Ask HN: How many of you feel underemployed? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How many of you feel underemployed?

2 pointslollinghard4 comments

Looking at unemployment numbers, things seem to be not too bad. Whereas when I talk to people it seems like the emerging issue is underemployment rather than unemployment.

More people are taking up roles that are not utilising their full potential. Satisfaction level with salaries seems to be going down. A lot seems to depend on how well you present yourself and how confidently you can lie about your skillset.

Being from Australia, I was wondering if this is something happening across the globe or are we special?

View on HN

The conjugate issue of "the war for talent" is what happens to the talent when they get hired.

Until I got into my 40's I had no sympathy for anyone who felt their "work was meaningless".

Then I thought things through and realized my main bitch was working on projects that were doomed to fail by management, that wasted huge amounts of effort, etc.

For instance there was the project that got delayed by 6 months of "side projects" directed by management, maybe 1/3 of that was a project to develop a successful one-off system for a delightful customer to work with (really) and the other 2/3 was an ill-begotten project that got no revenue and ended up in a dispute with partners (mgt thought about filing a provisional patent application but couldn't scape up the $300.)

Then they want to bitch me about about the main project being 6 months late and I could show exactly where those 6 months went...

I think I've felt under-employed at every job I've ever held in my life. Since I feel like I can build and run a company, any job less than CEO is under-employment to me. But since I'm too much of a maverick and iconoclast to play the political games and shit required to "advance up the ranks", I'll never become CEO of an existing company.

That is one big reason I founded Fogbeam Labs. I mean, here are other reasons; but one thing that appeals to me about starting a company is to have the opportunity to be The Person calling the shots. With this, I get to decide pretty much everything: tech decisions, marketing, pricing, sales, strategy, the whole kit and caboodle. If we fail, then I will bear the responsibility, but that's OK. At least, if that happens, I'll know there isn't anybody else to blame.

If you are getting paid the same salary and aren't being 'fully utilized', this isn't 'underemployment'.

Underemployment is when you aren't working full-time and/or your employer isn't giving you enough hours.

I understand that "underemployment" is traditionally seen linked with the hours that you work but I feel that it is too simplistic to leave it at that. If a senior developer ends up working full-time at McDonanld's Or a manager level person ends up in a junior dev position, how is that not underemployment? Is there any other term for it? Are there are any stats around it?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com