• Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
    2423·
    6 months ago

    and god help you if you ever use any of them, obviously you have time to play games you don’t have enough work to do. It’s all for show.

    I remember a Meta recruiter reached out to me. We had a couple of talks, and then on one of them I asked “So how’s the work life balance”

    Oh it’s great! We have a 24/7 cafeteria here, so if you ever need a snack it’s always available. We have sleeping pods, so you can easily sleep, and even 24/7 laundry services, so it’s all around a very relaxing place.

    Uhhh yeah man. I’m not some kid fresh out of college. I own a home, and I’m very aware of my work time vs my personal time. Hard pass all around. Kids, if the company sounds too good to be true, there’s an ulterior motive. Those things sound super great… but they’re of course all meant to keep you working around the clock, meeting deadlines. The companies aren’t “hip” or “cool”, it’s all to attract you, and then work you to the bone. A strict 40 hour work week is better than foosball anyday.

    I know I’m preaching to the choir but for the people interviewing for their first software gig - well maybe one of them will read this.

    • _sideffect@lemmy.world
      742·
      6 months ago

      I agree with work life balance, but working at meta for 2-3 years for $300k might be worth the sacrifice

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
        631·
        6 months ago

        If I were a kid right out of college, I’d honestly consider it. The key is truly knowing what you’re getting into. Companies gobble up those kids out of college because they’re naiive, and they want to prove themselves. MAANG knows that and take advantage of it. As long as you’re aware of that going into it, and plan to use them too, then go for it. Just don’t plan to be a lifer, know that they don’t care about you going in.

      • cm0002@lemmy.world
        24·
        6 months ago

        $300k might be worth the sacrifice

        Right? I realistically just need 150k/yr to be stable in my area, I could chuck the other 150k/yr into savings and quit after 3 years with 450k in the bank

        • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works
          8·
          6 months ago

          If I rember right google had an AI driving division that had huge cash incentives based on performance metrics that essentially crashed and burned because they hit targets so fast that main time retired for life in like a year or two

        • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
          3·
          6 months ago

          The hell? I live two years for 100k CHF. Lucerne, Switzerland, flat in the historic, more expensive part.

      • Nougat@fedia.io
        171·
        6 months ago

        My soul is worth more than that, and I don’t even have one.

    • owenfromcanada@lemmy.worldEnglish
      39·
      6 months ago

      My office has two ping pong tables. They’re literally roped off with caution tape, and nobody is allowed to use them. I wish I were kidding.

    • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
      11·
      6 months ago

      Those things sound super great… but they’re of course all meant to keep you working around the clock, meeting deadlines.

      This is not going to be universally true at all big tech-companies. There are places with perfectly reasonable WLB on top of huge salaries and fantastic perks.

      These places are usually big enough that you’re going to see extremes on both ends within the same company - some departments with huge deadline pressure cultures, and some with highly relaxed work settings. It can be a bit of a gamble.

    • Head@lemmings.world
      91·
      6 months ago

      We’ve got free local artisan coffee, organic fruit, mineral water, and beer. We turn the kitchen table into a ping pong table with a net after lunch for however long people want to use it and people do. At 17:00 everyone’s got a beer on their desk and by 18:00 the doors are locked and the lights are out. One Thursday a month the table is used for beer pong after work and we play card games like Exploding Kittens. Idk I like it here.

      Not everywhere sucks. I’ve never worked an hour over my full-time requirements (ever), I get unlimited sick leave and no one shames me for missing a week as long as I call in properly. 31 Vacation days and company parties are nice too, plus paid travel time and nice hotel rooms. Also I’ve never made more money in my life and we’re all getting extra bonuses to cover the unexpected inflation.

      Oh and I can work from home four days a week if I want to. Gotta come in that one day, but it’s a fifteen minute walk from my house so that’s just fine for me. I come in on Tuesdays because that’s when the company orders lunch for everyone (just one day a week but still cool).

      • DefederateLemmyMl@feddit.nlEnglish
        61·
        6 months ago

        At 17:00 everyone’s got a beer on their desk and by 18:00 the doors are locked and the lights are out. One Thursday a month the table is used for beer pong after work and we play card games like Exploding Kittens.

        I’d rather go home at 17:00 and do all those things with my real friends, or you know, spend some quality time with my partner.

        • silasmariner@programming.dev
          2·
          6 months ago

          Plenty of my real friends are people I used to work with back before I was married and stopped getting as much out of this sort of culture… There doesn’t need to be some hard line here - just because you work with people doesn’t mean you can’t be friends

      • lad@programming.devEnglish
        4·
        6 months ago

        I envy you a bit. On the other hand, I have conditions that are at least okay, so I probably wouldn’t trade places because that’d be a lot of hassle searching for a nice place like yours and then trying to get into it

        Just a little detail, is your company in the USA, in the EU, or elsewhere?

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        That sounds like a great gig! Great office life, and a ton of PTO (for American standards). Although I will say, I’ve been in small startups. The beer and alcohol is fun - but the startups grow. It’s all fun until someone who doesn’t drink joins, or someone develops a problem. Keep an eye on those two issues, about 3 of the 4 startups I’ve been at one of those has happened.

      • flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz
        1·
        6 months ago

        Wow you’re lucky. I’ve always wanted a job like that.

        And for a while I had something similar but unfortunately rotten. We had a ping pong table, afterwork parties, no overtime, lunch, even a swimming pool. And we could use all of it.

        However we were seriously underpaid, I got an 80% raise just by saying hello in another company. No remote work without any reason at all (most of my team was in other countries). And awful decision making by upper management.

        Made me cynical if something like it is even possible. Glad to hear it is.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
      8·
      6 months ago

      I know I’m preaching to the choir but for the people interviewing for their first software gig

      First software gig? In this market, take whatever to get experience imo.

      But that second/third/etc job? Culture, then salary, then everything else. Last interview I went to bragged about giving everyone brand new sneakers yet pay $25k less than average.

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
      6·
      6 months ago

      Company: Provides amenities and services that would (technically) allow a person to live on premises. Pays you enough to retire early if you didn’t have to bother with rent or a mortgage.

      Also company: “We can’t hire you without a permanent residential address.”

      I also worked at multiple places that had fully decked out break-rooms: free food, game consoles, VR, and 60-inch TVs. Everyone was afraid to use them for fear of looking like they were screwing around. Except the interns. They used the hell out of that stuff.

    • Squirrel@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      5·
      6 months ago

      My wife’s job has all of those amenities, too! Well, it didn’t at first, but she’s been 100% WFH since covid. She’s got an office with a window, cats in the workplace, lunch is brought to her straight from the kitchen, and she can even take breaks to go on walks with her family during the day.

    • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
      66·
      6 months ago

      Would you rather spend 40h a week in a dull environment exchanging your time and mental focus for money or spend 50h in a fun and relaxed environment working on something interesting, but also having great nutrition available and with a laundry, so no more household chores for you?

      To me #1 seems like you’re stuck exchanging the best of yourself for some paycheck. #2 sounds more like fun, but also gets you your paycheck.

      If you’re at a point in your life where all you want from your job, office and colleagues is to see as little as possible of that and get as much money as you could, you need to make some serious changes.

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
        192·
        6 months ago

        No, I have a home, a great family, and I cherish my hobbies and free time. I work to live, I don’t live to work.

        A job will let you go the minute they need to. Your family will be with you for life, and it’s much more important.

        • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
          36·
          6 months ago

          You’re wasting the majority of your life. In order to enjoy the minority part. Nothing to be proud of, even less so is it justifying to be so toxic about people who do enjoy their jobs.

          • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
            72·
            6 months ago

            Why would I call it wasting? It’s funding the worthwhile part of my life, and it does a great job at it. I’ve been on several vacations already this year. I get to live where I want to. I have a great family that I love spending time with. To allow that I have firm limits with my job of 40 hours a week, then I go home. I enjoy several hours every night with them, and on weekends we usually go out and do something fun.

            You keep trying to convince me I’m not happy, and I assure you I’m very happy with my lifestyle. If other people want to work more, more power to them. I don’t understand it, but I guess do what you enjoy. I don’t enjoy working - I enjoy my personal time. So I found a job that pays me well, respects my time, and every day promptly at 4 I clock off, and I enjoy my evening. Whatever work there is will be ready for me at 8am.

            There are always things that get in the way, sometimes I need to work the occasional night, there’s a deadline, I’ve missed a few weekends - but I always take the time off the following week to make up for it. Your younger years are gone in a blip, these times become memories quickly. I have many fond memories of trips, time with loved ones, friends, and even coworkers. You know what I don’t remember? Projects, deadlines, and meetings.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
        9·
        6 months ago

        I think it’s a matter of taste. OP has a great home life, so maybe they’d prefer the 40 hour gig. The 50 hour gig sounds better to me personally, ASSUMING IT’S ACTUALLY INTERESTING and not in a how-do-we-crush-souls-better way.

        There’s nothing wrong with doing hard, unpleasant work so you can live outside of it. Does anybody actually enjoy pulling out a leaky sewer stack?

      • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        6 months ago

        #3 spend 30-50 hours a week working on projects you find interesting working from home so you do laundry or make a sand which on a break.

        Sometimes even cook a b8gger meal during training and such

        That said, I never want to work a bullshit job, I know people who’ve ridden them out to retirement and I would rather just be homeless than that.

        • where_am_i@sh.itjust.works
          21·
          6 months ago

          you might prefer a lonely isolated lifestyle, or your social environment being only your wife, kids and your suburban neighbors. But that’s absolutely not the case for most people who gladly socialize at work and prefer to have a great environment there. You all collectively shitting on it and praising work from home only shows that lemmy is a club of extreme introverts.

          • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            6 months ago

            We have get togethers and go to conferences to have that.

            I get that not everyone is the same though. Hell I’ve gone over to friends to work like the lab parties we had too, which I’m sure is an anomaly.

  • lugal@sopuli.xyz
    96·
    6 months ago

    When employers can’t afford pizza parties, they come up with stuff like “dogs at work”

    • XEAL@lemm.ee
      351·
      6 months ago

      I’m amazed when companies can’t simply afford 100% remote work. IT’S FREE!

      • Empricorn@feddit.nlEnglish
        7·
        6 months ago

        It’s not always about the money. You’ve never had a control-freak supervisor?

    • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk
      19·
      6 months ago

      i work for a big multinational and there was this woman who walks around with a little yappy thing. she’s the only one and i haven’t seen any rules about it in the employee handbook. i think she just turned up with it one day.

      • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
        9·
        6 months ago

        I’ve seen this kind of thing too many times to count. First it was in high school, then the workplace.

        1. Person notices there is no explicit rule for a thing, or maybe there’s a loophole somewhere
        2. Does the thing
        3. Annoys someone
        4. Now there’s a rule for the thing


        Some people just want to push the envelope. Other times, people can have a poor grasp of social norms, or they simply don’t respect others. But on the other side of the coin, people get annoyed for good and bad reasons; sometimes, no reason at all.

        Bottom line: it’s a mess, so we get rules. But nobody wants to spend time writing these things and enforcing them, so there’s usually a reason/person/event why they’re there.

    • olutukko@lemmy.world
      11·
      6 months ago

      I mean I would fucking love somme puppies at work. but also pizza. pizza is good.

      my old workplace used to have free breakfast which was the shit. freshly baked bread from local bakery and all sorts of toppings too, it was so nice to go to work, do stuff maybe 30minutes and just go to coffee break and eat some super good bread. and that was every day

      • LordCrom@lemmy.world
        5·
        6 months ago

        We had that, but people knew what the delivery driver looked like or maybe reception had a secret list of buddies to notify …whatever. When breakfast was delivered, within 10 seconds, all the vultures in the office pounced in it, leaving nothing.

        Anytime pizza was given on Fridays, same vultures would rush to be 1st in line then walk out with a plate stacked with a whole pizza… Rest of us usually got nothing.

        • olutukko@lemmy.world
          2·
          6 months ago

          I wish at least a little :D I’m pretty underweight because my body just rejects fat and I’m too lazy to do any body building to gain mass by getting muscle xd

        • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
          61·
          6 months ago

          Or are afraid of dogs. Like a lot of people, partially on account of dog attacks being relatively common.

          I love dogs, but I don’t trust my coworkers to control their animals.

      • Aganim@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 months ago

        Yes, they can indeed be a problem for people with allergies. In my case dogs (and cats unfortunately) trigger respiratory issue. I had that issue at a workplace where dogs were allowed, not fun times. And unfortunately medication like antihistamines are not an option for everybody, personally I get extremely drowsy from them, even from the latest generation meds.

  • GluWu@lemm.ee
    87·
    6 months ago

    I wish I hadn’t needed to learn these lessons about start ups by working in start ups. I just want to be a mailman or something at this point.

    • CodingCarpenter@lemm.ee
      56·
      6 months ago

      That’s crazy to me because I had the exact opposite experience. I went in hoping for a certain amount, and they offered me knowing full well what I was hoping for, 20,000 more. Plus all the other benefits like video games and dogs at work. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience with startups except that your job is essentially temporary cuz they will either close or sell

      • Stovetop@lemmy.world
        391·
        6 months ago

        If they offered you 20,000 more than what you expected, might be you are underselling your actual worth and could have negotiated for more.

          • lad@programming.devEnglish
            5·
            6 months ago

            Would be nice if true, but I guess those “extra” money would most commonly stay in tops’ pockets

        • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
          14·
          6 months ago

          That or dumb money is just dumb, and if the cost of money is free, you can just guess at things that might work with thousands of monkeys hitting typewriters.

      • Graphy@lemmy.world
        6·
        6 months ago

        Hah I was about to say that only bad part of startups that I’ve had was that you weren’t sure if you’d have a job six months from now. I probably just got lucky and jumped on board during the “throw cash at everything phase”

    • 0110010001100010@lemmy.world
      20·
      6 months ago

      I worked at a tree farm in my teens and honestly if I could still do that making what I make now I would be all over that. Always outside, in great shape, got to run heavy machinery, it was great.

    • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      217·
      6 months ago

      It’s either Football or the local equivalent to “Foot” and “Ball”.

      The sport with the egg is “American Football”. And you US citizens can call our football “European Football” and not *Soccer".

      • 1ostA5tro6yne@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        3·
        6 months ago

        1. This is foosball. This is foosball.

        2. The sport with the egg is “gridiron football”, we call it “football” for short for the same reason other countries call association football “football” for short, it’s the most popular variant here.

        3. We don’t call it “American football” because that’s not what it’s called, you lot say that because of point 2. Nobody is going to say “European football” because that’s not what it’s called either.

        4. The word “soccer” was imported from the UK (seriously that word is british as hell, you really think we came up with that shit?), and we use it for reasons outlined in points 2 and 3, and also because “european football” is inaccurate, tiresome, and stupid sounding.

        5. This is the first and only time I’ve ever heard of rugby union football being referred to as “ruggers”, I never thought I’d read a dumber-sounding word than soccer but you’re just full of surprises today. For some reason i was imagining one of the replies was the same person, this was in error.

    • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
      32·
      6 months ago

      My last job offered free beer after 4pm on fridays.

      It was smart as fuck if you think about it. For the small price of a few crates of beer, you got 20+ people talking in their free time, and on the weekend, without additional pay. It was officially off-work but since most of your coworkers were there, there was a lot of work-related exchange going on.

  • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk
    26·
    6 months ago

    Bean to cup coffee machines legitimately was part of the reason i took a job at my current company.

    Then during covid they downsized offices and got rid of them all.

    Now all we get is instant coffee…

    scumbags…

  • BassaForte@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    6 months ago

    The only happy hours are the hours you don’t work by going home early. About 2 hours per work day, to be exact.

  • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
    16·
    6 months ago

    People bring their dogs to work all the time in my office. Fortunately, all of us are dog lovers, so we all enjoy it.

    The other trend that doesn’t bother me, but surprises me is that I’d estimate about two thirds of the people in my office vape at their desks.

    We also have bean to cup espresso, which is nice. People will go find high end beans and contribute them. It works out nicely.

    We’re highly educated professionals, damnit!

      • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
        91·
        6 months ago

        It’s not me and I have an office. It doesn’t get to me.

        But I can definitely see that it would bother a whole lot of people.

        On that, I’m old enough to have begun my working life when people smoked cigarettes at their desks. This is a much, much better alternative.

        • Deepus@lemm.ee
          4·
          6 months ago

          Damn the smoking at the desk must have been awful. Dont get me wrong, im a smoker and do enjoy a indoor cig every so often but sitting around it all the time cant be nice.

          • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
            5·
            6 months ago

            The crazy thing is that it was so prevalent, I don’t really remember the world smelling smoky unless I went into a small room like my grandparents living room.

            I didn’t notice it in places like restaurants and bars until after the bans came.

            I would guess that my generation has a diminished sense of smell because of it.

          • Crikeste@lemm.ee
            31·
            6 months ago

            I smoke too, and I would HATE to bask in my own. Or someone else’s. Just an icky feeling and experience.

            • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
              4·
              6 months ago

              I know it’s wrong and that I’m going to Internet hell for admitting to it, but there’s a smell when Grandma would light her cigarette in the hot box car with the windows up that I find nostalgic to this day even though I find the concept of smoking in a car repugnant

              • Crikeste@lemm.ee
                31·
                6 months ago

                Nah, plenty of people have that olfactory nostalgia. It’s a pretty normal thing.

                Also, my dad has NEVER smoked but he says he likes the way my cigarettes smell lol

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      6 months ago

      “Treat your friends like family- exploit them.”
      -Rules of acquisition as relayed by Quark

  • NightShot@lemmy.world
    9·
    6 months ago

    I stayed at a shitty job for 5 years because jobs here where you can bring your dog is non-existing. Hes gone now and every shit day was so worth it to be with him.