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For a While There, I Was Puzzled
Posted Sun Apr 22 00:41:12 2001 by sbaldwin |
By Alexandra R. Bush
I watched the dot-boom, then the dot-bust. I listened to the horror stories; 80-hour weeks, fratboy CEOs, vulturish VCs, corporate bonding rituals that sounded like bad echoes of collegiate hazing. I was confused beyond belief. How could we let this happen?
These were, supposedly, the best and brightest of my generation – and say what you like about our lack of schooling, lack of discipline, lack of drive, we are not all of us stupid people. In my mind, anyone who's bright enough to figure out object-oriented design, or even how to scam their way through an Ivy without actually learning anything, should have been bright enough - and rational enough - to realize what was happening.
Why did we let this happen? Why did we do this to ourselves? For make no mistake, there is nobody to blame in this debacle but ourselves, for we were complicit in every way. We accepted jobs with companies whose business plan consisted of 'throw up a site then make an IPO'. We stayed until ten o'clock at night when we should have gone home at five. We though Nerf guns and foosball tables and beer belonged in the workplace. We saw the lack of professionalism, the corruption. We plunged in anyway.
At last, I am starting to understand why.
I'm a designer. I work for a small software development house. Unlike all too many companies, it has a solid business plan, reasonable goals, a balanced budget, and a 9-to-5 workday. The benefits are reasonable, not extravagant; healthcare and 401(k), but no onsite gym or masseuse.
Unfortunately, this great company has no use for a full-time designer. I feel guilty complaining, but I'm bored. I come into the office every day, sit for eight hours, go home. I listen to my contemporaries' plight - unemployed, mistreated, overworked, underpaid, laid off without notice - and I feel guilty, but there it is.
Over the past few weeks, I've begun to think that the reason many bright people suddenly turned naive and gullible was the carrot waved in their faces - not money (although that was there), not fame (that too), not even the concept that a job could be an eternal playground (ditto), but the challenge of doing the impossible.
Because we all knew that it was impossible. We knew the business plans wouldn't fly. We knew it couldn't work. A few stayed skeptical, and only recently have started to get lauded instead of drowned out by catcalls. We knew we couldn't rewrite thousands of years of business method with a few lines of code, but we tried anyway - because if it was that or this, sitting at a desk and staring out a window all day, we knew we'd rather burn fast and hard and die trying - or at least get badly hurt - than go into jobs where we wouldn't be challenged, wouldn't have to push ourselves.
So we pushed, and after a while, the slow, steady beast of the status quo woke up and pushed back. Hard. And empires crumbled like dust.
We brought this on ourselves. We hared off chasing an impossible fantasy, and only the most deluded were amazed they didn't catch it. Was it worth it? Is the suffering, the disillusionment, the economic and social backlash worth the satisfaction we got by making our houses of cards stand for even just a few minutes?
Perhaps I'm not qualified to say. I didn't go on the wild chase. I played it safe; I still have a job, although in some ways I think the stultification of sitting in this little grey cubicle day in and day out, doing nothing, might be just as bad as scrounging for the next paycheck. I can look at the horror stories of those around me with a serene eye, because I've traded the possibility of doing something great, something world-shattering, for a steady paycheck, even though it means I never have the opportunity to strive against myself and push myself into excellence. Part of me feels like I got the short end of the stick.
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Name: Timeshare Gig
Email:
Date: Sat Apr 28 20:25:29 2001
Comment: Hey, Alexandra, I'll cut you a deal. Since you're sitting there at work 8 hours a day doing nothing anyway, how about leaving for 4 hours to do nothing somewhere else? Then I can work those 4 hours and collect half your salary. What do ya think? I'm an unemployed contract coder in SV looking for a job, bored at home, and have no money to pay this obnoxiously high rent...So ya know, I can alleviate some of those boring hours at work for you by using the T1 to take online tutorials on any skills I don't yet have which are still in high demand.
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Name: Ertischek
Email:
Date: Wed Apr 25 10:01:00 2001
Comment: Bostonian:
I'll cede your point that old industry can be as irrational and idiotic as IT, but at least there's a roadmap..maybe the point is that ALL modern work is an arena of battle..where one group will always try to attain power and control over another..either thru intimidation, humiliation, or some other means..maybe none of it has anything to do with productive work..I've always thought that work is an extension of high school for a lot of people..you see the same dynamics played out..still and all, I'd rather work for an industry that has a long track record of design and development and take my chances with the high school games..
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Name: Bostonian
Email:
Date: Tue Apr 24 17:30:30 2001
Comment: Ertischek:
Don't be fooled! I worked for years for a "traditional" engineering company (Civil/Structural/Mechanical), and they were at least the match in long hours and abhorrent management practices of anything that I have read about here. In fact, it was my exposure to the senior staff and their wasted personal lives that propelled me back to school to get my Masters in CS. Now, I am able to work straight 8's and have nearly doubled the salary that I earned previously. Most important, though, I am now able to spend time with my neice as she grows, was able to spend time with my grandfather in his last years of life, and have a prayer of cultivating a personal life of my own.
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Name: twisted sistah
Email: bitemybeaver@hotmail.com
Date: Tue Apr 24 10:41:24 2001
Comment:
Let's not forget the other thing frequently thrown on Project Mgr's desks....
the Non-Existant Resource.
This frequently happens in places set up as fiefdoms, where each little group is biting each other in the ass to get them to look away from their pie long enough for someone else to steal a piece of the budget...
Example:
"Mr. Bigboss, Dept. X needs this subsite up by this Date....it needs (blah blah expensive features programmers yadda yadda) Bigboss says Yes, even though he only has half a graphic artist, a project manager who is NOT supposed to be doing code fulltime, and that's it...and no more money in the budget. Solution? Underpaid junior freelancers that can hide in the nooks and crannies of petty cash, equipment costs, etc...anything under $1K a check. Everyone is told to lie--well, not to lie, but to not volunteer--that freelancers are being used and Mr. Bigboss's department is NOT the inhouse UberDepartment he's making it out to be.
Result: Crappy results, resentful fulltimers, etc.
--TS
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Name: Ertischek
Email:
Date: Tue Apr 24 10:24:39 2001
Comment: I've been in this racket for about twelve years and have seen basically three competent managers..that is..someone who could set reasonable development goals, allow a realistic amount of design and production effort and time, factor in Murphy's law on a daily basis, have a goddamn sense of humor, and run a successful meeting..I think there are two basic problems..
The PC-based software development industry has NEVER developed a coherent design and development ethos it will adhere to..I've often thought that IT managers and techies should sit down with members of a more mature discipline like civil engineering and find out how they design a building..or a bridge..IT could learn a hell of a lot from another, older design discipline, one that carefully PLANS what is is going to preduce..the problem seems to be that I can never get anyone in this biz to see that they are producing a PRODUCT, and that the same thinking should go into its creation as if they were building a house..IT used to have this sense of discipline in the mainframe days, but with pc-based and internet applications, the discipline was never developed..and probably never will be.this is why you're all working 70 hour weeks..
The second problem seems to be that all IT managers are basically techies at heart and really have no great love or skills for managing people..they'd rather be tinkering with a new hi tech toy that filling out time sheets..its not surprising that one of the hottest disciplines out there now is technology management..an amazing new concept...IT management can not just be an adjunct of IT development..it takes a different set of skills than techies have..and so far there aren't enough pure management types..
But the real problem is that you are looking at a VERY immature industry that's what? at best twenty years old? Hey? what do u expect? Its' barely crawling..
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Name: Bostonian
Email:
Date: Tue Apr 24 08:05:42 2001
Comment: MasterPo and Bob:
Sorry, I just had to get in my two cents...
I have worked the jobs where your supervisor gives you multiple tasks, all of highest priority, and all with unrealistic deadlines. I did put in the LONG hours in an attempt to do the impossible. I did feel the sting when I came up short despite all of my efforts and was admonished for it. And finally, I did simply resign when it was apparent that this would be the recurring pattern at work. Was I simply not getting it done? Well, maybe, but the owner did ask me to take a few (paid) days off to consider my decision. Then the owner asked me back to a series of meetings with the three senior engineers to discuss what changes could be made that would entice me to stay (change of supervisor, more pay, different assignments). Since I perceived that the owner was the root of the troubles, I decided to move on.
When I interviewed for my current position, I was clear that my personal time was a priority. I would work a hard 40 hours per week, but no more. I have been here for over a year, have worked almost no overtime, but still I have received 4 excellent quarterly reviews.
My point is that most will push you as far as they think they can, but you can set reasonable boundaries and still be a valued part of an organization. If your boss sets your value based on how many hours you sit at your desk, you can simple move on. I did...
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Name: Kernel panic
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 21:19:02 2001
Comment: There may be just 2 schools of thought here.
I'm from the one that believes that you "measure twice, cut once". This belief has carried me through 3 careers in my time. (Yep I'm a geezer) Not once have I EVER had a bad review OR missed a deadline OR worked much more than 40 hours a week. Some folks enjoy working 70-80 even 100 hours a week. Some wear long hours sorta like a "badge of honor". Our office manager is one of these people. Super guy. He feels compelled to arrive at 5:30am and leave well after 7:00pm some nights. More power too him. In all honesty though, I rarely ever see him doing much that could be considered productive. He doesn't bother me...he fully understands that when I'm there...I'm there to work. When I'm done...I'm done. However..he spends most days wandering from office to office talking about everything and anything but work. His long hours make him look 8 feet tall to the boss. I sincerely wish that I had the patience (or the time) to work it like he does. He has a solid gimmick going there.
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Name: Dr. Phil
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 18:34:41 2001
Comment:
Some of you folks are mixing rabbits with turtles. Getting things done is not formulaic. It depends on the nature of the job, and the experience/skills of the worker.
I don't know much about programming, but most creative work can be improved upon --sometime you want to make your solutions sing like an original clear ass melody. If you are starting out in your career, maybe you want the boss to think your the bomb, so you wind up overworking it. OTH, The ol' pro knows exactly what will satisfy most requirements.
But, True. It's management's responsibility to clearly define the deliverable and set a realistic timeline and level of effort to achieve it.
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Name:
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 16:24:34 2001
Comment: Actually, that was supposed to be "don't do." Sorry about that.
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Name: bob
Email: pale_13@usa.net
Date: Mon Apr 23 16:23:46 2001
Comment: MasterPo,
Do do anything that doesn't fit your style. A seasoned interviewer will pick it up a mile away. That kind of comment just happens to fit my style and temperment. I happen to beleive my family is more important than any job, and I make damn sure they know it. You might be surprised at the responses you get. Some managers don't like people who don't have lives outside the office.
On the other hand, do you really want to work for a manager who tells you one thing, but doesn't practice what he preaches?
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Name: MasterPo
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 16:00:46 2001
Comment:
Bob, Tom - I whole heartedly agree with both of you!
Just saying the managers I've met and worked with would have none of it. As one once said "Your job may end at five but your career begins at 5!"
All managers give lip serivce to the philosphy described below. Yet few practice it. Maybe not by their own choice that's what I've found. This interview I have in a little while I'd bet a week's UEI that if I use Bob's line about family first I won't get the job (not sure I want it anyway but that's another matter).
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Name: bob
Email: pale_13@usa.net
Date: Mon Apr 23 15:46:14 2001
Comment: MasterPo,
You might want to look at this as a revised turtle and hare analogy.
You have your turtle, plugging along, feverishly writing code, revising it, hacking it up, rewriting it again, to the tune of 70 hours a week. Seems productive, becuase he's always hacking away at something. This is ninety-percent of the 70 hour crowd, and they are nothing but tutles on crack, working fast, and not going anywhere.
Then you have your methodical hare, seemingly doing nothing to the average officebody when compared to your turtle, but this hare is planning the whole time, getting all the data he needs before beginning his project. He gets all the facts, writes a concise, simple block of code, and it's Miller Time.
As an IT manager, which set of code do you trust? The overly verbose, heavily revised, illegible and redundant block, or the simple easily understandable block created by the hare?
As an IT manager, would you rather have a simple block of code that other programmers can update, or something so convoluted the author has a hard time understanding it?
That is the reason we can fall into the 40 hours a week crowd.
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Name: bob
Email: pale_13@usa.net
Date: Mon Apr 23 15:32:33 2001
Comment: Never worked in NYC. Only visited once.
I work up in Purchase, NY, near White Plains. My interview was about eight weeks ago, and I beleive my exact words were something to the effect of, "My family comes first. I'll give you a good 40 hours a week, but I work smarter, not harder. I'm out the door at 5."
I'm here, so it must not have been an issue, huh?
Before that I worked in Charlotte and the Research Triangle Park (Raleigh, Durham Chapel Hill) areas of NC for the past few years.
If I could do the gold trick, I wouldn't be working on anything but my next bowl of prunes.
:)
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Name: Tom
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 15:17:23 2001
Comment: MasterPo,
I hate to break it ya, but... my last position was in NYC. My supervisor had the attitude that I don't care how many or how few hours you put in. As long as your work is done within our 20 day turnaround you can come in whenever you want. Needless to say we were allowed to pretty much run our own show... there was a Monday morning 1 on 1 production meeting so he did keep tabs on us. The solution is imple be upfront as Bob suggests and don't work for assholes.
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Name: MasterPo
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 15:11:42 2001
Comment:
Bob - Serious question: Do you work in NYC? 'Cause frankly, unless you can shit gold (no offense intended), I can't see too many tech or IT managers being happy with a candidate saying that upfront.
But I'm a fair guy.
I have an interview this afternoon. I'll be sure to say something like that to the manager and let you know how he takes it.
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Name: Tom
Email: tpepin@yoyomamedia.com
Date: Mon Apr 23 15:09:49 2001
Comment: I'm firmly implanted in the no more than 40-45 hours a week camp. As I think Bill or Steve said: "If you can't get the job done in a 40 hour week you are doing something wrong". Lif is simply too short to spend in a 6x6 cubicle 50+ hours a week. MasterPo yes this was discussed in the "Wake up Sleepyheads" thread.
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Name: bob
Email: pale_13@usa.net
Date: Mon Apr 23 15:06:39 2001
Comment: MasterPo, I beleive we have discussed this before, and I still hold my ground: If you can't do it in 40 hours, either...
A) You are not utilizing your time correctly. Either you dick aaround all day, you don't know how to plan, or someone somewhere up the food chain doesn't know how to plan. I would guess in your case, as you mentioned, that is someone somewhere up the food chain. As Bill Volk implied, if you are working 70 hours you aren't being productive somewhere.
B) You are not establishing your boundaries. Last I heard, this was still a free country (the U.S. for over overseas guests). I tell my employers during my first interview that they have 40 hours a week of my time, no more. I have yet to have any employer complain, and have not been turned away due to this (including the new job I just started four weeks ago). I also, to date, have not had projects come in late.
Anonymous, a professional is someone who CAN leave his tools at the job. You learned from the worong people.
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Name: Bill Volk
Email: bvolk@youworkit.com
Date: Mon Apr 23 14:26:08 2001
Comment: I have managed technology projects under critical time and finanical pressures (ship by the summer or this $100m company goes bye-bye)... without resorting to Battan-Death-March style of scheduling.
You can be more productive with 40-45 hour weeks than with 70 hour weeks. Step 1 ... stay away from the keyboards ... that is, design, design, and design.
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Name:
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 14:26:04 2001
Comment: Master Po is right. I learned early on from my mentors that a *professional* differs from a worker in that a worker leaves his tools at the job site when he goes home. Moreover, building out the new economy involved finding new pathways to the future, not mowing the lawn.
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Name:
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 14:18:42 2001
Comment:
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Name: MasterPo
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 14:03:52 2001
Comment:
Bob (we may have spoken about this before), you don't always have a choice. When the boss gives you 3 or 4 projects all highest priority world-will-end tasks, and all due next week unless you're a pure genious there's going to be mucho OT somewhere along the line.
We can talk all day about poor management planning or adding more staff but that's the way 99% of business, especially technology, works. If you want to keep your paycheck you do the time.
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Name: bob
Email: pale_13@usa.net
Date: Mon Apr 23 12:50:09 2001
Comment: I'd hazard to guess that there are quite a few more employed people here than most of us realize.
I'd also wager there a quite a few out there like me, who never put in more than 50 hours, and only occasionally who exceeded 40.
I never quite understood why someone would want to throw themselves into any job for more than 40 hours a week. I always had too many reasons to come home, and that has never changed.
I guess it might simply be a matter of priorities.
It seems many here wanted to, and actually thought, that they could change the world. I appreciate that quality, and admire it. I just wanted to experience the world, and not change it.
I don't feel any remorse for my choice, and though I might get a STFU from a few, I am content with where I sit. Anyone else?
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Name: doggywhirl
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 12:11:56 2001
Comment: Bill,
All revolutions eventually devour their young.
Like they say in Mexico, you never know who you're really working for.
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Name: MasterPo
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 10:26:37 2001
Comment:
I think the author said it well - the challenge.
We all like to think (at least most of us do) that we can succeed at anything. Even when there is a long line others who have failed we will succeed and reap the payoffs and pleasures of succeeding where others have failed.
In general, if many others have tried and failed odds are better than even that there's a darn good reason why they have failed, and it's not their own fault (at least not in the majority).
Lesson #1 - Never take on Mission:Impossible!!
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Name: YTBaby
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 06:15:00 2001
Comment: I think I feel a T-shirt coming on...
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Name: eudas
Email:
Date: Mon Apr 23 02:38:51 2001
Comment: It carries with it the right sound of finality and doom, that is certain, along with a bit of righteous judgement.
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Name: Dullworth
Email:
Date: Sun Apr 22 22:08:31 2001
Comment: >You were the tools used by speculators who reaped billions on the IPO market, all from clueless investors lead on by paid off media hacks.
Bill, I think you've written this generation's epitaph.
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Name: Bill Volk
Email: bvolk@youworkit.com
Date: Sun Apr 22 19:04:26 2001
Comment: You were the tools used by speculators who reaped billions on the IPO market, all from clueless investors lead on by paid off media hacks.
Any questions?
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Name: mwn
Email: mwn@yahoo.com
Date: Sun Apr 22 15:09:42 2001
Comment: "Every time I hear the word "designer", I cringe. Here is what is happening: The true techies, those with skills (programmers, DBAs, network engineers, system analysts, etc) needed by large and small companies in all industries are doing just fine."
er... my company just laid off the entire engineering staff save a couple people and farmed out the work to india...
don't get too cocky.
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Name: Enough Already
Email:
Date: Sun Apr 22 13:32:26 2001
Comment: "Here's the mistake: building websites is not a revolution. It is graphic design and programming."
Every time I hear the word "designer", I cringe. Here is what is happening: The true techies, those with skills (programmers, DBAs, network engineers, system analysts, etc) needed by large and small companies in all industries are doing just fine. The designers, those with art degrees and no tech background who were starving prior to 1996 and suddenly found themselves making 75k-100k salaries as web designers over the last couple of years are out of luck and back to where they were 5 years ago. Seasoned managers with many years of experience managing people, budgets, and departments are also doing fine. 27 year old MBAs who's first real job was CTO or Executive VP of Business development at a dotcom are not doing so well.
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Name: steve gilliard
Email: sgilliard@netslaves.com
Date: Sun Apr 22 12:48:01 2001
Comment: Here's the mistake: building websites is not a revolution. It is graphic design and programming.
Wearing black is a satorial choice.
The reason that people would rather work for small companies doing interesting work is simple: the best available job. Who in the hell would volunteer to be a man in a gray flannel suit. Big companies layoff as well as small.
Inexperience and imagined opportunities led people to these companies, as well as a decent salary. corporate America sucks and we all know this. These are fun, interesting jobs.
The question people need to ask is how do I not make the same mistake twice or three times. Not that they need to find a "safe" job. There is no such thing.
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Name: Laura
Email: laurak@nji.com
Date: Sun Apr 22 11:07:29 2001
Comment: I too, am one of the few with a job. It's a little job (my company, too, does not need a full-time designer, let alone pay me a salary and expect me to put in 80 hours for a 40-hour paycheck.) but I work 20-30 hrs/wk there and do freelance on the side.
I'm interviewing for a more stable full-time position, too, but for right now I am SAFE. I have a job. Sure my job's not in Manhattan, it's not slick, and I'm not a digerati, but come on look where those folks are now. And I apologize for not being sufficiently cool to qualify by some people's standards, but I'm too busy doing my work to put on round glasses, all-black outfits and namedrop all day at some 5th avenue restaurant.
In the end, Web work is a job, or at least it is supposed to be. And I am very fortunate to have a job that is fairly pleasant to perform (so much so that I volunteer some of my freetime to non-profit org web site design,) but I am under no delusions that my boss wil lshow any gratitude for my giving my life over to him.
So yes, you do have a right to change jobs till you find someone who doesn't work ya into the ground, or insist you take payment in equity, or play mind games with you. A former employer of mine pitted me against another web assistant for the position of designer, basically it became a contest of who could work the most extra hours ,who ate the most lunches at their desk, who schmoozed the most with the supervisor. I didn't get it because I decided early on that it wasn't worth it. Of course, after a few months, all the designer positions (which the current designers burned out performing) were vacated and filled in with college students who worked for credits.
What happened next should not be a surprise to the author of this article. "HTML Visual Startguide" and "Javascript for Dummies" started appearing on the shelves, and we assistants found ourselves fixing the designers mistakes. Even with that, the work was shoddy enough, and late enough, that our clients fizzled to nothing, and we were bought out and closed down.
I for one am glad to have taken the slow & steady path. I spent my 20s dating, traveling, goofing off, and having a good time, not being a fast-track type that got screwed over in the end. The 24-hour, dew-inspired lifestyle gets old real fast, and anyone evil enough to pressure you to work that lifestyle will have no compunctions as far as hiring fertilized eggs to design sites, to creating an atmosphere of distrust and jealousy in the workplace, or to firing yer ass the moment it becomes convenient.
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Name: mwn
Email: mwn@yahoo.com
Date: Sun Apr 22 06:18:57 2001
Comment: work is there to provide you with a paycheck and a means to live, not vice-versa. its good to enjoy your work and if you're not, it's your own fault. if you are bored, make it interesting. make one helluva portfolio piece. what the heck?! as far as working 80 hours a week, whether chasing some wet dream of a work utopia or not, you are just wasting 40 hours a week of your time. i myself dont regret not having done that.
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