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by star-techate 2849 days ago
1. avoid metrics. Ask during the interview how they gauge your work performance, how people get bonuses, etc. As a rule you'd much rather be judged by a person, your direct manager, than by an Excel sheet. Yes, hostile managers can be a source of stress, but they'll be that in any case. Metrics are simply an additional potential source of stress.

2. avoid having to deal with backups. Think of all the warnings about test coverage. Or about advocacy for compile-time checks, and for more thorough checks, for information in the editor as you're coding. Backup systems are all about finding out that shit's broke after it's too late and when you most urgently need it. They are an incarnation of stress. And if you do it well, nobody will ever even know. It's not "heads - bonus, tails - no bonus", but "heads - you can come into work tomorrow for the same pay, tails - you can't".