3 ms·

I had one of these once and I know of couple others. The thing is you get these jobs by having a full time job there for a few years, and then saying "hey like,

I had one of these once and I know of couple others. The thing is you get these jobs by having a full time job there for a few years, and then saying "hey like, can I just do the maintenance part time or at an hourly rate" and they either fire you for asking or let you do it. These arrangements are 100% custom, highly dependent on relationships & office politics, and are never ever posted publicly. You are also just putting a big ass "please lay me off" sign on your head so even if you wrangle one of these you can't expect to keep it for more than a year or two.

chirau 2y ago
Lol. Why would they fire you for asking?
- oldprogrammer2 2y ago
  Because you just inadvertently labeled yourself as a potential flight risk. Bad managers don’t know how to handle that, and will assume you’re going to leave if you don’t get what you want. The “firing” probably won’t be immediate, but bad managers will passive aggressively manage you out.
- giraffe_lady 2y ago
  When I was in this situation it was perceived as me looking for another job. I didn't get directly fired immediately was I was moved to a more demanding role on a less prestigious project outside of my competency and then eventually let go. If you're a critical internal expert your boss really has your back or something it might be different for you. Like I said it has a lot to do with relationships & politics. Even just asking draws attention to yourself and scrutiny to your position in a way that I don't think is usually to your benefit.
  - al_borland 2y ago
    The way I did it, I never really asked, but I also didn't go to part time. I just started spending more and more of my time helping people learn how to do the job better, and then building tools to help when it seemed like no amount of training would help them get better with the tools we had. Over time the boss saw the value and made that my job without me asking. Of course, that requires a decent boss, and it also happened slowly over several years. I'm pretty sure he would have let me go part time if I asked, since he saw me as more productive in 1 hour than most people are in a week. At one point he told me to go to Amsterdam and work from coffee shops for a few months. I didn't do it, but in hindsight, I kind of wish I had. I have a different boss now and things are drastically different. A boss can make a world of difference.
FredPret 2y ago
> These arrangements are 100% custom, highly dependent on relationships This is what the very best jobs are like

chirau 2y ago

Lol. Why would they fire you for asking?

oldprogrammer2 2y ago
Because you just inadvertently labeled yourself as a potential flight risk. Bad managers don’t know how to handle that, and will assume you’re going to leave if you don’t get what you want. The “firing” probably won’t be immediate, but bad managers will passive aggressively manage you out.
giraffe_lady 2y ago
When I was in this situation it was perceived as me looking for another job. I didn't get directly fired immediately was I was moved to a more demanding role on a less prestigious project outside of my competency and then eventually let go. If you're a critical internal expert your boss really has your back or something it might be different for you. Like I said it has a lot to do with relationships & politics. Even just asking draws attention to yourself and scrutiny to your position in a way that I don't think is usually to your benefit.
- al_borland 2y ago
  The way I did it, I never really asked, but I also didn't go to part time. I just started spending more and more of my time helping people learn how to do the job better, and then building tools to help when it seemed like no amount of training would help them get better with the tools we had. Over time the boss saw the value and made that my job without me asking. Of course, that requires a decent boss, and it also happened slowly over several years. I'm pretty sure he would have let me go part time if I asked, since he saw me as more productive in 1 hour than most people are in a week. At one point he told me to go to Amsterdam and work from coffee shops for a few months. I didn't do it, but in hindsight, I kind of wish I had. I have a different boss now and things are drastically different. A boss can make a world of difference.

FredPret 2y ago

> These arrangements are 100% custom, highly dependent on relationships This is what the very best jobs are like