

Ask HN: Has anyone refused to work in a typical 9-5 job? - berlinbrown

Or another way of asking, have you has a programmer been unemployed for a really long time?  Mostly because you couldn't find a good fit for the type of work that you are interested.<p>I always like the analogy of herding cats, sometimes programmers are just different and work environments can be rigid.  Have you held out for a really long time in the job market because you wanted that perfect development job?
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justforthispost
I'm in Japan and I've been unemployed for about 5 months. It's not that I'm
holding for the "perfect" job. I just wanted a "decent" programming job.

I don't mind working overtime, I just don't want to work 70+ hours every week.
I'm OK with working "under stress", but I don't want to work for xenophobic
bullies like my last boss.

I don't even expect to do truly exciting work (for instance working at a
company like Google or startup like RethinkDB, just to illustrate) anymore,
I'd settle for any job that let me actually build software, as opposed to pure
app support or pure DBA.

And getting a decent salary. And by decent salary I don't mean the exorbitant
salaries that experienced programmers earn in the US (like over U$120k). I'd
be happy with $70k or even less if the company was interesting. After many
rejections at large foreign companies, I applied for a "senior programmer"
position at a small company and after multiple tests and interviews I got an
offer. The offer was about U$35k/year. FML.

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rayj
I know many people on here are kinda libertarian...but have you looked at the
government? It would still be possible to make >60k/year and work 40 hrs a
week, although it might end up being boring work.

~~~
justforthispost
Well, I'm not Japanese so that's practically impossible (outside of
universities).

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Causalien
Can never get up at 7am. Spent 2years looking. Found out that I can survive
without a corporate job. Now I do work from 11am to midnight on my own Corp.

In a traditional Corp, my boss will probably think I am lazy. As I come in
late(which they see) and leave late (which they don't see).I also tend to put
my feet up on my table and close my eyes when thinking about a programming
problem really deeply.

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dpolaske
Its not the 9-5 part about a job that I don't usually like. 9-5 jobs usually
imply that you are working for a mid to large size company for which you have
little say in the overall direction and decisions of the company.
Additionally, you may not believe in the overall mission of the company. Those
are the two aspects that make working a typical 9-5 not the place for me.

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Zev
_..sometimes programmers are just different and work environments can be
rigid._

No. Just, no.

While I can totally relate to not wanting to have a 9-5 job (and even moreso
when it comes to holding out for the right job) a dislike of working 9-5 jobs
this is _not_ unique to some (but not all, remember that) programmers.

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joelrunyon
I'm not a programmer, but I quit a job because I hated the environment.

Of course, that sort of force me into entrepreneurship & I figured out how to
survive.

Don't get me wrong - it was a great job for a lot of people - but
unfortunately, I'm not a lot of people :).

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ww520
Work for yourself. Go into consulting. Flexible hours. More control on work
schedule and scope.

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miloshadzic
I've not been unemployed for a long time but I've turnt down quite a few
offers that required 9-5 hours. I probably can't help you that much but if you
want to talk about it, feel free to email me.

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codeonfire
Yes, any constraints not consistent with modern, 2010's workplace standards is
totally unacceptable. If they want to work in the fuckin' 1980's I would walk.

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YuriNiyazov
I started a consulting company with a partner. We make our own hours. Sometime
we work very long hours, but there's almost never a day when I work 9 - 5.

