monkeytennis

monkeytennis , 7 months ago

Employers will quickly learn that leashing a person to their laptop will not prevent wasted time, it’ll cause them to waste time in other ways, and will drive away talent. The only harm is when it impacts outcomes, which is easier and more beneficial to track.

It’s pretty obvious when someone is underperforming, you don’t need to know whether they’ve been doing the laundry between meetings.

monkeytennis , 7 months ago

It’s crazy in the UK too, where 3-5 year fixes are common. I’ve know folk who at renewal next year will be paying £500-£800 extra, each month.

My biggest impact has been gas and elec, which maybe added that amount to my annual bill. I can’t imagine the stress.

monkeytennis , 7 months ago

It just feels like a huge gamble. I went the tracker route between 2012 and 2018 only because I didn’t want the overpayment restrictions imposed by fixed deals.

Luckily it worked out, had I gone for a fixed rate I’d still be slowly paying it off, at a higher rate.

For every person who did well, there’s someone else who didn’t, mostly through unlucky timing.

monkeytennis , 7 months ago

I wanted to pay it down while the rates were low, 10% would’ve started off ok, but obviously the lower it got, the less that was. Makes sense from the bank’s pov, seems a fair trade-off for a fix.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

I agree on performance, but I’m well paid and would tolerate almost zero unjustified inconvenience. I can afford to take a cut, but in reality would probably earn even more elsewhere.

More experienced folk are also more likely to go freelance, since they have the skills, experience and contacts. Perm roles only make sense when they bring stability and benefits. I expect to see this a lot more, if RTO continues.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

Had a convo with my mum last month, where she was concerned that I wasn’t looking to supercharge my career as I enter my 40s. She couldn’t understand why I’d declined an interview with Meta.

I had to spell it out… I won’t miss that extra money. I don’t have an expensive lifestyle, and I don’t want one. I’d miss the time lost with my kids, and I’d sure as shit regret the stress and anxiety of additional work pressure.

But then, I also had to explain why staying in an unhappy marriage “for the kids” is infinitely worse than peaceful and happy co-parenting.

Boomers. Sigh.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

This is not news. Stop upvoting Twitter spam, it’s not even vaguely interesting.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

I also find the “just look how bad the hands are heh heh heh” thing so dumb … it’s going to learn how to draw hands pretty quickly

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

In my experience, good candidates (including interns/juniors) are still landing the roles. Hiring in tech/design/product is tough because there’s a deluge of applicants who’ve either coasted during the boom, or been sold a lie by an educational institution.

You can spot the ones who apply for 40 jobs a week, and those who’ve used chatGPT a mile off, and they’re usually the worst candidates, with long, bland, unfocused resumes.

LinkedIn is full of my worst ex-colleagues bemoaning the lack of opportunities, like they’re entitled to it.

Please tell me if I’m being unfair. Maybe I should be less if a cynic.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

I’m probably in an echo chamber. I hope that 2nd application goes well for you.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

Unfortunately it seems there are no consequences for the universities, and it’s not hard to make those qualifications seem both alluring and lucrative.

There’s got to be a way to hold them to account for the countless graduates who don’t end up finding industry positions.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

Blaming young adults and families is unfair. Many institutions need to be held to account for advertising outcomes which don’t materialise for their students.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

Absolutely fine to politely ask for a salary range, in my experience. I’ve never found they hide it, but the ranges can be broad.

monkeytennis , 8 months ago

A shameful culprit IMO was the Kermode and Mayo film review. Two wealthy broadcasters (one extremely wealthy) who left the BBC, created an objectively worse show, half of which immediately went behind a paywall. Then they started voicing atrocious adverts and wingeing that people should pay so they could keep the lights on.

The only upside was that I felt no pain in dropping them like a stone, but I do miss the old show and never found a good replacement.

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

I know what you mean, but it would depend on my current situation. Assuming I’ve had to find another job with short notice (and I’m still in my probation period) it could be a great opportunity to leverage a massive pay increase, then spend the next year planning a proper move.

I wouldn’t list it as separate employment on my CV, unless I knew it was going to be scrutinised, in which case, it’s easily explained and reflects pretty well - they wanted me back.

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

Plenty of men can deal with this, and plenty of women can’t. It’s not helpful to see this as a gender thing, you’ll only feel more alienated. You might want to seek out some new social connections?

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

You missed my point. I’m ignoring nothing, I’m suggesting OP seek out men who will be supportive, because they’re not hard to find.

I’m certain I could find studies as proof, but don’t we all already know this to be true?

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

I’ve been though divorce recently and despite being very amicable, it’s caused me to reset - some things broke, but being more emotionally open has been one of the good things. I’m still pretty reserved but a few things are different:

• I care a lot less about conforming to “ideals” or how anyone judges me. That means I no longer feel the fear and second guess everything I say.
• When appropriate, I ask people - especially other men - how they’re doing and gently push for a genuine answer. No one’s reacted negatively to that, so far.
• With my kids, I simply do the opposite to my father. I tell them I love them, I take an interest in them, and I take their feelings seriously. I don’t coddle them, but I want them to feel secure and confident in talking to me. They’re still young, so we’ll see.
• During work 1:1s, I take a genuine interest in people, most will subtly drop hints that they had a bad weekend or are feeling tired or stressed. I used to gloss over that, now I’ll ask about it and say I’m happy to listen. A surprising number will go on to share, with the bonus that it builds trust.
• If someone asks how I am, I won’t lay it all out for them, but I’ll be honest. Most people empathise and tell you they’ve been through similar. It’s never been awkward, and I’ve found out nearly everyone I know is pretty anxious and is going through difficult stuff.

As an aside, I never watched much porn because I found it so cold and alienating. It’s interesting that you found the opposite. Anyway, I’ll stop there and wish you well!

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

Coddling has the negative connotation - to consistently overprotect. Occasional spoiling is an entirely different and good thing.

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

That’s a very good idea. Hopefully I’ll never need it, but great advice.

monkeytennis , 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago)

I feel like these are the real issues - I can’t tell how much of OP is meant to be a joke … “You forget to check the website and you miss the time”. I mean, that’s on you. Also it’s often easy to blag the magic words an interviewer wants to hear, the real danger is that the job is NOT as advertised.

The number of interviews I used to sit in on, and wonder WTF the interviewer was thinking… One asked a service designer “if you were a type of cake, what would you be?”

monkeytennis , 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago)

That’s terrible, I hope it all worked out, but absolutely never say anything until you’ve both signed a contract unless you’re looking for a counter offer, which is risky AF.

People pull out of informal agreements all the time, it’s not an employer thing - legal issues, real estate, appointments, competition prizes, dates…

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

In my industry, practical interviews are very common, but they’re not always reliable. I can get as much from asking someone about their process and being talked through a case study they’ve chosen, as giving them a practical exercise to perform on the spot. I’d usually do both.

I’m not disagreeing with the overall inefficiency and frustration of the whole process, I’ve felt it on both sides. It’s messy - bad or overstretched HR teams, slow managers, unclear budgets, poor choice of tech platforms…

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

The only possible use I could imagine, was to test how people respond to irrelevant stupid questions, since that happens a lot in some workplaces. Do they get frustrated and make it awkward, or shrug it off politely.

monkeytennis , 9 months ago

Haha, yeah you might be onto something there. It felt like a way to pull the rug from under people to see how they cope, which wasn’t nice. I try to put people at ease in interviews, rather than try to catch them out.

I was ambushed with a “so, what do you do for fun?” once and the sudden context switch made me pause for so long that I must’ve seemed like I had no life outside of work 😬

monkeytennis , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

Maybe it’s because I’m in a UX team and you hit a nerve, but “pull them into a quick meeting” summarizes my contempt for office life. The lack of boundaries and constant distraction was relentless.

I’ve met many Susies who, like me, dreaded the “Hey Suze, you got a minute?” because everyone vaguely recalls that we’ve worked on something related to their project. It was not as valuable or productive as you think. Pinging the person on Teams and not expecting an instant reply was the right thing to do, even back in the old days.

monkeytennis , 10 months ago

Am I missing something, or would basically any old smartphone work in place of this? I have a Pixel which sits in a cradle and takes care of anything I’d use this for. I guess a physical button or dial might be nice, but I have a volume dial on the car dash.

Seems plainly obvious that it’ll require a sub. It’s a Spotify box.

monkeytennis , 10 months ago

I love seeing people stand up to these mandates. I flat out ask the purpose for my physical presence, and unless it’s an objectively good reason AND everyone else required will be present, I’m staying away. I’ve too often arrived at an office to sit on a Teams call.

I’m not contributing to traffic pollution and seeing my kids less to satisfy someone’s whim or real estate investment. As far as I’m concerned, that ship has sailed. Virtual whiteboards exist. Welcome to the future.

monkeytennis , 10 months ago

It’s the least offensive type of advertising I see day to day. I couldn’t care less how my listening data is shared, and I don’t understand the zero tolerance some people have for adverts - it’s not all bad.

If they ramp up the adverts, people will vote with their feet.

monkeytennis , 10 months ago

Not far off some I’ve seen, just needs more wrinkles

monkeytennis , 10 months ago

I’ve been cutting my own for years, never considered using a taper guard. Hmm.

monkeytennis , 10 months ago

That’s the general public for you. It’s why we’re fucked.

monkeytennis , 10 months ago

Isn’t it amazing, how from a single photo you can deduce that her stand-up is pure dogshit

monkeytennis , 11 months ago

Seems more like Lemmy users are building up a mythology. “I was there in the early days. Remember poop and beans?”

monkeytennis , 1 year ago

Yeah, for a fair comparison the standard definition of “active user” is just viewing posts. Not sure why Lemmy sets the bar so high. Maybe they don’t care about vanity stats - besides mild curiosity, I couldn’t care less.

Posting or commenting seems more like “contributing users” and posts like this just encourage unhelpful noise.

monkeytennis , 1 year ago

This reminds me of staying overnight at a friend’s house when I was a kid, and discovering a slightly sinister family habit, like cutting pizza with scissors or everyone drinking hot tea with dinner

monkeytennis , 1 year ago

It’s that small moment when you realise other people do things differently.

I remember being a bit horrified with the amount of handling that goes on with pizza+scissors. Guess I was considered one of the family…