smarmgoblin

10 ms·

1.
by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Totally agree that these are issues worth thinking about and mitigating. One thing I’ve started doing at work is documenting workflows in various ways: not just docs but talks and screencasts where a new engineer could see my workflow. (I a
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Just another way to do layoffs without calling it that.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
It’s interesting because he originally said he was buying Twitter because of the bots, and then later tried to nuke the deal claiming the proliferation of bots had created a material change in the business.. either way you’d expect that t
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
In addition the roles are all RTO-enforced (implying his current one is not), so it may be impossible for him to take those roles.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Yeah the hungry young workers are the meat in the grinder! Do we think they don’t notice that role? It sounds to me like they need to flush out incompetent management.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
They didn’t get immunity, they just haven’t been sentenced yet.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
I was gonna make a comment saying “yeah but those MBAs aren’t dictating minutiae about how they complete their tasks (in the way software CEOs are assured we work better in an open-office shared desk hours from our homes)” But actually ther
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Real estate portfolios must really be in trouble.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
That’s correct. I have the smallest offering from the manufacturer you linked and it’s super portable (30lbs) but the ride is bumpy even on relatively smooth road. You do get used to it but never feels quite as safe as a bike.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
> The reality is they need office attendance to meet tax agreements with the cities they’re located in. I don’t disagree, but that doesn’t explain these actions right? Amazon would be free to have a policy which was not enforced by badge
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
My theory is that they need attrition, and they need managers to be managing out employees at a higher rate than they’ve historically been comfortable. So they won’t typically fire someone directly for attendance (yet) but they will give th
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
albendazole will
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Honestly the commute trumps all of this for me. Sure open office is a pain but whatever I’ll make it work. Can pack a lunch if necessary, and shit at home. Two hours one way? I’m not sure I can do it. Could I at least be located in the offi
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
I think you’re right, and there are multiple reasons executives don’t see office space as a “sunk cost.” A small part may even be that they value work done in-office more than work done remotely. But just pointing out it’s not the most plau
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
TFA suggests these companies hold large amounts of commercial real estate as long-term investments, so “let the lease expire” is likely not an option.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
I believe this is a significant and understated direct cause of tech’s current push for returning to offices. Which is not to say that it’s a bad idea necessarily for the stated goal.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Whenever you hear someone trot out facts about “human nature” you know they’ve run out of reasonable avenues of thought on the issue. Why, for instance, didn’t any of this apply pre-COVID when distributed teams were already common? Are huma
18.
by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Maybe. But if I’ve learned anything from the layoffs I’ve been a part of or adjacent to, it’s that executives don’t share an engineer’s understanding of who might be a valuable engineer. At the size of these companies they couldn’t possibly
19.
by smarmgoblin 3y ago
I’ve seen this, quite common for federal contracting. Although it’s also common to hammer-click 8 at the end of the month.. That said even if you’re not clocking in it’s common to want to work a full 8 hours or close to it.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
I think they realize the truth which is that productive people can be productive anywhere. Do they care about the toll a 2-hour commute takes on the workers or how that translates into deliverables and timelines? Ask yourself if this sounds
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Okay so in this case, companies are complaining that they’re noticing “lower productivity.” What are they noticing exactly? One accusation is that they’ve noticed nothing and are demanding changes on entirely false pretenses.
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
At least in software engineering, this is a great opportunity to start understanding how to cooperate and work with a team in this field. There should be a little bit of friction involved in tapping someone on the shoulder, and if you can
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
Device sync
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
As a googler I understand. Leadership is capricious and petty, chasing trends and seems to be flailing. They have nothing left to offer stockholders than cost-saving measures. Tbh I love the project I work on and I’m still learning tons. Bu
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
This is where I get hung up every time. As a software engineer, “I cannot collaborate with someone unless I am physically next to their body” is just not a tenable position. We collaborate through reviews on PRs, virtual documents, links, s
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
I dropped out of an MD/PhD program after I passed Step 1, it’s hard to articulate exactly how it felt staring down the barrel of a career in medicine but this is sort of what I feared. Since I’ve been in tech I’ve been laid off several
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by smarmgoblin 3y ago
TFA doesn’t mention any hints about layoffs, but I suppose the timing is about right relative to an earnings call that it makes sense to predict it soon. Nobody will remember if they’re wrong. (Personally I think they’re right.) At this poi
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by smarmgoblin 4y ago
The only thing software engineers like more than being tracked is having their attendance tallied. Maybe they can use a punch card system to ensure nobody drinks more than their fair share of the coffee or spends too long in the bathroom et
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by smarmgoblin 4y ago
I believe it might be predicated on some mythical junior engineer who would excel in-person but finds themselves completely helpless outside of the earshot of a senior engineer. Those who want to figure stuff out will do it. That’s largely
30.
by smarmgoblin 4y ago
I believe that. Others may have had a different experience to mine. I was always searching for a class that would give me the “real” Linux experience but nothing really exists like that, I think you just have to live with the tools for a bi

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