[Goosee]

A bit off topic but I remember when Intel set up a special career fair presentation for my major.

I forget the specific role the manager was hiring for, but it sounded like a quality/reliability engineer. Basically run a bunch of tests, identify and analyze errors on newly manufactured equipment.

I immediately lost interest when the manager said the role would either work until 9 PM or start the next day at 4 AM due to an important (daily?) 7 AM meeting where the results would be presented. Ontop of that, it was required that you be on call during every weekend and most holidays. You would be required to do this for your first two years as an entry bachelor degree worker. Entering masters level students wouldn't need to be on call.

After that, he mentioned this role would pay ~$65,000 USD. Bonus < $5000. To live in the bay area. Then he bragged to us about the ability to buy intel stock at a 15% discount or something like that.

The manager presented in a room with fully qualified people to work at any FANG/Graphics/Aerospace company.

I sold all my intel stock the next day [late 2019], it made up most of my portfolio at the time. I just did not see how intel would attract talent if it over-worked and under-compensated entry level employees like that. Compared to the FANG employee getting free meals, game rooms, huge salary, etc.

[whymauri]

It's incredible to me how often recruiters will shoot themselves in the foot when discussing WLB. When I was an undergrad, I had a lot of management consultancies reach out for technical/engineering roles. I thought - hey, there's a reason why people want to work at Bain, BCG, and McKinsey, right?

So I spoke to a recruiter and opened with: so what's the work life balance look like for technical ICs at your company? The recruiter literally laughed at me like I was doing stand-up comedy. Well, uh... ok? Waste of time, lol.

[brandmeyer]

> It's incredible to me how often recruiters will shoot themselves in the foot when discussing WLB.

Would you prefer them to lie to you? At least the recruiter was honest, even if the company's WLB was poor.

[whymauri]

Honesty is appreciated. But the reactionary laughter signals a deeper cultural issue than just WLB, IMO. It struck me as off-putting.

[thefunnyman]

I would also find it off-putting. IMO one should feel embarrassed to disclose that the company they recruit employees for makes a habit of burning those employees out and then tossing them for more new hires.

[Goosee]

Yeah, I noticed the people who went into consulting at my school always posting snapchats of them working well past dinner time and back in the office the following morning at 7 AM.

At least the recruiters you spoke with were upfront about expectations. Do you know if there was WLB as one got into a more senior role and climbed the corporate ladder there?

This past summer I did some contracting work, putting in 80+ hr work weeks, 7 days/week. Management figured I had nothing better to do cause of covid, so they just piled on work. I'm not complaining about the work, it molded me to be a better employee. I was also fairly compensated for my time. But my health was so bad. Blood pressure sky-rocketed, resting heart rate in the 80's as a mid 20's male. Eyes red when I woke up every day. Blurry long distance vision.

Now that I have balance between work/life, I am back to an excellent blood pressure & RHR. Eyes all fine again. I learned an extremely valuable lesson last summer to never forgo life & free-time.

edit: I don't have a problem working more than a 40 hr work week. In fact, my worldview believes it is necessary to work more than the average person. I found out I can stay healthy and happy by taking Friday nights and Saturdays off. I ideally try to work/learn 55-57 hours in a normal week.

[culopatin]

Are you in the US?

“They piled on work” > I’m not complaining Health was shit > But I have no problem working more than 40hs.

I hear this constantly in the US. Observing the overworked state one is in, but throwing a “no but I’m still good eh, don’t get me wrong” after to back pedal it a bit. Almost as if everyone was guilty, or if they had to show they are also as strong as the next guy working 60hs.

I work at a place where people feel like they will be fired if they work less than 50h/week when they are exempt even if they could finish the work in 36hs.

I notice this is embedded in the American work culture. Feeling sorry for not working more than the amount of time they are being paid for.

Working from home and going back to the computer after hours because idk.

I’m not sure if it’s not having anything else to do and getting anxious, hating the life at home, wanting to show they are “so exhausted”, pride, or what, but we need to start thinking differently if we want to be healthier together.

[smeyer]

>I sold all my intel stock the next day [late 2019], it made up most of my portfolio at the time.

Sorry if this is too off-topic, but why did it make up a sizable fraction of your portfolio in the first place?

[Goosee]

When I was young, my family made me put all of my christmas/birthday money into the stock market. Intel was suggested by an adult family member who did not have a tech background. That made up a majority of my portfolio. The rest of my portfolio was allocated to a stock I chose, Apple.

Reason for Apple: At my elementary school, everyone loved using the Power Mac G5's during computer lab. Every kid had/wanted an iPod or iTouch (and eventually iPhone).

[JacobSuperslav]

it's very risky to not diversify your stock portfolio.

[conro1108]

The scenario being discussed is a college student with a "portfolio" funded by birthday and Christmas presents.

It makes sense to be less risk averse in that situation than a mid-career software engineer with a family to support planning for retirement.

[thrwyoilarticle]

Plus trading fees would swallow a small principal

[astrange]

This is a common misconception. If the amount you invested is small enough that it doesn't matter, or that you can easily replace it, then the downside risk doesn't matter anyway.

If you wait long enough (and you should be investing for 10+ years from now) doing things that hurt growth doesn't risk you losing money, it guarantees it. And diversification hurts growth because of transaction costs.

Still, probably better to buy SPY.