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These threads are so wild to me. According to the collective HN hive mind, nobody does any real work, managers are totally unnecessary, offices are inevitably a

These threads are so wild to me. According to the collective HN hive mind, nobody does any real work, managers are totally unnecessary, offices are inevitably a waste of time and money, companies will try to exploit you at every opportunity, and you shouldn’t try to work beyond the bare minimum to advance your career. Meanwhile here I am, with a boss who I feel values and respects me and who is absolutely critical to my job performance and happiness, I make tons of meaningful human connections and collaborate 10x better face to face in the office (not to mention like my coworkers and like doing things like go to lunch with them), have consistently tried to go above and beyond my role’s requirements and have been rewarded consistently in my career for that effort, and absolutely do real, meaningful work every day (albeit as a relatively small cog). All while working for a big company that has politics and problems and bureaucracy but still manages to achieve amazing things despite the hurdles that operating at this scale incurs.

exBarrelSpoiler 3y ago
Sounds great, you've really found the place for you. Only question is: what are you doing posting on HN then?
nkjnlknlk 3y ago
Sounds like you have some combination of: a) good luck b) privilege (gender; ethnicity; wealth) c) a personality that performs the "theater" authentically d) good people around you e) alignment on your perceived value between others and yourself That is an envious position and one I'd love to hear more about especially since it is at a big company. How did you go about finding this opportunity? What were your interview strategies for identifying bullshit companies?
dontupvoteme 3y ago
I think a lot of companies don't actually make anything so there's no fundamental reason to really care (or if cynical : be proud) As an extreme example - thousands of brilliant engineers would pay money to work for F1 teams. Not forever, but a little while, and certainly not just for the resume, but to say they did it. (I'd be lying if i didn't say I sometimes daydream about it.) As a moderate example - medical technology/devices. It's certainly exploited to some degree on the most global capitalist level (e.g. you can pay people less if they have intrinsic motivation) but there is something neat about working a 12 hour day on something that will help sick people get better.

exBarrelSpoiler 3y ago

Sounds great, you've really found the place for you. Only question is: what are you doing posting on HN then?

nkjnlknlk 3y ago

Sounds like you have some combination of: a) good luck b) privilege (gender; ethnicity; wealth) c) a personality that performs the "theater" authentically d) good people around you e) alignment on your perceived value between others and yourself That is an envious position and one I'd love to hear more about especially since it is at a big company. How did you go about finding this opportunity? What were your interview strategies for identifying bullshit companies?

dontupvoteme 3y ago

I think a lot of companies don't actually make anything so there's no fundamental reason to really care (or if cynical : be proud) As an extreme example - thousands of brilliant engineers would pay money to work for F1 teams. Not forever, but a little while, and certainly not just for the resume, but to say they did it. (I'd be lying if i didn't say I sometimes daydream about it.) As a moderate example - medical technology/devices. It's certainly exploited to some degree on the most global capitalist level (e.g. you can pay people less if they have intrinsic motivation) but there is something neat about working a 12 hour day on something that will help sick people get better.