4 ms·
A lot of jobs out there give 2 weeks PTO to entry-level employees. It's mainly "blue collar" (for lack of a better term) jobs like trades (I suspect due to many
by prawks 13y ago
A lot of jobs out there give 2 weeks PTO to entry-level employees. It's mainly "blue collar" (for lack of a better term) jobs like trades (I suspect due to many being smaller family-owned "Father & Sons" businesses), or jobs with very low barrier to entry for applicants (no degree requirements/past experience, for example).
A large portion of my extended family works in retail where 2 weeks is pretty standard for entry-level positions. It's tenure-based all the way.
- aneisf 13y agoDang, I work in software and get a week every year--not including Year 1.
- yread 13y agoAre you sure that you work in software and not cotton plantation in 18th century? Have you thought about coming over to Europe? I have 52 days off
- aneisf 13y agoAh, I wish. I'm not in a financial position to relocate to even a better US city right now. In time, perhaps.
- mcb3k 13y agoSome employers offer relocation assistance. So, if you find a position that you think you'd be a better fit for or would enjoy more, but it's far away from where you live now, you may want to ask about that.
- eru 13y agoAnd for multinational corporations (eg Google or a bank) that's the norm for white collar employees moving internationally.
- afterburner 13y agoIs that a salaried corporate job, or something else?
- yread 13y ago36 hour week in a public institution, 28 days holidays, 2 extra days a month cause I work 40 hours a week. I know, it's cheating ;)
- afterburner 13y agoWhat an excellent reason for a 35 hour week...
- woofyman 13y ago10 days vacation and ten days sick time is pretty standard in the USA. Usually, the 10 days vacation has to be accrued.
- prawks 13y agoColor me surprised. I was under the impression most software shops had extremely liberal time off. Do you mind if I ask what kind of software/position? That sounds like a gulag.
- aneisf 13y agoSure, although I don't wanna derail the discussion too much with my silly situation. I work at a Delphi 5 (!) shop in the Midwest. I spent about a year trying to get interviews in my strong field (C#/.NET, no degree though). I wound up here because it's the first and only place I could even get in the door. Not the most elegant position but I couldn't go on much longer working clothing retail.
- eru 13y agoHow many years professional experience do you have?
- aneisf 13y agoLess than half of one--this is my first dev gig. I'm basically 'unproven' so I understand why it was slim pickings for me. I'm hoping building some experience here will give me a better chance in the future, although I'm a bit worried that working with such an old tech stack might not work in my favor.
- selimthegrim 13y agoIf you want to move to Portland, my company is hiring. We're converting some old Delphi legacy systems into .NET. And I promise you we offer more PTO than that. Shoot me a message on my LinkedIn (link is in profile) or gmail (same as HN handle)
- eru 13y agoThanks. So---do not worry about your performance at the company at all. Work the lowest amount of hours you can get away with for a few months, and spend all your time upgrading your skills and hunting for better jobs.
- saryant 13y agoIt's not just blue collar. Right after college I was offered a job as a software engineer with five days PTO to start. I declined.
- RankingMember 13y agoThose kind of offers I prefer the company just goes under rather than find a soul willing to accept that.
- saryant 13y agoThey were actually a great company. I interned with them during college, learned a ton. They just had some very old-fashioned policies which I suspect were due to the CEO/founder (and most of the higher-ups) being from a military background.
- cobrausn 13y agoIn the U.S., military members get 30 days a year of paid leave, though weekends count as 'on duty' even if you would not normally work. Of course this can always be overruled by your commander - you can get stuck in a situation (i.e., deployed in Afghanistan) where you can't use your leave, you just get paid for it.
- Nicholas_C 13y agoGood on you for declining, I hope you expressed that as your reason why. Employers need to understand that is pathetic.
- saryant 13y agoThere was actually some back and forth on the matter. Eventually they offered 10 days but at that point I had other offers and wound up with one that started at three weeks vacation. Of course, that job sucked for a variety of other reasons which led to me leaving after six months. "Oh, we hired you as a programmer? Babysit this Excel spreadsheet for me."
- cookiecaper 13y ago2 weeks is considered pretty standard for professionals in most of the U.S. I think. Many of the professionals I know have that agreement, and some of the companies I used to work at offered that for the starting point. You could negotiate higher if you came in with a lot of experience and your hiring manager wanted you badly enough to justify the extra expense.
- LanceH 13y agoI would say that 2 weeks is standard for most companies for entry level positions. But worse than that, 2 weeks is standard for anyone beginning at about 50% of companies I talk to. We'll get through an entire interview process where they know I have 15+ years of expertise and team lead level of what they are looking for, yet they still offer 2 weeks vacation. Fortunately, I've found this to be the most easily negotiated point of the offer as it doesn't actually cost against anyone's budget. I'd put it at around 20% of companies total that absolutely can't be flexible and offer more than two weeks for a new employee at the senior level.
- mikestew 13y agoI don't deny that there are probably plenty of places that offer 2 weeks to start. But I took the context to be professional software positions. But even assuming that context, it would appear from the comments that even 2 weeks can be too much to expect. May it's a geographical function as well. I don't know that you could hire anyone to write code in the Seattle area without giving at least three weeks.
- morganherlocker 13y ago10 days plus ~10-15 days of holidays is pretty standard in the US software world.
- glesica 13y agoI have a friend who recently got a job as a software developer and has two weeks of PTO.