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by anal_reactor 150 days ago
I've realized that climbing the corporate ladder doesn't make any sense. You put more effort, you take responsibility for stupid people's decisions, and then you get a disproportionately small reward. The smartest move is to find a bottom-tier position where they pay you enough to sustain your desired lifestyle, but where you cannot really be blamed for failures of the management.
2 comments
sph 150 days ago
Relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_principle

> You put more effort, you take responsibility for stupid people's decisions, and then you get a disproportionately small reward

On that I disagree. Managers might have to take responsibility for bad decisions, sure, but get a disproportionately larger reward than those under them. It's certainly less stressful at the bottom of the ladder, but don't expect to get much praise or monetary reward, and you're the first to go as soon as something goes wrong. There's a reason why late-stage companies are full of middle managers, and few people actually doing the work.

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anal_reactor 150 days ago
> don't expect to get much praise or monetary reward

Yeah so I figured out that if I have a bullshit busyjob for €100k and my option is to actually start working my ass off and maybe double the salary in absolute best-case scenario, then fuck that. But I admit that my position might be exceptional.

> and you're the first to go as soon as something goes wrong.

I live in Europe so I assume I'd survive even a big fuckup as long as I'm following my manager's orders, even if HQ is American. Also, when there are bigger layoffs, they specifically by law must let go in the order of new hires to old hires, which means that I'm not in immediate danger even if they cut workforce.

The biggest danger is someone discovering that I mostly play video games at work and then giving me lots of useless tasks just to keep me occupied.

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raw_anon_1111 150 days ago
It still makes little sense to be a line level manager. You can make just as much as a senior+ IC at the right company.
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pjmlp 150 days ago
My kind of approach as well. I don't care it shown as not being career oriented, as long as there are options to work elsewhere, even if outside IT.
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