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I took a major pay cut so I wouldn't have to work with certain popular commercial languages ever again, and now enjoy working in a small studio where we create

I took a major pay cut so I wouldn't have to work with certain popular commercial languages ever again, and now enjoy working in a small studio where we create DSLs in Scheme. Every week I discover something new about Lisp and then use it on independent hobby projects, whereas before I didn't even want to look at a computer after work.

bojo 12y ago
If you don't mind offering up the information, where do you work? Or at the very least, what field do you work in? That sounds extremely fun.
- pakled_engineer 12y ago
  Small stealth mode startup in Vancouver, Canada that does custom DSLs for the oil & gas industry. I found the job on my local CL, they were advertising looking for anybody who had read SICP, or had experience doing functional programming. It doesn't pay a lot but enough to live comfortably while single plus I get to hack around in Scheme all day, though now they want me to learn Haskell too. I work 6hrs a day usually and spend the rest of time experimenting with my own DSLs for future side projects or enjoying life whereas before I'd go to work before the sun came up, work in a windowless office under constant unachievable deadlines then leave at night. I had money but no life.
  - FeeTinesAMady 12y ago
    Do you get equity, as partial compensation for the lowish pay?
  - gwern 12y ago
    A job for the oil & gas industry which requires SICP level coders which doesn't pay well? I'm not sure what to think - that that industry really doesn't pay well, or that you need to read patio11's guide to salary negotiations.
    - Gracana 12y ago
      He explains that he's happy and says he lives comfortably. Why is that not enough?
      - gwern 12y ago
        Because if he's making a below-market salary as it sounds like, he could be doing better. With a higher salary, he could have more savings, more security, more easily afford a family or the things he wants, donate more to charity, spend more on personal hobbies, etc. Money has many uses. And I could ask you the same question: the startup founders and oil industry would live comfortably enough if they made a little less and paid him better; why is that not enough? Why should they be making more?
    - rwallace 12y ago
      Or that the employer correctly realized a six-hour working day is a valuable enough perk that they could exchange it for a substantial salary cut.

bojo 12y ago

If you don't mind offering up the information, where do you work? Or at the very least, what field do you work in? That sounds extremely fun.

pakled_engineer 12y ago
Small stealth mode startup in Vancouver, Canada that does custom DSLs for the oil & gas industry. I found the job on my local CL, they were advertising looking for anybody who had read SICP, or had experience doing functional programming. It doesn't pay a lot but enough to live comfortably while single plus I get to hack around in Scheme all day, though now they want me to learn Haskell too. I work 6hrs a day usually and spend the rest of time experimenting with my own DSLs for future side projects or enjoying life whereas before I'd go to work before the sun came up, work in a windowless office under constant unachievable deadlines then leave at night. I had money but no life.
- FeeTinesAMady 12y ago
  Do you get equity, as partial compensation for the lowish pay?
- gwern 12y ago
  A job for the oil & gas industry which requires SICP level coders which doesn't pay well? I'm not sure what to think - that that industry really doesn't pay well, or that you need to read patio11's guide to salary negotiations.
  - Gracana 12y ago
    He explains that he's happy and says he lives comfortably. Why is that not enough?
    - gwern 12y ago
      Because if he's making a below-market salary as it sounds like, he could be doing better. With a higher salary, he could have more savings, more security, more easily afford a family or the things he wants, donate more to charity, spend more on personal hobbies, etc. Money has many uses. And I could ask you the same question: the startup founders and oil industry would live comfortably enough if they made a little less and paid him better; why is that not enough? Why should they be making more?
  - rwallace 12y ago
    Or that the employer correctly realized a six-hour working day is a valuable enough perk that they could exchange it for a substantial salary cut.