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Hughlander posted:When you get old enough instead of a good chair just get and adjustable stranding desk and stand whenever you are not in meetings. But I have flat feet and resultant hosed up knees so that isn't really comfortable either.
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Nov 22, 2019 13:11
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Since we're talking about home ergonomics: does anybody have a recommendation for an adjustable desk conversion? My home office is at a slightly elevated height since my wife kind of thought stools were more office-like. She's had to concede that it hasn't helped with my teres minor liking to get inflamed and pissed. So I am going to be dismantling the built-in desk here to make it free-floating. I wanted to get a kit to move it up and down. I'll also have to replace the chair since it's stool height--and it's also kind of falling apart. I have a manually-cranked adjustable desk. It does OK; I don't regret the purchase. It takes maybe 60-90 seconds to switch modes. The one thing I will say though is that it's pretty wobbly especially when being cranked up/down. I have a small bookshelf on top of the desk with some knicknacks on top of the bookshelf, and they're definitely at risk of falling when I'm adjusting the desk. But hey, you save $100+ vs. getting a motorized desk.
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Nov 22, 2019 17:40
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I've been liking having a desk and a workbench (made from bookshelves and a door).
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Nov 22, 2019 18:43
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Thanks for the ideas all!
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Nov 23, 2019 03:28
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So I had one interview on Friday and I have another Friday the week after next. I kind of figured that they wouldn't get back to me for a while because of the holiday but they claim they're going to get back to me next week (and my impression was that it went quite well and they will likely make an offer). I liked the first place but I am quite interested in the other one too. Anybody have any thoughts on stringing this out? Somehow I haven't really been in this position before. Either way I won't be able to start till next year, which I've mentioned, so perhaps that gives me some leeway.
RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Nov 24, 2019 |
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Nov 24, 2019 05:46
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Wait till you get an offer from the first and then tell the second company you have an offer in hand.
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Nov 24, 2019 06:28
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asur posted:Wait till you get an offer from the first and then tell the second company you have an offer in hand. Well... I suppose that's the obvious answer. They're doing "events" at a regular weekly cadence for interviews but it seems reasonable to ask for a regular interview in the case that I have an offer I need to reply to RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Nov 24, 2019 |
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Nov 24, 2019 13:48
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Companies will move heaven and earth for you if you have an offer. That’s the best possible situation to be in. You can request the interview date be moved up, and if you get an offer, you have huge leverage in negotiations.
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Nov 24, 2019 17:42
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dantheman650 posted:Companies will move heaven and earth for you if you have an offer. That’s the best possible situation to be in. You can request the interview date be moved up, and if you get an offer, you have huge leverage in negotiations. Ha, OK, that's encouraging... the last time I had an offer and was doing another interview the other company was like "yeah we can't come anywhere near that... sounds like we're wasting our time" but I don't imagine that's an issue this time.
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Nov 24, 2019 17:58
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Did you tell them what the offer was? I would have not told them and tried to get an offer anyway, so you could go back to the first company and tell them you had another offer. Never give up more information than you have to. All you have to do is say you’re considering all offers on the table.
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Nov 24, 2019 18:29
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dantheman650 posted:Did you tell them what the offer was? I would have not told them and tried to get an offer anyway, so you could go back to the first company and tell them you had another offer. Never give up more information than you have to. All you have to do is say you’re considering all offers on the table. I did. That's an interesting point. At the time I guess I felt like the offer was pretty strong and it was hard-won so I didn't want to rock the boat too much, but I'm in a totally different position now.
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Nov 24, 2019 18:41
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Just don't be under the delusion that the $20k increase you negotiated is $20k a year for your lifetime at the company, because your comp and your level/performance will eventually meet in the middle if HR/management are doing their jobs
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Nov 24, 2019 19:00
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dantheman650 posted:Companies will move heaven and earth for you if you have an offer. That’s the best possible situation to be in. You can request the interview date be moved up, and if you get an offer, you have huge leverage in negotiations. LinkedIn absolutely wouldn't despite having one offer in hand and expecting another very soon. And that's the story of how i cancelled my linkedin on-site cause I didn't want to interview any more To be fair I was trying to get them to skip the technical phone screen. They insisted, I got the on-site invite, but at that point I just wanted to stop
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Nov 24, 2019 20:27
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Achmed Jones posted:LinkedIn absolutely wouldn't despite having one offer in hand and expecting another very soon. Typically, I also won't push to accelerate someone who's very early in the process. If someone's halfway through the pipeline and we've invested a bunch of engineering time into vetting this person, there's incentive to shuffle things to not waste that investment or the opportunity cost of missing a top-tier candidate. But I'm not impressed by someone I've barely (or never!) met waving an offer in my face. Cool, you're employable, just like every other person who's interviewing here Vulture Culture fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Nov 24, 2019 |
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Nov 24, 2019 21:49
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Vulture Culture posted:Just don't be under the delusion that the $20k increase you negotiated is $20k a year for your lifetime at the company, because your comp and your level/performance will eventually meet in the middle if HR/management are doing their jobs I have no idea what this means. They're going to cut your pay a year or two into your job if they're doing their jobs?
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Nov 24, 2019 23:39
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:I have no idea what this means. They're going to cut your pay a year or two into your job if they're doing their jobs? They’re implying that a 7.5k raise the first year would have been 15k if you hadn’t tried to negotiate. Which is pretty much bullshit in every org I’ve been in and one that does work like that you should bounce after the year or two anyway so you are still coming out on top.
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Nov 24, 2019 23:46
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Hughlander posted:They’re implying that a 7.5k raise the first year would have been 15k if you hadn’t tried to negotiate. Which is pretty much bullshit in every org I’ve been in and one that does work like that you should bounce after the year or two anyway so you are still coming out on top. Oh. Well hell I'd probably stay somewhere I was getting 20k raises every year
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Nov 25, 2019 01:14
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Hughlander posted:They’re implying that a 7.5k raise the first year would have been 15k if you hadn’t tried to negotiate. Which is pretty much bullshit in every org I’ve been in and one that does work like that you should bounce after the year or two anyway so you are still coming out on top. Where do you work that 15k raises happen?
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Nov 25, 2019 01:25
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Ensign Expendable posted:Where do you work that 15k raises happen? Significance of a 15k raise of course depends on base, which depends on location. I've worked for bay area companies for my whole career and a 15k raise or more is very common.
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Nov 25, 2019 01:52
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Also depends where you are in your career. In the first several years, and especially if you chase promotions, a 15-20k raise every year or two isn't that crazy. I've seen someone go fresh out of school to senior engineer to staff engineer in 4 years.
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Nov 25, 2019 02:02
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I've averaged 13k/year since my first post-college job with only one spike from a job change and not particularly trying to get raises/promotions.
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Nov 25, 2019 03:33
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:I have no idea what this means. They're going to cut your pay a year or two into your job if they're doing their jobs? What happens now is that you have leveled yourself against this number. Someone in the organization, maybe HR or maybe your manager, is evaluating your performance and using that as an input to a question they are continuously asking: what are we paying an engineer of this level/specialization for this job performance? When your compensation is reviewed, the answer to this question is used to align compensation decisions. Broadly speaking, it's in a company's interests to level-set the same way. It's bad for morale when the company's female engineers discover that their equivalently-qualified, identically-performing male colleagues are earning 30% more, for example. Nobody is coming to retroactively take your pay away, but people who are further away from the new compensation bar will receive larger raises, generally. Hughlander posted:They’re implying that a 7.5k raise the first year would have been 15k if you hadn’t tried to negotiate. Which is pretty much bullshit in every org I’ve been in and one that does work like that you should bounce after the year or two anyway so you are still coming out on top. It can be bullshit, because a lot of companies are just looking for leverage over their workforce. So let's start by presuming the situation is different: you run into this situation in a company where the comp philosophy is performance-based but fair and equitable, and the people deciding on your raise/promotion are pretty well-educated about how well you do your job and how important you are to the company. Job offers are the company making a bet, right? When you take another job for 20% more money than you're currently making, what's happening is that the outside company is taking a gamble that you're worth that dollar figure. When they do that, they're basing it on the best foot forward that you presented during the interview process: you have demonstrated that in the situations they want to know about, you know all the right things to do. But internally, people know a lot more about you. Maybe you know all the right things to do and talk a big game but you have a tendency to get distracted and work on the wrong things anyway, or you can't scope a project correctly to save your life, or you keep running up the AWS bill by tens of thousands of dollars because you're sloppy cleaning up after yourself. Their judgments have more real-world information attached. When you interview with several companies, you're going to run the gamut of people who are optimistic about you and pessimistic about you. The pessimistic ones are going to respond by not hiring you. The optimistic ones are going to respond by offering you more money than you're currently making. In the middle are the companies that have formed a balanced assessment of how your strengths and weaknesses will play out. This includes, of course, your current employer. It may also include companies willing to pay you pretty close to what you're being paid now, whether or not they advance you to an offer stage. As an agent in the job market, if you're looking to ramp up your compensation as fast as you can, the best way to maximize your value is to play people's optimism about you over and over again. Vulture Culture fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Nov 25, 2019 |
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Nov 25, 2019 05:49
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Since we're talking about home ergonomics: does anybody have a recommendation for an adjustable desk conversion? My home office is at a slightly elevated height since my wife kind of thought stools were more office-like. She's had to concede that it hasn't helped with my teres minor liking to get inflamed and pissed. So I am going to be dismantling the built-in desk here to make it free-floating. I wanted to get a kit to move it up and down. I'll also have to replace the chair since it's stool height--and it's also kind of falling apart. I mean, I know it's all by the by, but who on earth thinks stools are "more office like"? Is this a US thing? Do Americans work on stools?
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Nov 26, 2019 09:27
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a hot gujju bhabhi posted:I mean, I know it's all by the by, but who on earth thinks stools are "more office like"? Is this a US thing? Do Americans work on stools? The call center managers at my last job got stools and tall desks so they could visually monitor the line workers in the open office.
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Nov 26, 2019 15:47
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I’ve only seen stools around with standing desks or lab benches, and it wasn’t really meant for full on sitting, just a perch for the back 1/3 of your rear end if you wanted to take a little weight off your feet.
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Nov 26, 2019 21:07
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A friend of mine asked if I'm willing to provide a reference. I've not had to do this before. My honest characterization of them would be as dedicated and hardworking, but not particularly technically strong. Would I be doing a disservice to them to describe them as such when asked? Basically, how much do I sugarcoat things?
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Nov 28, 2019 06:21
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Would they be a good fit for the job they’re applying to? Then say all good things that are true. If not, maybe decline being a reference.
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Nov 28, 2019 06:44
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:A friend of mine asked if I'm willing to provide a reference. I've not had to do this before. My honest characterization of them would be as dedicated and hardworking, but not particularly technically strong. Would I be doing a disservice to them to describe them as such when asked? Basically, how much do I sugarcoat things? "Can you be a reference for me?" usually means "will you say good (or at least neutral) things about me if a stranger emails/calls?", so yes that’d do them a disservice, though I doubt you’d cost them the job. You should try to turn negatives into neutrals or positives, like you would as an interviewee. How do you answer questions without getting into "my greatest weakness is that I work too hard  " territory? Do that. "My friend is a dedicated, hard worker and keeps telling me how excited they are for the opportunity to join a great team and level up their technical skills." Something that gets across "maybe don’t hire this person to be your #1 technical person" (or whatever you mean by "not particularly technically strong") without just saying "my friend sucks". But you should already know what role your friend is aiming for (if you don’t, ask!) and whether they’re suited for it, so there shouldn’t be any surprises.If that doesn’t sound like something you can do, better to decline. And maybe tell your friend where you’re getting tripped up, if you have the kind of relationship where that wouldn’t be mean? (Also you may be overthinking things. Not everyone contacts every reference. And sometimes being a reference is as easy as telling a stranger "yes I would work with $friend again".)
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Nov 28, 2019 07:59
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Speaking of, what is a good way of telling a friend that them taking a remote job would be a mistake that everyone involved will regret? They are smart and have good technical aptitude, but they suffer from student syndrome real bad.
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Nov 28, 2019 09:02
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Xarn posted:Speaking of, what is a good way of telling a friend that them taking a remote job would be a mistake that everyone involved will regret? The truth? "You procrastinate and being physically near your co-workers on-site at the company will help keep you motivated." Don't soften the message too much or it's going to get lost.
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Nov 28, 2019 10:13
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:A friend of mine asked if I'm willing to provide a reference. I've not had to do this before. My honest characterization of them would be as dedicated and hardworking, but not particularly technically strong. Would I be doing a disservice to them to describe them as such when asked? Basically, how much do I sugarcoat things? I would lie from every orifice if you don't know the peeps who are hiring your buddy
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Nov 28, 2019 10:27
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Xarn posted:Speaking of, what is a good way of telling a friend that them taking a remote job would be a mistake that everyone involved will regret? By not saying anything at all and letting them make their own mistakes? It's not your responsibility to police your friend. TooMuchAbstraction posted:A friend of mine asked if I'm willing to provide a reference. I've not had to do this before. My honest characterization of them would be as dedicated and hardworking, but not particularly technically strong. Would I be doing a disservice to them to describe them as such when asked? Basically, how much do I sugarcoat things? Sounds like you're a pretty awful friend, then. Why screw someone you ostensibly like out of a job because you want to be smugly honest?
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Nov 28, 2019 12:51
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Blinkz0rz posted:Sounds like you're a pretty awful friend, then. Why screw someone you ostensibly like out of a job because you want to be smugly honest? TooMuchAbstraction posted:A friend of mine asked if I'm willing to provide a reference. I've not had to do this before. My honest characterization of them would be as dedicated and hardworking, but not particularly technically strong. Would I be doing a disservice to them to describe them as such when asked? Basically, how much do I sugarcoat things?
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Nov 28, 2019 14:07
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Let me put it this way: if you're prioritizing a company's well being over your friend's, you're a piece of poo poo. Giving a poor (or really anything less than sparkling) reference because you worry about their technical skills is prioritizing the company.
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Nov 28, 2019 14:13
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Blinkz0rz posted:Let me put it this way: if you're prioritizing a company's well being over your friend's, you're a piece of poo poo. 
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Nov 28, 2019 14:28
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Blinkz0rz posted:Let me put it this way: if you're prioritizing a company's well being over your friend's, you're a piece of poo poo. This. Worst case scenario for the company - your friend doesn't work out and they fire and replace them. The business will survive. Worst case scenario for your friend - (assuming they're unemployed now) they continue to be unemployed and can't support themselves and or their family. Or they remain stuck at their current poo poo job and continue being happy. I'd be pretty disappointed if I learned one or my references was like, "Yea Sab is a pretty decent programmer but he's very disorganized and often loses sight of low priority tasks and is forgetful". Unrelated - I was extremely close to accepting a less than competitive offer at another company, but the day I was going to call and say I accept their offer I got some recruiter spam that I decided to check out, and they made an offer a few days later so instead of a ~10% raise I'll be getting ~28% and I'm loving stoked my dudes  I was wondering though, should I go back to the first company and be like, "You dudes need to pay more - I'm getting way more money for a job with 'lesser' requirements"?
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Nov 28, 2019 14:50
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Sab669 posted:Unrelated - I was extremely close to accepting a less than competitive offer at another company, but the day I was going to call and say I accept their offer I got some recruiter spam that I decided to check out, and they made an offer a few days later so instead of a ~10% raise I'll be getting ~28% and I'm loving stoked my dudes I wouldn’t. Any company receptive to that message will already have a channel to receive it. (Unless maybe it’s a small startup or something.)
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Nov 28, 2019 15:05
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raminasi posted:I wouldn’t. Any company receptive to that message will already have a channel to receive it. (Unless maybe it’s a small startup or something.) And if they do have a channel to receive it, they won’t listen or will deny it. Or, they will bump up the offer then screw you on raises.
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Nov 28, 2019 15:08
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Alright, thanks for the advice, y'all, especially the bit about treating it like an interview. That's a helpful way to frame things.
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Nov 28, 2019 16:44
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Xarn posted:Speaking of, what is a good way of telling a friend that them taking a remote job would be a mistake that everyone involved will regret? Tell them exactly that? A new job might convince them to change their setup and address the problem. Or maybe new job will be happy with what they get out of your friend and who cares if they’re only working 2 hours a day. raminasi posted:I wouldn’t. Any company receptive to that message will already have a channel to receive it. (Unless maybe it’s a small startup or something.) This is a ridiculous framing. There is every chance they don’t know they’re offering too little. It’s not your job as the applicant to tell them that, but I wouldn’t assume they know. Also maybe the person doing hiring knows but their boss isn’t listening to them, and a testimonial from a desired applicant is exactly what they need to break through.
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Nov 28, 2019 17:01
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