Versatile software engineer with a background in .NET consulting and CMS development. Working on regaining my embedded development skills to get more involved with IoT opportunities.
It sounds nice in practice, but companies will hold it against you for following your legal boundaries. At my last job, we had a project that was a total failure - we didn't have the budget we needed, the salesperson had had made all sorts of promises (his commission should have been used to fix our budget imo), and most team members were totally ineffective. The project's manager micromanaged more frequently when he got stressed out, so he wasted probably a day a week with all his BS.
I got asked to save the project before a demo. Over the course of 4 days, I worked 70 hours. I was going to get the standard $50/hour the company offered for billable overtime, so I was happy to make a ton of money because I really needed it right then and there. But it had to be off the books so the client wasn't billed...I had to enter a plain 40 on my timesheet and I kept a separate timesheet with the department VP.
The BS continued. I wasn't allowed to take a day off to recover because the manager promised all bugs from the demo would be fixed in 24 hours. I knew I was unable to make any progress, that I was damaging the codebase everytime I touched it, that I couldn't even remember what I was trying to work on when he would grill me for estimates. I grabbed my backpack and left and told him to call my boss if it was a problem. The next morning I already had several e-mails demanding status updates in my phone, so I drafted up a quick letter of resignation and went back to sleep.
I don't feel bad about quitting at all. I live in a right to work state so I can terminate employment at any time. It was during my 90-day probation period so I didn't feel ad about quitting instantly. They did it to themselves. Someone screwed up big time promising deliverables but management was determined to deflect that onto someone else or make it succeed at any cost.
I didn't get any overtime. I made sure I kept a copy of the off-the-books hours just in case. I technically should have earned around $3000 of overtime. I could really use the money so I'm conflicted if I should try to collect it, but that's another story. If I refused to work all those hours, it would have been my fault for the failure of the project because the manager was willing to throw me under the bus to save himself.
If I wanted to get raises or promotions, I had to say yes to insane hours. I feel terrible for the people at that company who are on a visa because I can't imagine how terrifying and stressful it must be when they hold your visa over your head to get you to work 80 hours a week. Some companies value profit far more than human life or dignity.
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It sounds nice in practice, but companies will hold it against you for following your legal boundaries. At my last job, we had a project that was a total failure - we didn't have the budget we needed, the salesperson had had made all sorts of promises (his commission should have been used to fix our budget imo), and most team members were totally ineffective. The project's manager micromanaged more frequently when he got stressed out, so he wasted probably a day a week with all his BS.
I got asked to save the project before a demo. Over the course of 4 days, I worked 70 hours. I was going to get the standard $50/hour the company offered for billable overtime, so I was happy to make a ton of money because I really needed it right then and there. But it had to be off the books so the client wasn't billed...I had to enter a plain 40 on my timesheet and I kept a separate timesheet with the department VP.
The BS continued. I wasn't allowed to take a day off to recover because the manager promised all bugs from the demo would be fixed in 24 hours. I knew I was unable to make any progress, that I was damaging the codebase everytime I touched it, that I couldn't even remember what I was trying to work on when he would grill me for estimates. I grabbed my backpack and left and told him to call my boss if it was a problem. The next morning I already had several e-mails demanding status updates in my phone, so I drafted up a quick letter of resignation and went back to sleep.
I don't feel bad about quitting at all. I live in a right to work state so I can terminate employment at any time. It was during my 90-day probation period so I didn't feel ad about quitting instantly. They did it to themselves. Someone screwed up big time promising deliverables but management was determined to deflect that onto someone else or make it succeed at any cost.
I didn't get any overtime. I made sure I kept a copy of the off-the-books hours just in case. I technically should have earned around $3000 of overtime. I could really use the money so I'm conflicted if I should try to collect it, but that's another story. If I refused to work all those hours, it would have been my fault for the failure of the project because the manager was willing to throw me under the bus to save himself.
If I wanted to get raises or promotions, I had to say yes to insane hours. I feel terrible for the people at that company who are on a visa because I can't imagine how terrifying and stressful it must be when they hold your visa over your head to get you to work 80 hours a week. Some companies value profit far more than human life or dignity.