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Re:Hiring only senior engineers is killing companies by pyuser583 on Tuesday September 30, 2025 @03:41PM (#45430262)
> some young people are so hopelessly immersed in the alternate reality that they see in social media that it's hard to shake them free.

One of my favorite staff/principal engineers always begins Monday's by asking people what they did on the weekend. He always talks about the things he did - farmers market, local parade, etc.

It's shocking to many of the junior engineers. They generally do "nothing".

Re:Hiring only senior engineers is killing companies by LtWorf on Tuesday September 30, 2025 @03:49PM (#45430368)
They just don't want to tell you because they don't think it's your business.
Re:Hiring only senior engineers is killing companies by lexarflash8g on Wednesday October 01, 2025 @04:42PM (#45443229)
Anyone who thinks their boss/coworkers are their friend is surely deluded. There is no loyalty in this day and age-- both from the employer and employee side.

Even asking "how was your weekend?" -- its implied that you just say good rather than sharing details of what you actually did -- they don't really care.

Re:Hiring only senior engineers is killing companies by pyuser583 on Wednesday October 01, 2025 @06:24PM (#45444297)
Even if you want the most cynical approach - networking is an essential aspect of career development. If you stick to just "job description during work hours" you won't get far.

Building a cohesive team involves sharing interactions like this. If you truly value your privacy, I suggest you come up with an alternative thing to discuss: sports, weather, funny stories, etc.

I've certainly had weekends where I very much did not want to share what i did, so I deflected in a way that kept the conversation going.

If HR is asking about where you were at 3:15pm on Saturday, and who you were with, and whether you were using work resources at that time, I would start to worry. But a very large and generic, "so what did you do this weekend" - where you are in the driver's seat, that's not the same thing.

When I look back at previous jobs, my strongest regrets are not building stronger interpersonal relationships with my coworkers. I've since rectified that.

Think of it this way, if you must: coworker relationships are owned by the company - personal relationships are owned by the employees. When you become friends with a coworker, you acquire an asset that will go with you when you leave the company. Much like a new skill, this asset will allow you to get higher pay somewhere else.