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Unless I've misunderstood this article, I think this is a bad idea. When working for a company your work should ideally stay at work. Come 5pm, if you're privli

by cup 14y ago

Unless I've misunderstood this article, I think this is a bad idea. When working for a company your work should ideally stay at work. Come 5pm, if you're privliged enough to work a 9-5, your day should be done. This growing push for work to be extended into the family home really erodes the necessary work life distinction that allows for a happy life. Thats not to say you shouldn't have a lab at home to train yourself on things that interest you in your own free time, but if staying at a job means investing unpaid hours at home then one should probably consider whether the job is worth it. After all, if a company expects you to do unpaid training in your own personal time then what will it expect from you in the future? Furthermore, these articles constantly push the message that more work is better for your career than less. My father always told me its not the quantity of time you spend at a task but the quality.

Wilya 14y ago
It's less about what your company wants you to do, and more about what you need to do to develop your career. If you want to stay on top and keep being employable, you'll have to invest in skills, and I see no reason why your employer would provide that for free, especially if those skills aren't directly useful to them. Company's job isn't to help you find a work-life balance. Its goal is to find the long term plan that extracts the most work out of you. It can involve giving you some cool perks to keep you healthy on the long run, or it can involve churning through new hires all the time and overworking them while they last. Depends on their strategy.
- lelandbatey 14y ago
  Yes, I think this is the spot on point. You don't need a home lab to do your current job, but you are going to need a home lab to prepare for your next job. Because your employer certainly won't be shelling out so that you can leave (well, probably won't anyway).
- rayiner 14y ago
  This mentality towards training people is common, but is a textbook case of stupid management. Companies under-invest in training, then pay enormous recruiting costs in getting people with the "right skills" as well as paying opportunity costs when projects can't go forward because they can't find the "right people." It's a bit of brain-dead management that's common in some other fields, but acutely common in software/IT.
  - Too 14y ago
    I found a good quote about that in the article about leaving managers here on HN yesterday: http://www.alaisterlow.com/employees-leave-managers-not-companies/ http://www.alaisterlow.com/employees-leave-managers-not-comp... > there is only one thing worse than training (or growing) > your staff and having them leave, and that is not training > or developing them and having them stay.
samstave 14y ago
DAMMIT, I accidentally downvoted you from my phone when I meant to upvote you!! I totally agree. You should have all the things you need and love for both your job and your passions, but keep a line between home-time life and work life. Anyone who says otherwise is likely <30 and has no family at home. It is wise to do this even when you have roommates and are not living with an SO / our own family.
- greggman 14y ago
  Yep, because no one wants to change the world like Steve Jobs did. Nope, everyone should have your values and value family. If they don't something is wrong with them. :-(
  - samstave 14y ago
    That's not at all what I said, nor what I was implying. Further it's asinine for you to claim that anyone who wants to have cut off time is the antithesis of someone who wants to change the world. You sound like an idiot.
yen223 14y ago
For my personal situation, this is a good idea. My current job involves me writing code for robots. This sounded interesting to me, until I realized that I am working with some ancient software here - I'm talking .Net 1.1 on Windows 2000! Not to mention that writing software for robots isn't really all that challenging. If it weren't for my after-hours exploration of open-source technologies, my skill-set would be severely outdated, and my career would effectively be dead here.
- samstave 14y ago
  Ill be a bit more clear about my agreement withy the GP that I posted: You expressed perfectly what I was referring to: make sure you have the tools you need to explore and expand your job and your passions. I.e. when I go home, work turns off, but if the need arises I have everything I need to perform my work- even for extended periods of time. I also have all that I need to follow my passions and hobbies. This is a tool set I M building on constantly. But you really need to have an "offline" mode where no matter what you are completely in a Be Here Now mindset that is 100% devoid of any work-thought
- purplelobster 14y ago
  I work with something very specific as well, and completely missing out on the web and what's hot. I have to do something in my spare time to ensure I'm employable. But I'm not going to do job-related training at home, screw that.
  - konstruktor 14y ago
    Great and meaningful distinction you are making! You are learning for yourself, not your employer.
- dmd 14y ago
  I too write code for robots, and I wish I was dealing with code only 13 years old. Our entire codebase is ancient shell and Tcl.
nnq 14y ago
> unpaid training in your own personal time then what will it expect from you in the future ...it's not unpaid training, it's lifelong learning, and you do it because it's fun! The purpose shouldn't be to learn about what your employer wants you to or what your employer might need from you. You shouldn't need to justify having a home lab to your employer or family or whatever. The article's author got it all wrong indeed. Fuck your employer, you have your "lab" 'cause it's fun!

by cup 14y ago

Wilya 14y ago

It's less about what your company wants you to do, and more about what you need to do to develop your career. If you want to stay on top and keep being employable, you'll have to invest in skills, and I see no reason why your employer would provide that for free, especially if those skills aren't directly useful to them. Company's job isn't to help you find a work-life balance. Its goal is to find the long term plan that extracts the most work out of you. It can involve giving you some cool perks to keep you healthy on the long run, or it can involve churning through new hires all the time and overworking them while they last. Depends on their strategy.

lelandbatey 14y ago
Yes, I think this is the spot on point. You don't need a home lab to do your current job, but you are going to need a home lab to prepare for your next job. Because your employer certainly won't be shelling out so that you can leave (well, probably won't anyway).
rayiner 14y ago
This mentality towards training people is common, but is a textbook case of stupid management. Companies under-invest in training, then pay enormous recruiting costs in getting people with the "right skills" as well as paying opportunity costs when projects can't go forward because they can't find the "right people." It's a bit of brain-dead management that's common in some other fields, but acutely common in software/IT.
- Too 14y ago
  I found a good quote about that in the article about leaving managers here on HN yesterday: http://www.alaisterlow.com/employees-leave-managers-not-companies/ http://www.alaisterlow.com/employees-leave-managers-not-comp... > there is only one thing worse than training (or growing) > your staff and having them leave, and that is not training > or developing them and having them stay.

samstave 14y ago

DAMMIT, I accidentally downvoted you from my phone when I meant to upvote you!! I totally agree. You should have all the things you need and love for both your job and your passions, but keep a line between home-time life and work life. Anyone who says otherwise is likely <30 and has no family at home. It is wise to do this even when you have roommates and are not living with an SO / our own family.

greggman 14y ago
Yep, because no one wants to change the world like Steve Jobs did. Nope, everyone should have your values and value family. If they don't something is wrong with them. :-(
- samstave 14y ago
  That's not at all what I said, nor what I was implying. Further it's asinine for you to claim that anyone who wants to have cut off time is the antithesis of someone who wants to change the world. You sound like an idiot.

yen223 14y ago

For my personal situation, this is a good idea. My current job involves me writing code for robots. This sounded interesting to me, until I realized that I am working with some ancient software here - I'm talking .Net 1.1 on Windows 2000! Not to mention that writing software for robots isn't really all that challenging. If it weren't for my after-hours exploration of open-source technologies, my skill-set would be severely outdated, and my career would effectively be dead here.

samstave 14y ago
Ill be a bit more clear about my agreement withy the GP that I posted: You expressed perfectly what I was referring to: make sure you have the tools you need to explore and expand your job and your passions. I.e. when I go home, work turns off, but if the need arises I have everything I need to perform my work- even for extended periods of time. I also have all that I need to follow my passions and hobbies. This is a tool set I M building on constantly. But you really need to have an "offline" mode where no matter what you are completely in a Be Here Now mindset that is 100% devoid of any work-thought
purplelobster 14y ago
I work with something very specific as well, and completely missing out on the web and what's hot. I have to do something in my spare time to ensure I'm employable. But I'm not going to do job-related training at home, screw that.
- konstruktor 14y ago
  Great and meaningful distinction you are making! You are learning for yourself, not your employer.
dmd 14y ago
I too write code for robots, and I wish I was dealing with code only 13 years old. Our entire codebase is ancient shell and Tcl.

nnq 14y ago

> unpaid training in your own personal time then what will it expect from you in the future ...it's not unpaid training, it's lifelong learning, and you do it because it's fun! The purpose shouldn't be to learn about what your employer wants you to or what your employer might need from you. You shouldn't need to justify having a home lab to your employer or family or whatever. The article's author got it all wrong indeed. Fuck your employer, you have your "lab" 'cause it's fun!