Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by pc86 4898 days ago
If I had to pick one thing I dislike about HN, this is it.

Not everybody works for a startup, and not everybody works in San Francisco. The majority of programmers work in 9-5 office jobs where if you left every day at 4 PM you'd be fired as soon as your supervisor(s) caught on. It doesn't mean you're working outside of IT (although that's likely) and it sure as hell doesn't mean you're working in an old fashioned company.

Do you think any bank, healthcare provider, or BigCo business lets the programmers come in whenever they want and leave whenever their work is "done?"
2 comments
chris_mahan 4898 days ago
They are very good about making sure there's always more work for you to do.

I work as a coder in a business unit at Bank of America. What you say is true, to some extent.

If I need to take off for the day at 1 pm I just tell my boss I've got to go take care of some personal stuff and he's completely ok with that, since he knows I get my work done.

link
pc86 4898 days ago
We're both lucky then in terms of programmers in BigCos. I'm a developer in a non-IT Fortune 1k company and it's very much the same here (honestly I didn't expect BOA would be that good to you). Truthfully, if I had to leave at 1 PM I'd probably have to take a half day of vacation, but 3-4 PM? Hasn't been a problem the few times I've asked.

3-4 PM every day? "Get out of my office."

link
chris_mahan 4898 days ago
Well, I don't make a habit of it. Yesterday I remoted from home until 11 am, then I took the wife and sick kid to doctor and that ate the afternoon.

It helps to have bosses with small kids.

link
moe 4898 days ago
Not everybody works for a startup, and not everybody works in San Francisco.

Which I didn't suggest, I think?

Do you think any bank, healthcare provider, or BigCo business lets the programmers come in whenever they want and leave whenever their work is "done?"

No, that's why I qualified my comment with "In modern IT-companies".

Sorry, do you also disagree with something that I actually wrote? ;)

link
pc86 4898 days ago
> Which I didn't suggest, I think?

I didn't mean to suggest you said everybody works for a startup or in SF, but the tone of the post was such that I felt you were implying most (or even a large minority) of programmers do.

> No, that's why I qualified my comment with "In modern IT-companies".

Upon rereading it a few times, it's likely I misunderstood the tone of your comment, but I took it to mean essentially "this is how it is for the majority of programmers[, and if it's any other way that's ridiculous and there's no reason for it]." I have lived and worked my entire life on the east coast of the US. Because I'm not in NYC which is probably the closest the SF this side of Austin, the odds of me getting a job where I'm not required to be in my chair from 8 AM to 5 PM is slim to none. I think even across the US that sort of freedom only applies to a very slim (and very lucky) minority.

link