Hacker News Reader

Comment by sarreph | Hacker News Reader

There's no real alternative offered here.

I understand there's a whole 'open' and 'small' world out there and I can learn lessons from my peers, but if I'm not supposed to be 'working hard for my boss' in the modern corporate world, what am I supposed to be doing to 'get there eventually'?

View on HN

If you work hard for your boss they laugh their way to the bank paying you the same flat salary and pocketing the profits of your labors.

To get there eventually (sadly?) you have to plan to get out from under others siphoning your productivity like that. Because the modern corporate culture has shifted to taking advantage of the best, rather than empowering them. Mostly because there is a surplus of (skilled) labor in most industries. If there wasn't, your boss would be treating you better because you are a scarce resource they don't want to lose because its either expensive or time consuming to replace.

And like the article says, "working hard" isn't invaluable.

This appears to be an older post, but I think what the original author meant was that hard work alone isn't a sufficient condition for success (I'd argue it is a necessary one, though).

The real answer is there probably isn't a sufficient condition for success, but hard work in pursuit of your own goals (rather a manager's) increases the likelihood of a positive outcome.

Still, I'd have gone a step further. 'Career' is such a false construction. Go do fun shit and get really good at it. Maybe I'm naively optimistic, but if you're really good at something, it's pretty easy to get paid (a lot) for it.

Hard work is not important, good results are. That's a very different thing.

I think hard work is a necessary precursor to good results. Although, that hard work may not be of the kind most people associate with office work of the past.

Fair point, hard work is not well-defined. I interpreted and meant it in the sense of throwing a lot of working hours at the problem. And I think this is not necessary for good results and may actually be counterproductive in some cases.

For my part, I think so is boredom.

That's non-responsive. We know what the deaired outputs are. The question is what are the necessary inputs.

In that case, "more and more hours" is often not a necessary input

Winning the lottery is a "good result", without a hard work.

Moving a pile of dirt from one place to another, every day, is hard work without a purpose.

Working hard (and smart) on problems you are passionate about gives you the best chance at succeeding.

And about impressing someone with your work, I have a rule - impress yourself. :)

In the article the author mentions that hard work is table stakes, meaning everyone is working hard but you need to do something different to actually get ahead and stand out among your other hard working peers.

"if you're really good at something, it's pretty easy to get paid (a lot) for it."

This is only true in technology and because of the current market in tech labor and skills (and powerful people are working hard to change that).

It's not true for the musician, or many other passions where the reward has to be the work itself because it's hard to make any kind of living at it.

Devoting energy solely to building a good impression with your boss is a high risk strategy when bosses and companies aren't very loyal. Building an outside reputation as well using work on open source f.i. hedges that risk and increases your negotiation power.

Work hard for your boss, but learn to, and intentionally practice communicating your work to a wider audience, so you are not tied to the fate of your boss or company. Speak at meetups, conferences, take an active role in mentoring, and develop meaningful relationships with peers in other companies so that when you want to move, its easy to do so.

Contributing or producing your own oss software too. Writing your thoughts and experiences in a blog our book too.

I think there is an alternative offered here, it's just rather buried in there, I had to read it a couple times to find. I think these to bits of advice are pretty good:

"Today, success requires a modern perspective on the industry and actively managing your skills and relationships."

"Your loyalty must lie with your own career in the industry where you've chosen to work."

The dog-eat-dog one-person band?

no, it's pretty clearly not about that.

It's about being a good co-worker, because that's what gets you ahead in the end.

In my view, to a considerable extent, the work environment created by following Welch's management methods, turned each of us into a dog-eat-dog one-person-band even within the mainstream organization.

learning, doing, telling people about it.

making friends, finding mentors, teaching others.

I think this is why open source is becoming the new programmer's resume. It is kind of the intersection of all those things.

None of this precludes working hard either, just for who and why you are doing it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com