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the global team stuff really only works if you have a company culture that is not focused on performative 9-5 in seat poo poo, so basically like no companies ever
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May 25, 2021 14:25
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Sundae posted:I'm the type of group leadership that is supposed to also do real things. Like, sure I'm supposed to plan strategic poo poo and all that, but I also own all our change records and manage three projects too. It sounds like you need to add a complexity reduction meeting.
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May 25, 2021 15:58
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The CEO just assured us that merit increases are coming, they are just pushed out to April. That is nearly a year from now…
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May 25, 2021 17:50
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remigious posted:The CEO just assured us that merit increases are coming, they are just pushed out to April. That is nearly a year from now… Of course, that means next year's will just be canceled. 
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May 25, 2021 19:14
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Welp, my company's being sold. It sounds like my job will be safe for at least the rest of the year since the company buying us is doing so because they want to expand their offerings to include what we produce and currently have nothing in their portfolio that overlaps with our products. Though I'm starting to look around in any case since beyond this, I feel like I've gotten all the mileage I can out of this company and the direction this job went in over the past year has started to suck serious poo poo. I think two years in my current role is enough on my resume that it won't look bad if I start shopping myself around. Think I will make a more solid effort to get a Fed job at this rate. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll offer severance packages in the meantime  The one funny upside is that the new owners are very open to WFH and it sounds like once the deal closes, they might just start telling people who want to WFH full time to go ahead and do so again. That and they are apparently giving everyone a 2.5% bonus based on your current salary once the deal closes. So long as that's not tied to "You have to stay for at least a year", that'll be nice.
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May 25, 2021 23:37
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Handsome Ralph posted:Welp, my company's being sold. It sounds like my job will be safe for at least the rest of the year since the company buying us is doing so because they want to expand their offerings to include what we produce and currently have nothing in their portfolio that overlaps with our products. I could have written this post! Come join us the the USAJobs thread! My old company got sold and everyone I knew jumped ship. It was a good opportunity for me at the time, but I think salaries are still frozen, and the parent company that took over has a tiny footpyin the industry. Seems like everything basically contracted after the sale.
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May 25, 2021 23:54
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Since we got acquired in December 2020, we've lost a shitload of people: CRO, engineering director, director of marketing, VP of marketing, two other people on the marketing team, a few engineers. It's been nuts. I guess when you announce people won't be getting options in the new company, while simultaneously granting options to some people, it's hard to keep up retention.
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May 26, 2021 01:07
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My boss put together a team org chart for a new hire presentation they did yesterday and he so transparently ordered the us from his most to least favorite. I guess at least I know where I stand, even if it is so close to the bottom...
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May 26, 2021 17:32
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https://twitter.com/oureric/status/1397278160643887104 Think of the variations: Hmmmm... ok... Hm. Ok. hmm... OK?? So much meaning can be conveyed in those two simple words.
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May 26, 2021 17:41
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One of our directors had a town hall last week about the upcoming sale of the company and what it means for us. It was a disaster. His message basically boiled down to, yeah this is an uncertain time for sure so feel free to start looking around at other jobs if you don't want to deal with the uncertainty or change, I'll be glad to help you quit and find something else if that's what you want. While the other director level meetings all tried to level with people and said while they don't know what the future holds, there was no point in running for the door when we still didn't know how we're being integrated (smaller meetings basically boiled it down to "Wait, worst case scenario, we all get a severance package"). Also that it's pretty likely that most of us would have a future with the company for at least the foreseeable future. Cut to today, we get an email from the VP of our division basically telling everyone to sit tight and see how things shake out. Also he's pissed off to learn that one of his directors is essentially telling people to start looking for the exit and to please not do anything rash. 
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May 26, 2021 19:39
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sounds like that director doesn't give a gently caress and was giving good advice
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May 26, 2021 19:41
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I have been through 4 acquisitions now and absolutely love the lingo like “synergies” and RIFs and poo poo like that. It’s so cold and clinical. Props to that director for spitting some truth, he’ll probably pay for it though.
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May 26, 2021 19:50
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Could be the director found out a while ago and is wrapping up negotiations at their next employer.
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May 26, 2021 19:51
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Democratic Pirate posted:Could be the director found out a while ago and is wrapping up negotiations at their next employer. If you've got half a brain and an exec is telling you not to bolt, you should 1) figure your exit plan 2) asking yourself why they're telling you this instead of making it more attractive to stay.
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May 26, 2021 19:58
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Oh yeah I'm not exactly chiding the director, just the way he presented it was less "hey heads up, you might wanna get your poo poo in order" and more "This is gonna be awesome for us in the long run, but if you don't want to join the party, I'll help you pack!" He's also been behind a lot of the tech bro culture that has started to creep into a lot of processes it has no business being in, but whatever. In any case, I'm no dummy. I've already started putting feelers out and am tailoring my resume in any case. Also making a hard push for a fed job because I miss working in government with the stability it provided (at least in comparison to the private sector) and lack of "but the shareholders!" type bullshit.
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May 26, 2021 20:08
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Starting to get emails saying, in corporate speak, “please god everyone go use some vacation time.” I’m assuming accounting got through to the higher ups about the accrued expense hanging out in that account.
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May 26, 2021 20:10
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Democratic Pirate posted:Starting to get emails saying, in corporate speak, “please god everyone go use some vacation time.” I’m assuming accounting got through to the higher ups about the accrued expense hanging out in that account. That and the same thing that happens to the whole company at the end of December with no rollover, only now it happens whenever it is that restrictions get lifted, and for a whole month
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May 26, 2021 20:55
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if i was still working then this is the time of year i'd have to start wearing sunglasses for an hour or two a day, because the last foot or so of the windowshade beside my desk had been cut off (to make room for a cable box) and the owner had thrown out our old desks and shoved the new ones in a perfect position for that stripe of sunlight to lance into my eyes wasn't a problem in the winter. the winter was when i had the problem of being six inches away from the un-insulated windows that didn't close properly. as opposed being six inches away from the 30-year old out-of-code air conditioning unit
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May 26, 2021 21:08
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Democratic Pirate posted:Starting to get emails saying, in corporate speak, “please god everyone go use some vacation time.” I’m assuming accounting got through to the higher ups about the accrued expense hanging out in that account. I can feel the frustration from our US teams as us filthy eurotrash all simultaneously take up all the accrued leave we had this year at the same time just to get down to the acceptable level of carryover we've been allowed, loving over their "we assumed all resources are available and fungible" project plans and then start a new holiday calender with 35+ days in the bank in a month.
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May 26, 2021 21:11
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Here's something I've been thinking about lately... Anyone here ever leave stock options on the table when you left a company? How did you get over leaving that? I know "Options aren't real until they're real, so don't consider them" but was that all the justification you needed to ignore that in your calculus? Did you leave for an opportunity that provided more of a financial upside that muted what you were giving up?
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May 28, 2021 15:27
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Omne posted:Here's something I've been thinking about lately... If it's further out than that, then it still holds true. My RSUs would have as much influence on my decision as my annual bonus next March.
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May 28, 2021 15:42
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Omne posted:Here's something I've been thinking about lately... I did this for my last gig. The options awarded to me were for a tiny handful of options with a plan that would have made my taxes a nightmare the following year. Even if the company got acquired the final value wouldn't have been worth buying in because of that, so I just dropped them and never looked back.
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May 28, 2021 15:52
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Omne posted:Here's something I've been thinking about lately... Depending on where you leave to, gaining companies may offer to compensate you. Offers I've seen from gaining companies have been paying a one time bonus for RSUs vesting in the next 12 months, or paying 70% of an estimation of the value of the remaining unvested RSUs.
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May 28, 2021 15:58
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Omne posted:Here's something I've been thinking about lately... If this is equity that gets paid out roughly yearly, then as mentioned above, it's better to think of them as a yearly bonus with a variable payout, than "leaving money on the table." It's something of a mind trick about not wanting to leave: "just LOOK at all those options that haven't vested yet, and look at how much they're worth!" Also mentioned above, if you're interviewing for another position at or above your current level (financially), see if you can negotiate a starting bonus in equity to reflect what (you tell them) you're leaving on the table. Negotiations about one time elements are usually much easier than salary. I did this and effectively had my offered starting RSUs bumped up to reflect my RSUs in the company I was leaving. Ultimately, it's just one more financial element to consider, but it's structured to be harder to mentally grapple than simply salary.
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May 28, 2021 16:26
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I exercised some options on a non public startup in the hopes that it may get acquired or go public and.. that was almost 8 years ago and while it is still going along ok it doesn’t look like it will do either anytime soon. Oh well the fomo was strong and it wasn’t a huge ding but it’s still a bit of a bummer. Definitely was a gamble and still could pay off I suppose. According to the financials the options being granted now are 8x the price what I bought. I assume that is a good sign but who knows.
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May 28, 2021 18:39
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Anyone here interview with Microsoft? I went from submitting a blind, no-reference application straight to having four, hour-long sessions set up with a variety of people, none of whom are HR. It's a complete opposite of what I've experienced at other megacorps where the recruiter first vets whether you're able to carry on a conversation like a human being. I'm wondering whether that's just the way they do things or what. If I were some king poo poo developer, I'd understand the apparent urgency, but this is a BI-adjacent position. Not exactly as hot of a market. If you don't feel like describing any of this in public, I have PMs. 
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May 28, 2021 20:39
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It's been years and for a different role, but BI roles are generally "technical" so interview setup should be immediate once they've done a quick sanity check. IE, someone with twenty years of industry experience can pass a basic communication phone interview but they'll probably go to a different company that doesn't treat them like a new high school graduate. If the resume provides education and/or experience they can validate, they might consider it more cost effective to schedule you... for the Microsoft torture event. (I don't work for Microsoft, hence all speculative. My last interview with them was scheduled for five hours. Because they share notes between interviewers, it was actually more like one, five-hour interview, instead of five separate topics. They also decided they were excited and wanted more data... so it was actually a 9.5hr interview.  They interviewed during lunch and it was the worst interviewer I've ever seen; in hindsight I should have demonstrated customer service by vomiting all over him haha.)
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May 28, 2021 21:25
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I did an interview with them about 20 years ago(!!) for the xbox division and it was an exhausting, all day affair. They also started it off saying the position had actually been filled but they wanted to interview me in case it fell thru, but apparently not. It was a bit disappointing but it made the interview actually a lot more relaxed and we just discussed technical projects for the whole day. On the plus side I dodged the whole RRoD thing so there is that!
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May 28, 2021 21:29
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Fraid the closest I have is when my dad's friend who worked there kept trying to get him to apply but it was during the Ballmer years so he refused
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May 28, 2021 21:38
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So I got a 33% raise today. I...was not expecting that at all. Am looking for signs of alien takeover among senior management.
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May 28, 2021 21:43
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2 people from my group are leaving today, one of which my direct report. It sucks but I guess a sign nature is healing? Hearing rumours of more folks going, the issue being comp. We pay pretty lovely and there have been no appreciable raises in 3 years now. Hopefully it spurs some action to increase salari-hahahaha yea lol.
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May 28, 2021 21:47
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Thank you all for your thoughts on MS. This:PhantomOfTheCopier posted:If the resume provides education and/or experience they can validate, they might consider it more cost effective to schedule you... for the Microsoft torture event. is also sort of what I was wondering about. As in, do the four interviews represent the gauntlet itself, or are they the warmup act for the real torture? Guess I'm about to find out!
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May 28, 2021 21:51
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docbeard posted:So I got a 33% raise today. Get yourself a pair of these specs I found in the street:  Congrats!
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May 28, 2021 21:55
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I generally have minimal filter at work re: what I'm willing to tell people (not like, swearing at them but in terms of not coddling bad ideas, etc). Yesterday, I managed to say something that might actually get me in a little trouble.  The head of local change control reached out to me because our group has lots of extended change records (for anyone outside regulated environments: CRs are documents that track execution of system modifications in a regulated environment, so we can prove what we did and how we did it). We weren't able to hit the due dates last year because of COVID and because of how complex some of the system changes were (e.g., ripping out an entire commercial-scale production unit and putting in a new one during a pandemic). He was upset because I was extending them again. The project teams weren't done, the deadlines were coming up, and we still had a bunch of work to do. Plus, we're still in a pandemic; I can't even fly one of the vendors out here to do the final walkthroughs because of the COVID restrictions, as an example. This was going to ruin his group's metrics, and as we all know, everyone is graded at the end of the year by their adherence to metrics and hitting the targets. This year, his group's VP set "aspirational metrics" that they should strive to hit and made them goals for the group. How to get in trouble with people: "Your metrics don't matter to me at whatsoever. If your metrics are aspirational, you're doing it wrong anyway." I now have a meeting with his boss and my boss's boss on my calendar for next week.  I still don't care, but it's interesting what gets people pissed and what doesn't. Tell them their science is wrong? No problem. Tell them their goals are stupid? HOW DARE YOU.
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May 28, 2021 23:29
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docbeard posted:So I got a 33% raise today. Looks more like a sign of someone realizing you were massively underpaid and hoping you don't jump ship before it comes through. Take a look at salaries for positions similar to what you do. Sundae posted:I still don't care, but it's interesting what gets people pissed and what doesn't. Tell them their science is wrong? No problem. Tell them their goals are stupid? HOW DARE YOU. I don't think it was saying "your goals are dumb" that you'll be getting the talking to about.
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May 28, 2021 23:38
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docbeard posted:So I got a 33% raise today.  A wise man once said, "Sometimes life leaves a $100 bill on your dresser, and it's not until later you realize it's because it hosed you."
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May 28, 2021 23:43
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Sundae posted:I still don't care, but it's interesting what gets people pissed and what doesn't. Tell them their science is wrong? No problem. Tell them their goals are stupid? HOW DARE YOU. If you'd told them there's nothing you can do for them, tough luck; but you added insult to injury in a way that provided them leverage. There's no upside there. evil_bunnY fucked around with this message at 00:07 on May 29, 2021 |
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May 29, 2021 00:05
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Sundae posted:This year, his group's VP set "aspirational metrics" that they should strive to hit and made them goals for the group. One day, probably after I’m dead, the business world will institute a goal setting mechanism that isn’t completely asinine. I’m a big fan of Goodhart’s law, as stated by Marilyn Strathern: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
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May 29, 2021 03:09
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Missing Donut posted:“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
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May 29, 2021 03:48
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Missing Donut posted:One day, probably after I’m dead, the business world will institute a goal setting mechanism that isn’t completely asinine. I’m a big fan of Goodhart’s law, as stated by Marilyn Strathern: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Yep. Some dumbass seriously looked at the on-time closure stats for CRs and said "the goal was 85%, you've only hit 75% for the last three years, so let's set this year to 92%."
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May 29, 2021 05:05
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