News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on I Spent My Sabbatical Building a Power Meter for Sledgehammers.

Re:I Spent My Sabbatical Building a Power Meter for Sledgeha... by lagniappe on Tuesday April 28, 2026 @10:45AM (#47935366)
>After five years at Shopify, employees get a paid month off to do whatever the hell they want. I took mine in April 2026.

Bleak.. Only a month after five years.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I Spent My Sabbatical Building a Power Meter for Sledgeha... by NDlurker on Tuesday April 28, 2026 @11:22AM (#47935861)
I think it's a month in addition to whatever they already get. So that could be pretty good.

I've been with my employer for 12 years and get a total of 296hrs PTO per year. That's probably abnormal now that I think about it and one of the reasons I've stuck around so long. I don't think I've ever used up all my PTO in a year, usually cash out a week or 2 in December.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I Spent My Sabbatical Building a Power Meter for Sledgeha... by MattRix on Tuesday April 28, 2026 @11:22AM (#47935867)
Not sure why that’s bleak? It’s on top of the regular vacation days you get every year. I don’t know of any other company (at least not here in Canada!) that would give you an entire paid month off.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I Spent My Sabbatical Building a Power Meter for Sledgeha... by LanceH on Tuesday April 28, 2026 @12:56PM (#47937150)
It's "bleak" because some people enjoy making others feel worse about things they have no control over.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I Spent My Sabbatical Building a Power Meter for Sledgeha... by RyanOD on Tuesday April 28, 2026 @12:34PM (#47936775)
Not bleak for most people. I've never worked anywhere that offers an earned chunk of time off like that (besides standard PTO days).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I Spent My Sabbatical Building a Power Meter for Sledgeha... by gary_b on Tuesday April 28, 2026 @01:44PM (#47937851)
If by "most people" you mean "most Americans." That is pretty standard in Europe
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I Spent My Sabbatical Building a Power Meter for Sledgeha... by RyanOD on Wednesday April 29, 2026 @10:44AM (#47949163)
Fair point. I meant, "most people I know working in America".
[ Parent | on HN ]