Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by mooreds on Saturday December 30, 2023 @03:33PM
(#38818822)
Have been in this situation before. Sounds like fun, actually melts your brain.
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I know someone who has been in this situation for _years_. But his true passion is an outside of work outdoors hobby, which is where he spends about 38 of his work hours each week.
Wow, I guess that is good for him. What would he do if he needed to find a new job?
Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by irrational on Saturday December 30, 2023 @06:00PM
(#38820140)
Go get a new job. You don’t have to tell prospective employers how much time you spent a week doing stuff for your previous company. They will just see that you worked for company X for years Y and that will probably be good enough.
I guess? If I were in his position and worked in technology (he doesn't, see sibling comment), I'd be worried about skill degradation.
I've never been hired because of my resume, though that definitely helps with an interview. There was always a skills test.
I suppose you could grind leetcode or otherwise cram for a skills test, though. You definitely have enough time during the week.
He doesn't work in technology, so he'd just go find another job and go back to working like everyone else.
Sounds like this wouldn't fly at amazon, where they would be just happy to have grounds to actually fire you.
Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by ActorNightly on Sunday December 31, 2023 @09:10PM
(#38829202)
Depends on what you do with the hours you actually work, as well as your previous history. There is a whole meta associated with this, but basically if you establish yourself as the person that people message first to get answers to questions, especially outside of your team, there is a very low chance you are getting fired.
What meta? I’m not familiar, do you have more context or a link?
Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by ActorNightly on Tuesday January 02, 2024 @03:10PM
(#38846493)
There isn't a set guide to this. The idea is that you want people to view you as a loss in teams ability to get things done if you were ever to leave, but not in the sense of raw hours worked but the knowledge and decision making process.
https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes/
What we're talking about is a sort if hybrid between a Tech Lead and Architect, but not quite like either. You have less direct responsibility, but people come to you independently with questions and review requests, because you can quickly generate detailed and accurate answers.
Worst job I've ever had was one where I had nothing to do and yet I was forced to go to the office every day.
Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by irrational on Saturday December 30, 2023 @05:58PM
(#38820121)
How does it melt your brain. I can think of about 20 things I could be working in instead of writing code for my company. You want to pay me, but not give me work? Great, I’ll pick from my list of things and do that instead. Even if I’m not creating something, I can learn new things by reading books or watching tutorials.
Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by refulgentis on Saturday December 30, 2023 @08:33PM
(#38821005)
A lot of the commenters are missing it: it's not that you have _nothing to do_: it's that you're being told to find a job ASAP, in the next 8-12 weeks. It's very easy to say "the first thing I'd do is take a 2 week vacation", but, the expectation is you're finding a position ASAP -- and there are none. So you need to start practicing your Leetcode for our absurd interview process as an industry. The last thing you're thinking is "I should pump out some graphics shaders and get permission to open source them!"
Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by irrational on Sunday December 31, 2023 @04:05AM
(#38822749)
Or, don’t try to get a job at a FAANG company. I work for a Fortune 100 company and we never do anything like leetcode stuff in our interviews.
Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by refulgentis on Sunday December 31, 2023 @10:27AM
(#38824657)
Thank you, sounds silly, but I had lost perspective and thought BigCo always would do this.
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Re:Amazon's Silent Sacking
by Throwawayh89 on Sunday December 31, 2023 @08:37PM
(#38829070)
I my experience, you aren't actually doing nothing and having nothing asked of you.
You are more likely tasked with things that require spinning your wheels. Boring, pointless, and directionless work that doesn't challenge you. It just melts your brain.