Silicon Valley Zeitgeist

[cjsmith]

My friend Joe made a great journal entry here about the Silicon Valley Zeitgeist and the malaise that grips even those of us who have secure jobs during a downturn.

I've been through two, but this is the first one that's really kicked my butt. Financially, I'm feeling the pinch. My company believes in noncompetitive salaries and lots of stock; said stock is down 85%. But I don't think the financial picture is the biggest part of my malaise.

I'm seeing how enormous and pervasive are the effects of luck. I see it in who got laid off in my office -- not that the choice wasn't inevitable when the time came, but that it was all timing, and that if the ax had fallen earlier or later it would have been different people. I see it in who doesn't ever need to work again: I have two friends who got big buckets of stock from the same company near the top of the bubble, and one got his certificate from the transfer agent noticeably earlier than the other did, so he doesn't ever need to work again and the other guy might maybe buy a car with his stock some day. I have friends who worked very hard for the wrong companies, or for the right companies at the wrong time. I could go on. Most of us could, I suspect.

Luck.

We don't like to think about luck having such a big effect. Successful people would prefer to credit their success to hard work, intelligence, or persistence. Our culture tends to say that people with those qualities are "good people" and they "deserve" success. We wouldn't put the word "luck" in the same sentence with "deserve". On the flip side, I'm sure not-so-successful people would like to think that if they just keep working hard, they'll get a commensurate reward. It's better than hopeless fatalism, right?

And, to be fair, success is definitely influenced by hard work, intelligence, gumption, and a whole host of other qualities. But luck seems to outvote them all. It's almost taboo to mention it, but that doesn't change the situation.

So that's a big part of my malaise.

There's also some survivor guilt in there, I'm sure. And there's some anger at the revisionist history I see going on in my office: the people who got laid off are being talked about as if they were really poor performers, and I know in some cases that's just not true. Perhaps the people who stayed are trying to feel good about having escaped the cuts. Whatever the motivation, it still bothers me.

But the big part is me whining, yet again, as I have been whining since I was little: LIFE SHOULD BE FAIR!

Comments

*nod*

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Simple certificate timing (and a mailing mistake) from that same company cost us a *lot* of money. We dealt emotionally by saying it was Monopoly money until it was cash, and avoiding thinking of it as an amount.

And now, we just hope my boy's new employer remains afloat, as only one of us *can* work.

Mary

Re: *nod*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

We dealt emotionally by saying it was Monopoly money until it was cash, and avoiding thinking of it as an amount.

Not much else you can do, eh? Keep the best outlook you can, for your own sanity, because otherwise you'd go mad? Same here. I have deliberately never figured out how much money I woulda coulda had if my transfer agent had gotten off his butt.

And now, we just hope my boy's new employer remains afloat, as only one of us *can* work.

Yeah. (Now there's another place luck plays a big role in our lives: health.) I hope his company stays strong and it all works out well. And good luck with the new medication...

I'd trade...

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

...your problems for mine. But then again, I wouldn't, because I wouldn't wish my problems on anyone, especially such fine people as the two of you.

As a contractor, I always looked at the stock as monopoly money. I wasn't going to get it, and my opinion was better to get paid the money upfront I *know* I will get than gamble that an IPO will pay off. The bad side? No paid health insurance, and no severance pay.

People actually felt sorry for me, and said, "I'm sure we could get you on board permanently...you're good at what you do, and people like you". I got offers...I turned them down. But they didn't understand...I could be a contractor indefinitely as long as there is work to do and money coming in. I never thought I could really get filthy rich. I wanted to pay my student loans.

One company I worked at had an abusive CEO who tried to convince all employees they were going to be millionaires, and worked them overtime and weekends every week. It got so bad that as a contractor, I left even though I was earning well over $100. an hour when I worked over 12 hour days (this before the OT laws changed last September). Just 2 months ago, they got bad press. They're still around, but I'm sure they had to lay people off who never got to see their millions.

So I am not working full-time now. I turned down my last offer to do so at the place I was working. Did I make a mistake? Turns out it hardly matters...if I had taken the permanent job, it would have meant I was out of work for 2 months less than I currently am because they laid off the web team 2 months after my contract ended.

Re: I'd trade...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The bad side? No paid health insurance, and no severance pay.

And no paid vacation, and quarterly tax filings. But all in all, the bad side of being a contractor isn't all that bad... or wasn't for me for the ten years I did it. This is my first "real job", and all in all, I think I prefer contracting.

People actually felt sorry for me,

I've never figured this out. I felt, while contracting, that it was a very fair way to earn a wage. I get paid for an hour I work. I don't work, I don't get paid. I work extra, I get paid extra. My compensation doesn't include fringe benefits that are useless to me but still cost the company money, like dental insurance for my nonexistent child.

Even now, I think I was treated more... honestly somehow... than in salaried work, where the employee is somehow supposed to have "loyalty" and (because of this) attend more "all"-hands meetings and work more hours than are reflected on the paystub. I am exactly as likely to be a corporate spy when I'm 1099 as when I'm W-2, which is nil, I find it just as difficult a decision to quit a contract job as to quit a salaried position, and I don't see why more people don't resent the presumption of a corporate culture that writes 40hrs a week into its paperwork but snubs people who do less than fifty.

It got so bad that as a contractor, I left even though I was earning well over $100. an hour when I worked over 12 hour days

BTDT. My indicator is when I don't have enough free time to invoice. If I can't invoice for six months, there's something seriously wrong. Why it took me so long to realize this the last time it happened is, well, ahem, um, er, no one accused me of having a surfeit of common sense. :-)