back to pretend working without someone showing what's the normal output is

thelastgallon 3y ago

I heard Google has a peer bonus. Maybe for situations like this?