Tesla Lays Off Employee Who Slept in Car to Work Longer Hours | Hacker News Reader

Tesla Lays Off Employee Who Slept in Car to Work Longer Hours

finance.yahoo.com

34 pointsdoener27 comments

I went from being homeless, to a retail job, to a software engineer job within 3 years. I used to sleep under a desk many nights due to 80+ hour weeks as I obsessively tried to hold unreasonable deadlines working on all manner of tech projects alone. Imposter syndrome was real until I saw a contract showing clients were being billed at about 10x the poverty line wages I was making.

Eventually I realized they were just exploiting my poor self esteem and found the courage to quit, and found a job that paid double for half the hours.

Today I am constantly coaching people to do the same.

Great to hear that you got into such a position, wishing you the best. Never experienced anything even close to what you have gone through (besides a brief stint of excessively long hours), but have come to realize that there is a lot of value in openly sharing with people what they can be worth when they are potentially exploited or making less than their peers for similar (or greater efforts). As you've said, it's unfortunately often about self-esteem and confidence, with people not realizing what value they have and compensation they should receive.

I try to frame it as worker camaraderie, we can’t allow each other to race to the bottom.

There can be no wealth without ownership, and no fair wages without collective bargaining and effective unions. Most corporations are exploitation factories.

> Also, with a 90-minute commute each way, in 2023, he apparently started sleeping in his car, showering at the factory and microwaving his dinners on days that he was working.

If you are going to be that desperate, at least buy a van so that you can sleep properly..

> 5:00am I usually check my emails while on my autopilot commute to work (1hr 30min drive)

Great. Another danger on the road.

You say that like it is easy to do when living paycheck to paycheck.

I have had to choose between buying a bigger vehicle and buying food and saving to get out of my situation.

Slept in a $200 Craigslist junker for a very cold winter once, but I saved enough to buy a reliable truck which granted a lot more employment opportunities.

The guy is a software engineer at Tesla. From the post, he owns a Tesla. He can afford a van

It may have been a financially reasonable choice based on employee discount and resale value after X number of years

The guy I was replying to was making a total non sequitur, and I replied pointing out that his comment didn’t make sense wrt the discussion. And now you’ve replied to this… why? I legitimately don’t even understand why you posted that.

Sorry, I interpreted your comment as a oblique way of saying his purchase of a Tesla was a financially irresponsible choice vs say, buying a van or similar utility vehicle

I have multiple times been picked up by Uber drivers in Teslas. I also am good friends with a Tesla owner he got as an inheritance in spite of living paycheck to paycheck.

Also a lot of people see cars as investments in a status symbol that will allow them access to more opportunities and respect in life. A van makes you look like someone that lives in a van.

I have multiple times been picked up by Uber drivers in Teslas.

Those Teslas may be been rented, Uber and Hertz made a deal to make Teslas rentals available to rideshare drivers: https://www.reddit.com/r/UberEATS/comments/13my447/i_rented_...

There's a big difference between sleeping in a $200 Craigslist junker and a car where you can check your emails while it drives itself (for an extra $12000).

Every life situation is different, but in general, I wouldn't expect somebody with a position in the $98K [0] median pay bracket to be living paycheck to paycheck.

[0] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Tesla-Production-Supervisor...

If he sleeps in his car, why does he have to travel 90 minutes both ways? Genuinely confused.

It was Monday. He travels back to his home for the weekend. During the weekdays he stays close to work by sleeping in his car. It is unfortunately something that many people in Silicon Valley do to avoid rush hour traffic.

From the article, his lay-off was unrelated to him sleeping in a car. The headline kind of implies otherwise.

It's written to point out the contradiction between extreme employee loyalty and total lack of company loyalty.

Perhaps the headline was implying his layoff was due to needing to sleep at all.

"Implied" is in the eye of the beholder. The only implication I saw was that this employee was super loyal to a company that didn't care about him at all.

That's because Jalopnik writes with a heavy anti-Tesla/Musk slant daily in bad faith because they know it gets clicks. "Guy lives in car to avoid 90 minute commute daily" doesn't have the same ring.

It's difficult for any person (me too) who has faced this collision between personal and professional live to no be endured with the sweet taste of irony.

It sounds like a good life lesson for the employee. I could never imagine working those hours for another person.

I imagine one day, when HR gets to the Pearly Gates, the HR idiot who laid this guy off will be waiting in a very short line behind the guy who cut the original Star Trek. Neither of them will know why they are in a separate line.

Strong take.. it’s not HR’s fault their CEO is a fuckhead or that this Tesla engineer didn’t move closer to the office

Tesla is the worst car ever. Expensive, short range and a hassle to charge.

The car is not the problem.

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