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That I still have one. I'm a software developer, and my entire industry has lost its mind.

I'm freaking out trying to think of what I could pivot to as the industry implodes

So far, nothing that pays as well

I'm just holding out hope that my company still has enough sanity left to keep from firing the team responsible for its (incredibly busy, active, and above all publicly-facing) developer portal in favor of having a vibe-coder destroy maintain it. At least long enough for the AI bubble to finally burst.

Working from home.

I must admit, I would not decide to have kids without working from home. What is even the point in bringing them to this world if their parents are gonna just park them at care centers for most of the time?

Yeah, I had my first before COVID, and then COVID happened, and I've turned away a lot simply because it cuts into time with my kids. I walk them to school every day, so I can't leave my house til 845-9am earliest, but that doesn't stop me from covering remote work that starts normally at 10. And I stop by 330 or so every day and go get my kids. If I was somewhere else, I'd be stopping at 230, and I do so with absolutely zero remorse, don't care if we're done or not. Kids are my number one priority, they won't be this age forever, and I intend to maximize my time with them.

As a historical side note, the idea that children grow up and are raised exclusively by their biological parents is extremely recent and basically a British/Germanic cultural export.

Most cultures raised their kids communally. Some people are responsible for raising the kids, and the kids spend all day with them. After some time the kids develop interests and start learning from other grownups that do that “work”. Sometimes it’s their biological family, sometimes it isn’t.

And that makes much more sense tbh. Most parents in modern nuclear families are terrible at raising kids. And they aren’t even doing JUST that. They have to juggle their own lives, their work, keeping a house clean (because due to the British/germanic nuclear family we all need to live in our own “tiny estates” isolated from other people), AND raising kids.

We should have the people who love kids the most and who teach them the best raise them, imo.

Nothing new to me.

To afford two kids I work two jobs and my wife works one. And grandparents don't want to help, citing that "they did their share of caring for kids already in life". So here we are - two people, two kids, constant stress and overworking just to make ends meet.

It's not all that remarkable for being in Europe, but... five weeks vacation per year.

I'm curious how that stacks up with others.

In New Zealand we get (for full-time employment):

  • 20 days of annual leave (these can carry over, though the business encourage you to take them - and they can pay you out for 5 days a year, if both you and they agree).
  • 10 days of 'sick leave' (this accumulates up to, I think, 20 days) - can be used for dependants (eg caring for a sick child).
  • Up to 3 days bereavement leave.
  • 12 'public holidays' (1 is a different day per region, the others are national holidays)

 

So we get less annual leave, but it gets more nuanced once all of the other leave types are considered. I think NZ is somewhere in the middle of the field when it comes to leave entitlements.

In the Netherlands it is a minimum of 5 times the days you work each week, so if you work five days it's 20 each year. Most companies add 5 extra days to this in the collective agreements (basically union agreements). These agreements also cover public holidays, 5 is the average amount I think.

Lots of companies have a 38 or 36 (less common) hour work week. Usually you'll work for 40 hours under these contracts, and for the extra hours you get "ADV" days, 12 if your contract is 38 hours. Depending on the company these days get scheduled in advance, or it's extra days off.

Quick edit: sick days is basically limitless if you're sick. There's other types of leave like bereavement leave or for care taking, but that is totally company dependent.

Sick days are complex after a long period (like a full month or 2). but thats a different can of worms. And its not like you will lose much pay either.

So yes, they are "limitless". Suck it usa :')

It's interesting; I was listening to a recent NPR Planet Money podcast about why the US doesn't have guaranteed vacation like all other high income countries. Much of it boiled down to history and politics, but one point that stuck out to me is that unions actually at one point opposed guaranteed vacation days, because if the government has laws for worker rights and leave, it reduces the demand for unions.

I don't know how much of a factor it is today, but for reference, I have a highly sought set of skills and experience in the US, and I get 35 paid holiday days per year, virtually unlimited sick leave, a two for one 401k match, comprehensive medical and dental, continuing education stipend, etc. Not guaranteed by law, but provided as work incentives.

I wonder if much of the middle class here didn't have such things, how many more laws or unions we would have to get them.

Thanks for that info, and ye that does sound like early american history/politics. Cover your own arse and screw the rest hehe.
I think the rest of the world has proven that unions are always needed, so they would not have vanished if government added laws to give everyone a minimum holidays. There is always something to fight for or, and thats the most important one, make sure it all happens like the law says it should. This is also something unions do.

In any case, i cant say how many middle class ( whatever that may even mean these days because i dont consider myself middle class but im not lower class either ) are in the usa since im from the wrong side of the world for that. But what we hear and read ( which are often the loudest people ) its a lot and its just wrong to have to rely on a company giving them to you cause youre valuable. Its like the garbageman/woman from around the corner is not worth not working to death because they are "just collecting trash" which is not a high skill job

In Spain this year is special for me ... I can have a total of 10 weeks off, plus two days of family time, plus two days of bereavement leave (my mother passed in April).

Plus any sick leave I might need, though I have to have a doctor's note if it's more than one day.

I feel like I'm a holiday millionaire ... pity it isn't every year!

Different countries (and companies) in Europe have different holidays. Especially German ones are as stingy as they can be.

Wut? Germans have amongst the most personal leave(20 days are mandatory, much more are common, average is 27 atm) sick days and public holidays(10-13 depending on the state) in Europe.

Only France and Austria currently have more leave,but they have different drawbacks.

Everyone who just wants in the US sucks in every way train love this one. It's all looking for the worst shit in the US comparing it against the best in the EU.

Unlimited servers. I work for a VPS provider and on my first day my boss setup my account with $10k of credit and showed me how to add more in the admin panel "whenever [I] need it". As long as I'm only using things with plenty of excess capacity and don't cause problems, I can spin up whatever I want.

Sadly, I've already got a rack of hardware at home, so all I've done so far is spin up a server with 96GB of ram and put a 2-page static website on it, lol.

Hardware depreciates.

Sell your homelab and stick the proceeds in a stocks and shares ISA.

when you leave the company and no longer have access to their hardware you'll have the money to rebuild with newer machines

Finally you can start your own Minecraft server.

Yeah, game servers is about the only thing I've come up with for a way to take any real advantage of the perk.

If you can spare the resources you should consider spinning up a Nethack server

Nethack server

Ooh, interesting. I've never tried playing that.

I work a solid 20 hours a week from my basement and get 200k+

Teach me your ways 👀

DevSecOps, staff engineer. 50/50 IC/Managing technical people and direction.

Also want that!

Product manager?

So I thought your response was a short response from another thread. My bad, I misread the entire intent. I can't delete for some reason.

DevSecOps Staff Engineer.

Slinger of yaml.

Nice! The extent of my own involvement with .yml files is just Espanso, haha.

Fully remote, decent salary with quarterly bonuses, truly unlimited vacation, and my work life balance is 80/20 in my favor

what the hell do you do

Web dev

Porn star with themselves on OnlyFans.

Weirdly, it is my boss. He always got my back and takes everything I say really seriously. I am not the only one who thinks he is the best boss. We get a lot of perks that some of my friends are jealous of, but I value my boss far more than most of those perks. I have learned that if the boss sucks than great perks doesn't keep me, maybe a bit longer, but usually not for long.

Knowing where to not eat, stay, swim, or do any beauty/health treatments (tattoos, mani/pedi, hairdressing, etc.), and knowing how to protect myself.

Scouting out festivals and special events pre-opening and during for free.

Learning secret recipes and secret ingredients to make food level up.

Flexibility.

Edit: Clearly did not read instructions. The top one is the best perk. The second one is on par if I got to do more festivals!

Health inspector?

Bingo!

I get to be my own boss (because I own the company) not much of a perk because it comes with a lot of drawbacks.

Also, your job sounds an awful lot like a housewife.

Got it! Mistress.

98% work from home.

Flexible working hours (39h per week)

6 weeks vacation.

Sick leave nearly unlimited and with no questions (only the legally required doctor's statement if it's >3 days at once).

Health insurance is FREE! They cover all my co pays and prescriptions!

Of course this comes at a loss in hourly wage, but I value it at somewhere around an extra $5 an hour due to the insane American healthcare system. I will stay as long as I can.

I don't have a schedule. I arrive and leave when I want and taking a day off is no issue.

Full time but 14 days off a month, 7 in a row.

Woah, now that's a perk I'd love to have, especially when rent is like a third of my paycheck!

In my case, I have a lot of free time during my shifts so I've been able to study and finish my uni assignments at work. 👍

Office is stocked with beer and liquor.

I'm betting on a lawyers office.

My money's on FBI or DOJ

I had this perk once at a fintech startup company. Was pretty interesting to see a QA person get so pissed off at the client that they opened up a stash and started pounding makers mark.

Several.

  • The best coworkers. Really.
  • Paid lunch. Like, they pay for the food.
  • Generous health benefits.
  • Generous stock grants.
  • Generous 401k.
  • Unlimited PTO. Yes, really.
  • Rapid promotion cycle.
  • Respect. My department (operations) is frequently called out for it's critical role in the company's success.

Is all of that on top of your actual package or does he hold you green card in exchange?

I would certainly say working from home, I am physically disabled and my whole family is as well in a variety of ways. If it wasn’t for their flexibility I wouldn’t have the job I have. 150k salary with 10k or so bonuses, unlimited PTO. Software Development in fintech can be nice if you work for the right company(the more privately held the better)

Flexible hours, reasonable pay, close to where I live, my dog is in the office with me.

I have a company van I take home every night and a gas card for it. Also my paid hours start the moment I leave my driveway and stop the moment I pull back in my driveway.

But the best perk is that I have an excuse to spend all my money on tools. I would have done that anyways, but now it's justified.

Boarding school. Have accomodation for staff to live on campus (so 3 minute walk to work).

School. Kids go on holiday means staff also go on holiday. Gaurenteed break every 10 weeks.

Staying long at a school. Seeing the shy year kid in year 8 grow up to be school captain. Complimenting the kids growth spurts every christmas break, and see how happy they look. Letting the nerdy kid who doesn't like sports borrow my kindle all term, and fly through Artemis AND Hail Mary in like 2 weeks max.

Sure there are some downsides. My funniest example is the 40 minute bus trip with everyone doing their best Alvin and the Chipmunks impression. A less funny one is I caught a chair a student threw at another student. (Caught in my hand. Not hurt). The students can be a handful at times. But I remember the happy days.

Any flight longer than four hours are on business class

Dog trainer and kennel tech. I get to take my dogs to work with me and 95% of my job is just me interacting with dogs, a blessedly human free experience.

I have yet to meet a dog I didn't like, but fear if i worked as a vet tech or really anything with animals all day that would break eventually.... still a great perk, heckin' good

I get parts at shop cost, and get full access of the shop to maintain my families vehicles and make whatever I want (we have 3d printers, lathe, bridgeport, plasma table, 4 axis cnc, tons of welders pipe benders etc). Also the boss is super laid back and willing to teach everything he knows. Wish I had more time to take advantage of it all!

Im mostly remote in an industry ai cant really take over.

which one, and why?

I work in a restaurant, I haven't had to buy dinner pretty much since I've started. The only times so far that I've sort of had to do it was when I really didn't feel like eating Italian for the 40th day in a row or when I had a girl over because we wanted to make gyros and dolmadakia.

I only actually do a few hours of work a day unless something horrible has happened, so I watch a lot of youtube or sneak in a game. Can't fix the computers if they are all working. Also, pension plan.

Office so close I can bike in 10 minutes or walk in 20, with a pretty flexible schedule. I like it better than WFH because I give up none of my house for work now. Oh and they close the office from Christmas Eve through New Years day, I have never before worked anywhere that does that.

Lots of PTO days but it's hard to take them (too many busy days at work, not enough staff.) I schedule little 1-2 day offs for every month at least though, and usually a week off in the summer.

I work in live events as an event planner, running lights, sound, video, etc... I’m paid to be at the shows that audience members pay lots of money to attend.

I legitimately don’t remember the last time I actually paid for a ticket to a show. Because even if I’m not working it, I probably know someone who is. The industry is fairly small, so I have friends all over the local venues. In the past week alone, I have seen four different shows, (two dance shows, a jazz concert, and a play). I was paid to attend three of them. The last one I got into for free, because I play board games with the venue owner.

Free hugs and cuddles 🥰

Free food and getting to learn new cooking methods and recipes without having to foot the bill if it doesn't come out right

Travel. Sure, it's not usually thrilling travel, but 4x a year to central Florida, out to San Francisco for Dreamforce, and 1-2 visits to client sites each year is still nice when you're otherwise WFH.

I've had the opportunity to work in different countries, and when I do it pays nearly double and I get extra holiday days :-)

My office is by the sea. I can have my morning coffee outside watching the waves. In summer, I get to work early walking, it's 8 km or so, then have a quick dip in the ocean and get dressed and start working. Bliss

lunch is included

I work from home. The systemic incompetence of this multinational fortune 500 company means I can do a lot of reading and no one seems to notice.

Of course, management is planning to fire a lot of people, including me, to pivot to AI.

Get to access lots of events and festivals.

Get fed often, if not get PD's to sort myself out.

Stay in lots of Travelodges.

Free booze.

Getting paid money

Free boat trips

Navy?

I work on a tour boat 🛥️

There are lots, actually.

  • 42 days of paid vacation plus unlimited sick days
  • 7h work day with flexible office time and right to work from home
  • No expectation of overtime, very manageable workload
  • Beautiful bike path from my home to the office
  • I can use the company car privately, and not pay for fuel
  • I can even borrow a panel van for free if I need to move big stuff

So this job allows me to live car-free, and has great work-life-balance

I'd say you can work from everywhere and companys are usually chill

Softwaredeveloper

I’m indispensable at a small company. Some weeks I have a literal hour of work to do for multiple weeks. Some days it’s a deluge of bullshit that never ends. The majority of the time I get paid fairly well to make memes, craft, and read.

I get an hour of gym time every day.

Lots of vacation and sick time/decent balance of work vs personal life.

Working from home and everyone being understanding about work-life balance, mental health etc., without it being a big deal. No pressure (at least not like I used to get when I was younger!)

Easy access to electronic parts at discount, and the ability to use company machinery.

They don't care if I'm on my phone all day so long as I do stuff when it's available to be done

Im not working and can't say I ever had all that nice a perk with any job. I mean wfh at times and if its located in the city its a nice city. I loved working in a research lab as it is just so interesting and varied. What cracks me up is places being like we are so much better than others but they are basically par for the course. Oh lots of swag from the research lab job to. Funny thing is I did not like to travel and always was good being at home base but may have ended up with more swag than everyone else because everyone would bring me some back.