this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2024
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[–] SchmidtGenetics 117 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Nah in a lot of cases the guy doing the bare minimum also makes more than you.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] TrickDacy 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Do project managers make decent money? In my field I've always been told developers make significantly more.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (6 children)

I would make more as project manager, but I don't want to be on the phone and write mails with clients all day

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I would rather set myself on fire than to look at budgets, billable rates, timesheets, or talk to people.

I'm hardore technically aligned, and far enough along in my career (and at a good enough company) that I can turn down opportunities to PM.

[–] nrezcm 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Look at this fat cat who can turn down opportunities over here!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

He's such a dick

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (7 children)

Every time I've been promoted I've made more money and done less work. At this rate I'll be 9-5 on the golf course in a few years making $500k/yr.

Kidding. Golf blows.

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The real payment is all the traumas we got along the overtimes

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Hah! You got overtime? I just got trama and toxic managers.

In a better spot now, though

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

At my previous job they had a special term for unpaid overtime: "Professional time"

So glad I'm no longer working there.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Unpaid overtime probably (which would be a hard no from me)

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I get paid way more than my coworkers, and even my supervisor, because when I got hired I immediately made a bunch of random tools in google sheets that only I know how to maintain, and spread them around until everyone was using them. Before long, I was essential to my department, and praised for going "above and beyond" even though I was mostly just dicking around making the tools rather than doing my actual job.

I have 0 coding experience, so the tools are absolutely horrendous behind the scenes, but that just means that they break pretty often, and people are reminded that only I know how to fix them. So, when I went looking around on LinkedIn for other offers after a few years, I eventually got one that was paying way more since it was in a major metro area, and I took it back to my manager to negotiate a 50% raise and a full-remote designation that virtually nobody else in my office is given.

You don't get ahead by working hard, and you don't get ahead by working smart to benefit the company, you get ahead by working smart to benefit yourself. Think about it this way - if you're at the store to buy bananas, and you see that they're selling bananas for $0.05 ea, you'll likely think "Wow, that's a great deal!" and buy a bunch of those bananas at the $0.05 price. You're not going to pay them the price you think would be fair for a banana, you're going to take advantage of the price you're allowed to pay so that you can save money. Your employer sees you - working for less than you're worth - as a $0.05 banana. You're nothing more than a cheap commodity they were lucky to snag on sale.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Making yourself indispensable is a great way to never get promoted.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago

I turned down the promotion they offered me. It was significantly more work, required me to come back to the office, and only offered a 10% pay raise. It doesn't matter where your "standing" in the company is - if you're indispensable, you can fight for good pay even outside of managerial roles.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (3 children)

As long as you can get constant raises who cares about a promotion? If you got your job nailed down so much you only need to work like 5 hours a week and from home while getting raises I would turn down any promotion.

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[–] Speculater 47 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (7 children)

Bro, I'm salaried and only really need to work six hours a day. So that's exactly what I do. My coworkers put in 12-14 hours a day six days a week... We get the same paycheck.

Granted, I'm consistently rated at the bottom of my department by my supervisors, but I'm also the most highly requested employee by our customers. Literally no one else gets requested by name and I have to triage projects.

[–] Landless2029 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

See I'm salary but I'm forced to put in 8 hrs a day. Even if I have no work to do. It sucks.

[–] Speculater 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's horrible. What's the point of salary if you have an hourly requirement? That sounds like fake hourly.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The point of Salary is so they don't have to pay for overtime. The slave labor is the purpose, forcing people to work more than 8 is just a nice little cherry on top ☺️.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Why do you think there is so much disparity between your bosses and your clients?

[–] Speculater 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I show up late and leave early and don't participate in the "work culture" stuff, this makes my employer upset.

I get requested because I'm the best at my job and the customers talk to each other. I've had clients from other employees ask to switch to me but that's not allowed by policy. The best I can do is look at the work they're receiving and give feedback.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like shitty management.

[–] Speculater 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's crabs in a bucket and they're mad I won't get in the water. I'm paid well and they mostly leave me alone. They've only once fucked up my career once by bad-mouthing me to a department I tried to transfer to in order to learn a new skill.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Crabs in a bucket makes sense for the staff, but not the management. Management should be judging with outputs in mind.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

"Okay but the guy who goes the extra mile will get a promotion and do better in the long run." ---a guy who has always gone the extra mile, never gotten a promotion and is doing exactly the same as everyone else

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (7 children)

I don't go the extra mile for the company. I do it to help make things easier for my coworkers and the people who depend on us in the hope that I can make life a little less shitty for everyone.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

I do a little extra because I know my other coworkers fuckin' won't. I tell my new hires that you're not working for the other shift but rather for when it's your shift again.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago (7 children)

Eh, going the extra mile is how I went from customer service agent to senior server engineer in 5 years (with the same company).

There's always a balance between the two, but the most important thing is knowing how to say no without sounding like you're saying no.

[–] dtjones 12 points 8 months ago

It is entirely job dependent. I have been in jobs where it was just a grind and going the extra mile simply put a smile on my boss's face. In jobs like these the best thing you can do is carve out as many hours as possible during the work week to build new skills or apply to other jobs. I've also been in jobs where going the extra mile directly contributed meaningful skills to my resume/portfolio and helped me get a new job with way better pay.

[–] crushyerbones 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Eh going the extra mile is how I got so burned out I had to quit a job for the sake of my physical and mental health.

Did I get promoted? Hell no. Never did. The boss's wife sure did though.

Yes I'm aware you said balance but I just had to share why I'm currently trying not to care anymore. Note I said trying, I'm really terrible at not giving everything to every project I'm in.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

My career has also gone very well in this time period by slacking on my previous job and using the extra time to get my current job. Per minute spent, I think it's more cost effective to look for a new job. Companies hate loyalty now.

I don't even sugar coat the "no" anymore. When the next company calls, all they're going to share is how long I worked there.

Here's a Venn Diagram:

(me) [alienation] (my labor)

[–] Mog_fanatic 4 points 8 months ago

I've been in this game for a good bit now and while I've seen a bunch of go getters put in ridiculous hours and slave away and actually get promoted, I have seen faaaaaaar more just get promoted for being in the right place at the right time or, most times, being the child, spouse, in-law, or friend of someone high up in the company. In my experience your social standing or just plain luck accounts for about 90% of it. The other 10% isn't the work you do, it's the work they think you do.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago (1 children)

A lot of us "do the bare minimum" do the bare minimum because of all of the time in the past we spent going the extra mile only to be rewarded with ever greater expectations for identical compensation and opportunity.

They made us this way.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

No sympathy for them. No mercy!

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I go the extra mile. It's not for pay. It's because I'm stuck at work for 8 hours anyways and I'd rather work than pretend to work.

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[–] chiliedogg 18 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Some people are passionate about always doing the best they can, and they get a great deal of satisfaction from it. I love being excellent at what I do.

I don't have a wife or kids. My jobs are a huge part of my identity. Heck - my night job teaching is something I do because I want to do it, not for the little bit of extra money.

But I also know that I'm weird. Most people just want to do their job and go home to their families, and that's great. They're doing the job, so they should be compensated every bit as much as the people like me who are devoted to their work.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Nah, I get it. I'm much the same way - I don't do things half assed - just not made that way.

That said, I'm also not going to eat the corporate brainwashing gruel. The higher up you go the more you see people just flat accept stupid corporate decisions as 'enlightened' and they heavily adopt the corporate lexicon. Who needs a critical eye when you fit in?

Fuck that noise.

While I realize there are rules, structures, and culture in place. They shouldn't hinder people. IDGAF about how someone does something as long as the product is technically sound, reads like Tolstoy, and was efficiently created.

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[–] SanndyTheManndy 17 points 8 months ago

If you see me going the extra mile, it's probably the side-effects of me using the company's resources to learn and do crazy experiments for my own gain.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

And neither gets enough to cover inflation.

[–] SlopppyEngineer 7 points 8 months ago

Going the extra mile is a good way to never get promoted because you are too valuable in your current position.

[–] Agent641 7 points 8 months ago

My rule at work has always been based around the bears and hikers analogy. You dont have to be the best at what you do. Just dont be the worst.

Also some jobs afford opportunities for non-conventional self-education. If you can learn useful personal or professional skills while at working, do it, and under the guise of work.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

It depends on the company and how they treat your job, but mostly as a worker you are there to fulfill a company's requirement. Unless there's a position or incentive to go that extra mile, don't, most companies will never see it. Even if you want to do the extra work for yourself, I'd recommend to find a way to do it as a hobby if it's unrewarded, separate from work.

What they will see is the absence in case they do need it, and then they will be required to fulfill it, although they may not want to focus on better and more empowered workers with higher expectations and may instead just focus on quantity over quality by hiring more people to fill it. Even worse, don't be the guy who makes his (and other's) jobs obsolete to scummy bosses.

Open your eyes, you aren't in school, you aren't getting rewarded for better grades at work unless they make it part of the business and your bosses stick to it and not just plugging in friends, buddies, and associates.

[–] SkybreakerEngineer 5 points 8 months ago

The guy that does nothing at all and whines until he gets someone else to do it, is also paid the same as you. And will never get fired.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

As if either employee is the problem. Blame the fucking aristocrats shorting both of their paychecks

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Or in my case, get singled out by a manager from another department for no reason, who then gaslights the other managers into thinking I don't do shit when I'm the only person in my section that even does anything at all. Go through the whole "try to make them quit" playbook but never do anything wrong so they can't fire me. I would have outlasted all those fuckers if circumstance hadn't forced me to move out of state.

Pretty sure they just wanted to eliminate my full-time position to save money.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

....and the one that puts in the unrecognized effort will eventually punch a hole through several people's chests...

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