I didn’t read it as “significantly” affect work performance at all, it seemed more like it anything that DOES affect work performance is a problem
EDIT: Also it seems like they don’t like you doing things similar to what they paid you to do, even if it’s not in competition at all… so sounds like after hours coding consulting even in a complete different industry would be frowned upon even if it didn’t affect your performance
I think that's pretty normal conflict of interest language. Seems pretty reasonable in general. You do see broader permissions around things like developing open source software at some companies but they're not common.
At least as a practical matter. Some large companies (in particular) may have draconian policies about doing moonlighting but it's probably not a big deal generally as long as it's low-visibility.
I avoid obvious conflicts of interest. And for any unpaid and pizza-paid advice/minor work for people I do it quietly.
But that stuff is pretty simple relative to a (minor) real side-gig which I had (shareware back in the day) but was pretty much orthogonal to my day job and my manager knew about.
This is what I hate about this industry at this point in my life. Just this morning I was fantasizing about being a dentist instead and just be able to work for as long as I like, not worry about ageism, and otherwise live my life, without needing to constantly “keep up”
I think this is kind of a fantasy. My impression of dentistry and the medical field in general are that there are constantly new procedures coming out to learn, new techniques to implement, and new tools to train on.
Maybe ageism is less of a thing since a lot of dentists are self employed but if the dentist down the block is cheaper/better/less painful you're going to see less revenue.
Similarly you could find a job maintaining ATM software in 90s style Java but your earning potential will probably be impacted.
I don't know, I think it's a wave. Market will bounce back. But yeah, always try to live humbly and keep a hefty savings buffer. This won't be the last bump.
Maybe in 20 years if/when AI assisted coding gets good. But even then I question if it will take every domain out. Webdev, hell yes. Distributed, maybe (but doubtful). Embedded/HFT/anything performance critical? Doubtful. And they sure aren't going to completely automate out anything mission/safety critical.
I am in my late 30s and used to worry about this, but I’ve been in the corporate world long enough to know that I can learn whatever I need to learn to secure a decent, paying dev job.
I’ve also realized, far more important than knowing the latest framework or tool, is the ability to work well with people. This is the skill I’ve been working on most, and in my opinion is far more valuable.
I worry about that more than I’d like to admit. However I have far peace and fulfillment than I’ve ever had so the trade off is good. I think Scott Galloway said nothing is ever as bad or as good as you think it will be.
When I was 20 I worked at Costco while going through college and one of my coworkers was previously a software engineer at sun microsystem. He ended leaving the industry because his skills were up to date enough but he was happy in life and had paid for most everything he needed already. It would be unpleasant to go through but make wise financial decisions and ride it out as long you can. Also I maximize my 8 hours a day and do my best to learn on the job.
Are you in a high cost of living situation that’s hard to get out of? Do you have kids?
If NOT, I would start by thinking if there’s ways you could drastically cut down your cost off living, like moving somewhere cheaper or even looking at Southeast Asia etc if that’s your jam
That would give you more options on the financial side of things in case you wanted to start over or have a go at something with a long ramp up time
One question I’ve set out to answer is: what would I do if I were fired tomorrow?
Understood that not everyone is in the position to switch to lower paying careers, start over, etc - but if you have some leash, what WOULD you do if you were fired tomorrow?
(And I don’t mean short term like take a vacation then find another tech job - mean longer term like what kind of job will you be looking for next, or business to start, etc)
Curious to hear your thoughts and anyone else who cares to share
This is such a powerful question (another version of it, what would you do if you wouldn't have to worry about money). Sometime ago I tried to answer it and realised that I don't know. It sparked anxiety, meaning I've been doing something for such a long time 15+ years now without knowing what really my end goal is and why I am doing that.
Whatever its called, zombie or auto/robo mode, the unintentional living, its freaking scary because in most cases if you remove the work identity from a person, there will be a sad shallow shell of a person left.
On a bright side, its never too late. I started actually putting the money to use to create experiences (hiking in Taiwan, diving in Thailand, paragliding in Turkey). Starting to write and build products (finally learning to code for the sake of building something simple and useful instead of setting up kubernetes).
That kind of existence gave me energy, although I do have melancholic nostalgia about former days of building startups and working in a team to get to an exit. It all seem like a war story I will be telling people in my 50s, how I moved countries without knowing anyone, joined a company that got to $50m ARR, grew to 100 people and became profitable ever since.
The work identity we have is a interesting phenomenon, despite feeling happy in life, I do miss ambitious goals and working in a small team of friends and interesting people to reach the highs of professional achievement.
I suppose in the end everything is about the balance.
I’ve been thinking about this too. And it’s also usually used as a counter-argument to people wanting to get out of their jobs.
However, here’s what I realized: most people work in “regular” 9-5 jobs. That includes “tech people”, who like to think of themselves as artists, but are not. And it takes like 2 decades to get trained to do a regular job if you take into account k-12 (which trains you to be a 9-5 worker and discourages anything else), uni, and the first few years of professional experience.
So is it that surprising that once you get disillusioned with being a 9-5 worker it would take you at the very least few years to figure out how to not be one?
What I’m trying to say is it should be expected to not know what you want to do. Because even getting to the point where you could do what 90% of the population does take a tremendous amount of effort. So once you want to do something else, it will take a while to figure out too. And you can totally fail along the way as well.
As an freelance artist for 9 years I can say that you have different type of challenges.
Founding usefulness in your work means everyday questions about balance between stable income and making actually new, innovative, non-trending things. Free market have unlimited possibilities, but making art for money is not my motivation to do art.
Poor artists are real and I slowly understand why. If your passion is creativity, priorities are different, which makes hard to pay your bills, but in same time let you go deeper of meaning. Well... It's difficult to describe it actually.
I’ve been fired recently from a full stack position and I started working on a farm. I’m not in US and I’m not rich enough to afford to stay home.
I feel that in a few months I would like to look around and see opportunities to switch my career to some tradie job like plumbing, which in many countries are paid almost as software engineers. At least it could give me a meaning and probably a bit less uncertainty than software engineer for the future
>I don’t mean short term like take a vacation then find another tech job - mean longer term like what kind of job will you be looking for next, or business to start, etc
I mean, the job I'd be looking for is another tech job?
I do have stuff I want to do in 5,10 years. Maybe even vague ideas of 20 years out. But I lack the funds and the expertise to pull it off. I'm sure many dream of being their own businessman or simply traveling and experiencing the earth without worries of rent. But even for tech workers that is a lifestyle that can't be maintained without some corporate kowtowing (or having a silver spoon).
Have a family and esp these employees in high CoL cities? Very tough.
Speaking from experience. Been there done that.
"We'll have all this new innovation via new startups now!" is such a feel good sentiment to layoffs but in reality is nowhere close to a solution for the affected employees
EDIT: Also it seems like they don’t like you doing things similar to what they paid you to do, even if it’s not in competition at all… so sounds like after hours coding consulting even in a complete different industry would be frowned upon even if it didn’t affect your performance
So all in all, still pretty strict