Would you work with micromanaging boss, no salary, and all your work thrown away?
blog.shlang.com
blog.shlang.com
lifetime exclusive contract, you can't work anywhere else, not even moonlighting
$0 salary and no equity (you’re supposed to be compensated in satisfaction)
no benefits other than being told that "everything here is a benefit"
no possibility of promotion or raise, ever
no job description: just do what you’re told
no office of your own, in fact, nothing of your own, ever again
all work ever done for any other employer must be forgotten forever; it's useless here
everything you do is wrong
everything the boss does is right
if you want to work on any personal projects, you have to make it appear that it's really for the boss
micromanaging boss complains about everything every 7 minutes
strict hours: 24/7, always on call
lovely seating, but only for company
the work is boring and demeaning, like taking out the garbage and cutting the grass
all your comfortable clothes get thrown away
you have to drive, even though the boss tells you where to go
you have to wear an employment symbol everywhere so that other prospective employers know you're already employed
you can only go to hacker news when the boss is out...oh wait, hold on, Hi Hon, you're home! I'm in here, on the internet, on diamonds.com...<alt-tab> (bye)
I have in fact thought about these issues. It certainly is possible that I've made a mistake. It's also possible the mistake has something to do with bias. On the other hand, it's also possible you have made a mistake. You are married. Why shouldn't we assume you are biased?
It's striking that you admit marriage has many unpleasant parts, but find it strange that someone would question its value for legitimate reasons.
Anyway, it's a large subject and I'm busy atm, but if you are genuinely interested then email me curi@curi.us and I'll get back to you.
Since the OP was lighthearted, I just went with the flow and had a little fun. After all, hn is also my little break from moving bits and bytes around all day long. Sorry if I confused anyone.
xlnt, thanks for the email address. May I suggest you put it on your profile, too. I've noticed that you're posting lots of comments these days, some controversial, some not so much. I'm sure I'll want to engage you offline sometime and I imagine others may want to also. Looking forward to it.
It has to or it wouldn't be a joke.
I got so tired of "why did this get voted up?" So I just did something a little different, that's all.
Plus the piece doesn't go very far in describing the micromanagement (that would give away the punchline). What kind of boss tries to control what you eat and what clothes you wear? Who demands you raise your hand before you can go to the toilet?
More fundamentally, the job wasn't chosen and there was no interview. In other words, it's slavery.
We don't see it because we were slaves ourselves for 12 years and therefore we feel it must be right. Otherwise we'd be forced to conclude that lives are being borrowed without permission.
no benefits other than vacation and sick time: no insurance, for example - However, depending on the quality of the employer, you may get access to people and facilities of considerable value.
no possibility of promotion or raise, ever - It's more like the opposite: strong likelihood of automatic promotion regardless of merit.
no job description: just do what you’re told - Not unlike a startup, where your job description is meaningless. You do what needs to be done.
micromanaging boss asks about project status every hour - That depends on the boss and how well you've accomplished past projects.
strict hours, starting at 8:30AM sharp - True but you often leave early.
if you’re late even a few minutes, your boss send you to her boss. rigid workweek, but then you’re expected to work from home a ton. open-desk seating, not even a cube, with a hard chair - Those things vary considerably between employers.
the work is boring and demeaning, like adding digits and copying text - That's not true. Often the employer will expect you to demonstrate your creativity. Furthermore much of the boring work can be done in groups and you often get plenty of breaks where you're free to use your time as you wish.
all your useless work gets thrown away - As it should be. The useful stuff will be saved. Depending on your employer and family situation you may get rewarded for good work in ways that far exceed the market value.
if you want to use a computer, you can buy one or just scribble on paper - Again not so. In fact many employers provide computers even in situations when they may not be necessary for the work.
no supplies room, either - That depends on the employer.
my daughter can’t drive, so commute was complicated - Generally speaking these kinds of employers are often close to home and many provide transportation. Also carpooling is frequent in this line of work.
can’t even put the job on your resume until you work there for a decade - This is backwards: it's good to put on your resume along with specific accomplishments up until you've been there for a decade at which time it's value is reduced.
I'd like to elaborate a bit on the creativity part. Most school is a lot like an assembly line - the cheapest way to teach thousands of children necessary things. This is not bad, time and money constraints are real. But in this framework you can't afford to encourage true creativity, simply because to be creative you need: 1. a "space" in which to be creative and 2. not to be evaluated by classic means. School environment provides neither.
However there are some good schools out there that do value creativity. It's unfortunate that parents can't or won't insist there be more of them.
Plus, summer vacation is totally awesome.
Seriously, when was the last time you met someone successful that was good at only one thing? Yet children are put, every day, in the hands of people who know NOTHING outside their domain. Certainly there are a few exceptions: you probably even remember a few from your schooling. But they stick out in part because they're so rare.
We didn't have very rigid class hours, most material was self-taught (especially in high school), and work and studies were done when practical, when I made time for them, not when an arbitrary structure told me that it was time to study this subject. For example: I found that I'm much more mathematically adept later in the day, so I would do the next day's math lesson the night before.
Another interesting thing to note is that I was not micromanaged, as is the case in the article... come to think of it, maybe I'm not as prepared for 'the real world' (corporate) as I thought. :)
I was home-schooled till 11, when I entered school in a class a year ahead of my age. that was 12 years ago, now i'm running a startup (our 2nd employee starts next week)
I've been thankful to my mum ever since for spending the time with me when I was younger - it definately gave me a head-start with learning and a different perspective from many people. Anyone else have home-schooling experiences they relate to entrepreneurship?
I'm the oldest in a family of 6 - all home schooled. My brother and I both have an entrepreneurial streak in us (my brother sold candy at the Jr. High near our house after school to raise money for his X-Box fund. He raised enough to buy it at 11, with no help from parents. He even bought the candy on his own).
However my other brother is leaving for the Air Force Academy in a few days - he wants to end up in politics somewhere. To me it seems like the military and political careers are opposite to entrepreneurship. I guess we're not all the same.
What, do you not remember school?
The fact that many people pay for something does not make it worthwhile for you.
Well played.
$0 salary. In fact you spend money to work. Its a privilege. You can't quit.
You can't act on your frustrations or the government might intervene.
You have to deal with a lot of shit.
Its always noisy.
You need to get a second job. Usually the second job is a vacation from your first job.
The only time you can go on vacation is when you get someone to take over for you at your expense.
There are no sick days, if you are sick you have to come up with creative ways to do the job and not get anyone at work sick. Also you have to work.
Sometimes you get the job. Sometimes the job is given to you, you can't reject. The government ensures that you take the job whether you like it or not.
You might be offered the position multiple times. See previous point.
There is an eventual payoff... But it is not guaranteed.
The only real up side is looking for the job is REALLY fun.
... and you get compensated in experience. ;)
FWIW, I voted up on this article so you can stop listening to me.
Edit: If you are sick of being downvoted for having a different opinion you should definitely check it out.