Work


I've been working part-time for most of this year. 20 hours a week, 4 hours a day, half the pay. I just changed back to full time this week after one of my managers resigned and his responsibilities were distributed between the team.


Firstly: after some time of part time, I've come to realize that half time = half pay is mightily wrong. More is done on the first four hours of work than on the last. Let's be generous and say 60% on the first 4h, 40% on the later 4h. And yet you're seen like a bit of a slacker when someone calls or emails you after you've done your time and answer with "sorry, I just clocked out, I'll do it first thing tomorrow". I mean, you should be thankful I've even picked up the phone.


Secondly: I'm glad my boss' gone. He was awfully entrenched in his way of work, did things the same way he did when he started working more than 10 years ago. Said no by principle to any new way of work, tech stack or piece of infrastructure. He positioned himself in the middle of things so lots of things had to pass through him and was always dispersed too thin, blocking too much stuff for too many people. And then, he had very demanding technical standards on things that flowed _towards him_ but very, very lax on things that flowed _from him_. As in "solving" things too quickly without thinking about them for a bit, and leaving bad design, bad code and bad architecture for other people to deal with later, after he has claimed success on a task.


You could say I'm a bit angry but relieved. Upset and upbeat. I'll be doing harder work, doubling my hours for less than double the money. Taking up lots of half assed work and setting it right is not a bad proposition, but I'm not a 20yo starry eyed junior dev anymore. Bullshit is not something to take and make better, bullshit is something to be called out and when the culprit is gone, calling it out looks bad on you, not on the person who made it that way. So: interest times a-coming.


I just realized I wanted this gemlog to be about the things I read/watch/play and ended up talking about work. Fucking bullshit, I tell you.



/gemlog/