5 ms·

Have you tried working part-time? I'm not sure this would help, because I don't really understand how you can love coding and hate working at the same time. He

by zupatol 18y ago

Have you tried working part-time? I'm not sure this would help, because I don't really understand how you can love coding and hate working at the same time. Here is what I do: I have an arrangement with my employer that I will not work full-time for more than 9 months straight. After 9 months I have a 6 months break. The arrangement is tacit, it's not in a contract, but it has been working for the last 3 years. It took me one year to find such a job. I turned down another job where I could have worked 3 days a week, because they wanted me to first work full-time for 1 year. Work doesn't seem to turn me off as much as you, but then I only worked full-time for one year, the year my first IT employer trained me as a developer. I then worked 4 days a week and eventually quit because they wouldn't let me work 3 days. It's not that I don't like work, it's just that my extremely time-consuming hobby is more important to me. One obvious downside is that I have less professional opportunities, so if I worked more, my job might be more interesting. I am not sure I could afford this, or even have the courage to try it, if I hadn't also inherited some money. On the other hand I haven't tried the lifehack stuff. I am in Switzerland, a country where unemployment tends to be low, but where working part-time as a developer is uncommon enough for lots of people to think it can't be done.

flaneur 18y ago
Huh. Somehow it had not occurred to me to try to make this cycle explicit. That's a really interesting idea, thank you.
- davi 18y ago
  This reminds me of something I often forget: if I want something out of the ordinary, it's very unlikely anyone will give it to me unless I ask.
  - delackner 18y ago
    Ask and ye shall receive.
    - villageidiot 18y ago
      Or not. But it's usually better to ask anyway.
  - jeroen 18y ago
    And if you're good enough at your job, it's unlikely that you will be denied your request. A couple of years ago I wanted to go on a holiday for a month in a busy time. I notified my employer about half a year in advance and we planned around it. In the end, the planning didn't work out, I moved my holiday a couple of weeks and my employer paid my airline ticket in return.
  - ardell 18y ago
    My mother always said: You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.
- iigs 18y ago
  I'm not sure where you live or what your interests are, but this is the way contracting at Microsoft works. Every year contractors have to take a ~100 day break. Some contractors take that time off to relax / do hobby things, others take short term temp contracts or other part time work to fill the gaps.
  - zupatol 18y ago
    That's interesting. Could you be more specific about the numbers? Are these workdays? This would be the equivalent of 5 months. Or are they calendar days, which make it a little more than 3 months? Do they have to take the break after 12 months of work? Or do they take it every year, making them work 9 months per year (assuming you count the break in calendar days)? Another question. It sounds like Microsoft contractors have to take a break if they like it or not, so the point is probably not to keep them motivated. What advantage does Microsoft get from this?
    - GBond 18y ago
      This is a policy that is a direct result of the M$ "Permatemp" lawsuit. By labor law standards, a Contractor becomes an employee past this time-frame thus eligible for the same benefits as an employee. Having the Contractor leave and come back is the loophole/workaround for this. http://www.itworld.com/IW010108calist http://www.itworld.com/IW010108calist
  - jimbokun 18y ago
    I remember they got sued for essentially using temps for full time positions but never giving them the benefits of a full time position. This is probably their way of legally demonstrating that the temps really are temps.
- jasonkester 18y ago
  If you're good at what you do, all you need to do is ask. It'll happen. I stumbled into this idea 10 years ago, and haven't looked back: http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2007/02/two-weeks-vacation-is-only.html http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2007/02/two-weeks-vaca...
ecuzzillo 18y ago
What's the hobby?
- zupatol 18y ago
  I write and draw comics
wingo 18y ago
I also work something similar (three days a week). I recommend it highly. This year has been one of the most productive of my life. This quote is nice: "Perhaps I am more than usually jealous of my freedom. I feel that my connections with and obligations to society are at present very slight and transient. Those slight labors which afford me a livelihood, and by which I am serviceable to my contemporaries, are as yet a pleasure to me, and I am not often reminded that they are a necessity. So far I am successful, and only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him. But I foresee that if my wants should be much increased the labor required to supply them would become a drudgery. If I should sell both my forenoons and afternoons to society, neglecting my peculiar calling, there would be nothing left worth living for. I trust that I shall never thus sell my birthright for a mess of pottage." H. Thoreau 10 January, 1851 More here: http://wingolog.org/archives/2007/12/18/in-which-our-protagonist-changes-jobs http://wingolog.org/archives/2007/12/18/in-which-our-protago...

by zupatol 18y ago

flaneur 18y ago

Huh. Somehow it had not occurred to me to try to make this cycle explicit. That's a really interesting idea, thank you.

davi 18y ago
This reminds me of something I often forget: if I want something out of the ordinary, it's very unlikely anyone will give it to me unless I ask.
- delackner 18y ago
  Ask and ye shall receive.
  - villageidiot 18y ago
    Or not. But it's usually better to ask anyway.
- jeroen 18y ago
  And if you're good enough at your job, it's unlikely that you will be denied your request. A couple of years ago I wanted to go on a holiday for a month in a busy time. I notified my employer about half a year in advance and we planned around it. In the end, the planning didn't work out, I moved my holiday a couple of weeks and my employer paid my airline ticket in return.
- ardell 18y ago
  My mother always said: You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.
iigs 18y ago
I'm not sure where you live or what your interests are, but this is the way contracting at Microsoft works. Every year contractors have to take a ~100 day break. Some contractors take that time off to relax / do hobby things, others take short term temp contracts or other part time work to fill the gaps.
- zupatol 18y ago
  That's interesting. Could you be more specific about the numbers? Are these workdays? This would be the equivalent of 5 months. Or are they calendar days, which make it a little more than 3 months? Do they have to take the break after 12 months of work? Or do they take it every year, making them work 9 months per year (assuming you count the break in calendar days)? Another question. It sounds like Microsoft contractors have to take a break if they like it or not, so the point is probably not to keep them motivated. What advantage does Microsoft get from this?
  - GBond 18y ago
    This is a policy that is a direct result of the M$ "Permatemp" lawsuit. By labor law standards, a Contractor becomes an employee past this time-frame thus eligible for the same benefits as an employee. Having the Contractor leave and come back is the loophole/workaround for this. http://www.itworld.com/IW010108calist http://www.itworld.com/IW010108calist
- jimbokun 18y ago
  I remember they got sued for essentially using temps for full time positions but never giving them the benefits of a full time position. This is probably their way of legally demonstrating that the temps really are temps.
jasonkester 18y ago
If you're good at what you do, all you need to do is ask. It'll happen. I stumbled into this idea 10 years ago, and haven't looked back: http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2007/02/two-weeks-vacation-is-only.html http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2007/02/two-weeks-vaca...

ecuzzillo 18y ago

What's the hobby?

zupatol 18y ago
I write and draw comics

wingo 18y ago

I also work something similar (three days a week). I recommend it highly. This year has been one of the most productive of my life. This quote is nice: "Perhaps I am more than usually jealous of my freedom. I feel that my connections with and obligations to society are at present very slight and transient. Those slight labors which afford me a livelihood, and by which I am serviceable to my contemporaries, are as yet a pleasure to me, and I am not often reminded that they are a necessity. So far I am successful, and only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him. But I foresee that if my wants should be much increased the labor required to supply them would become a drudgery. If I should sell both my forenoons and afternoons to society, neglecting my peculiar calling, there would be nothing left worth living for. I trust that I shall never thus sell my birthright for a mess of pottage." H. Thoreau 10 January, 1851 More here: http://wingolog.org/archives/2007/12/18/in-which-our-protagonist-changes-jobs http://wingolog.org/archives/2007/12/18/in-which-our-protago...