Like walking from a free society into a police state. Micromanagement, hidden rules that you were expected to know and obey, a culture of informants.
My corporate job is one of the better ones in terms of pointless BS and people pretending to be their corporatesonas, but every time I take time off I’m reminded that we’re wasting our entire lives with work. I take a few 4-day work weeks and suddenly my house is clean again, I’m cooking more interesting meals, writing code for fun, hanging out with friends, catching up on shows, etc. Imagine how much progress, art, and innovation we could have if everyone’s natural talents and interests were given space to exist. Long-term we would have so much more of everything, and everyone would be happier and healthier. Unfortunately, short-term we’ve gotta layoff 4% of our workforce again because Mr. AI said it might make the line go up.
I have a follow-up question to the 4 day a week desire… would you be ok with having 4/5 of your original pay for a 4 day a week work schedule?
I am paid a fuck-ton so my answer is definitely yes, but I really think it would vary person-by-person. “Should” people need to work 5 days per week to get that pay? My answer is probably no.
I noticed this too when I took a job working four day work weeks for about six months. Unfortunately the job and pay sucked but it was amazing having Fridays free to meet with (side) business partners, finish up some chores then have the entire weekend free.
So entirely soul crushing I left my discipline, secured FTE outside of the industry entirely, and now part part time consult (outside of the US) mixing the two. I absolutely cannot mentally handle working in an office nor deal with corporate culture any longer. Unless it’s French corporate culture, because G*d damn do I love working for/with the French. One example is it’s illegal to eat lunch at your desk, so good luck getting a hold of anyone during the 1-2.5 hour lunch break.
I make less money now, but I’m happier with the outcome so far. American & Japanese corporate cultures are so thoroughly demoralizing.
I forgot how much gossip and micro-aggressions were commonplace
That’s one (of many) reasons I don’t want to give up remote work.
Bosses say that remote work misses “the human element” and “face to face” time.
Yes, and I couldn’t be more happy about it.
This is why, once I got my electrician license, I went to work for myself. You know how god-awful it is working with blue collar men in the South 50hrs/week? The less I deal with other tradespeople, the better. Yall can keep your company jobs, I take enough work to put some money back and enjoy the rest of my time. The less I hear from out of touch Boomers complaining about their queer grandkids the better my life is.
The less I hear from out of touch Boomers complaining about their queer grandkids the better my life is.
The same people who claim to be the side of Christ.
I’ve been working remotely since 2015 but at my current job the majority of employees do head into the office. I still attend monthly meetings and some other company-wide meetings virtually and I’m always astounded how much time is wasted drudging up the same complaints month after month.
I’m usually just working (coding) through it all; I just want to write code all day and end each day in peace.
Back into corporate after working for a startup.
It’s mentally suffocating, socially isolating, career ending, source of hopelessness. I spend most of my life specifically avoiding this trap because I knew what’s waiting there, but sometimes life puts you in a situation of limited choices.Something amazing happens when there are more than 3 levels of management. Even if you want to “create value for the shareholders” you won’t be allowed to.
Something amazing happens when there are more than 3 levels of management. Even if you want to “create value for the shareholders” you won’t be allowed to.
Isn’t that a fucking fact? I have to say, though, fuck shareholders. They are investors, hoping to make money. They are taking their chances. My efforts are beholden to users and my fellow developers. I want to software I write to make the lives of the people using it easier.
Every business I’ve ever walked into, the frontline people are complaining about shitty software because no one ever thinks about them or what would make their lives easier. Convoluted workflows, unnecessary clicks, poor performance, and instability.
I presume if I make the lives of workers and customers slightly less horrible that will drive business, but if not the shareholder’s concerns are out of my hands. I wasn’t put on this earth to make other people money.
Agree with you on the shareholder POV but for the software, that’s every company everywhere since it’s just the nature of software at the moment, none of it is perfect and won’t ever be as long as an imperfect being is programming it.
Well I do what I can in my positions to improve that. That is within my reach, and that’s my goal.
I can’t always succeed. It’s not like I ever get to talk to end users to ask what would make their lives easier. But that’s my goal. I just had to fight for some UI changes that I think make the UI easier to understand and interact with and reduce code maintenance burden / fragility by relying on default control behaviors instead of custom code. Time will tell if I’m right.
I also fight back against the acceptability of 10 second response times when you click a button. Customers would never accept that, but you’re going to foist that bullshit on users? Not on my watch.
And in code reviews I push back on every mutable or public field and public method that don’t have to be. Don’t give other code the ability to interact with your code outside of clearly defined interfaces. Build everything with concurrency in mind and to fail fast. Because a year from now, some other developer is going to abuse every interaction point they possibly can because tight coupling saves them an hour.
Even though so much is out of my hands in a cooperate environment, I take pride in the things I can control, and eventually I think that pays off. I’m 51. I’m not going to continue getting new contracts forever. I need a place to ride out the waning years of my career and I don’t want to do it working on shitty software that I allowed to be shit.
What I really want is a way to push that philosophy beyond a single team, but I don’t want to be in management, and I don’t know how to make that happen. I did get offered a training position, but it paid half what I earn slinging code, and I’d be creating more value, not less.
Part of succeeding in corporate (and not hating work life) is knowing who to go to to get stuff changed. Even companies with shitty culture still want to improve things since that usually makes the profit go up. Using their own greed to improve things is a manipulative art. If you’re doing that already then congratulations! Most just wallow in their situation instead of changing it (which is in their control).
The best you can do is look for a company who has a great work culture. Then you can really help foster change without being in management since management will be open to better ways of doing things and should actually listen. At least if your idea is shot down you usually get the why behind it and are now apart of the chain of decision making, giving you ownership.
Just don’t get suckered into a company that says they have a great culture without actually having one. Read their mission/culture statement. Missing servant leadership? Missing customers and employees at the core of what they do? Talk most about shareholder value? Talk about intense training? Red flag city. Avoid if you can.
Sorry if I’m on an unrelated tangent to what you’re experiencing. I ran into this the other day with an interviewee and holy hell, I could see why he was getting out of that type of company. Utter BS culture statement.
I appreciate your perspective. I’m cautiously hopeful that the culture is good, but it’s a big enough company (major auto manufacturer) that it likely depends on what part of the company you’re in. I’m angling for a perm hire after a year in this department because I’d like to foster a longer term relationship both ways.
I don’t know the structure well enough. My own manager seems… fine. He listened a couple of times when I was trying to solve some problems and my tech lead wasn’t. But he’s not the person to make waves and get shit done. He’s very much go along to get along, but he’s easy to work with. As a contractor, I don’t think I can go around him, politically, but maybe once I have some real time in and a permanent position.
Thanks again!
I’m a bit of a different case. I didn’t have my first “proper desk job” until my 30s. I worked in the film industry for about 15 years prior in camera departments.
The biggest thing was just getting used to all the various software and processes that companies tend to have. Slack, CMS’s, just various project management tools and tracking. Also, I had to tighten up the way I talk and act a little bit. I’m a pretty conscientious person, but film sets are more “trench life“ in that we all get a little too close and definitely push past boundaries. Drinking and hooking up is pretty common right after a job, for instance. You build strong bonds, but there are definitely pitfalls that emerge as a result.
The upside to my “corporate” work is that boundaries are a lot clearer, which I actually kind of like. I don’t want have to think about the nuances of all my interactions, there are just certain things you don’t talk about or do at work. There are boundaries you maintain. And as a result, I see a lot less low-key borderline harassment towards women in particular.
I like that when I go to work or leave work, I’m generally no longer at work. The film industry is not like that. You have to be on social media actively showing you work so people remember to call you, you have to maintain any gear that you own and constantly be ready for shoots, you have to answer your phone anytime of day no matter where you are, every vacation you take is a potential massive job you miss out on - you just don’t know it until it happens in realtime. After all, you only eat what you kill. You don’t work, you don’t get paid.
Also, I fucking love having healthcare lol ACA was fine but not for a family as a dude in the industry.
Like having to put back on a damp pair of jeans and underwear I imagine.
I’m disabled and haven’t been able to work in 14 years, and just the thought of dealing with the non-stop stupid petty bullshit all day every day sounds fucking exhausting. The gossip, the office politics, the way companies treat their employees nowadays with the pervasive spying and obsessive time-management… shit, people, either trust me to do my job or fire me. So glad I don’t have to deal with that anymore.
Not every company is like that, but it is distressingly rare. To the degree that I’m willingly accepting 20k less than I would be making elsewhere to avoid the bullshit. I am so fucked if I ever need to move or if my boss retires.
Same. I earn decent money but can probably get way more elsewhere, yet I’m sticking around because I’m in a pretty good spot with my work-life balance and my manager is great. I hope he sticks around as long as I’m employed there.
Yeah, and they seem to be getting rarer all the time, I see articles about the batshit stuff employers are doing. Hope the spot you’re in holds out tho.
Is corporate always the only alternative? I’ve been working in the public and non-profit sector, even in IT, and it’s always been much chiller than “corporate”. Maybe small companies are better too. Though I’d like to avoid working at all if possible, which made my returns to the working force always a bit meh anyway.
I returned to corporate after eight years of small business and start ups. Big upside was that I knew what I was getting into in terms of corporate rah-rah culture and also how to play the game to move up the ladder faster this time.
It has been three years and frankly I do not miss the Wild West feeling of small business. I like knowing the business I work for isn’t going to fold up due to market fluctuations. I do miss the open ended opportunities of making big changes in a small company though.
Working in a small company meant I took on many more roles and responsibilities which was good for my resume. On the other hand, in a corporation I am focused in one place and have enough free time to work on my automation projects. Plus, I make twice as much money.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t love my job and I don’t love to work. I would quit immediately if I could. I just happen to like the sense of security better. The main thing I gave up was being able to always wfh, now I have to see the office every other week.
