Episode 418: Should I "rest and vest" and how do I avoid 3-hour agile meetings?
Jul 22, 2024
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The podcast discusses the dilemma of staying in a company for financial stability despite low morale, the concept of 'rest and vest' in software engineering careers, and tips for setting boundaries as a new lead engineer. It also explores the challenges of dealing with exhaustive agile meetings during lunch breaks and strategies for optimizing remote work meetings.
Balancing financial stability with workplace fulfillment is a common dilemma in the tech industry.
Setting boundaries as a new lead engineer to address excessive Agile meetings without disrupting company culture is crucial.
Deep dives
Deciding to Leave a Company
When faced with repeated layoffs, high promotion bar, and low morale due to stressful conditions, a senior software engineer considers leaving their company. Despite feeling financially tied due to stock options, the desire to move on due to poor company environment is strong. The decision to stay for financial stability or seek fulfillment elsewhere presents a common dilemma in the tech industry.
Navigating Meeting Efficiency and Workplace Culture
A new lead engineer is faced with lengthy Agile meetings infringing on their lunch break. Addressing the excessive meeting duration without disrupting company culture poses a challenge. Suggestions to increase meeting efficiency and potentially shift meeting times are made to reclaim lunch breaks while maintaining team productivity.
Balancing Fulfillment and Financial Stability
Balancing financial stability with workplace fulfillment is a personal journey for professionals. The discussion delves into how individuals assign value to their work environment, both financially and emotionally. Evaluating the trade-off between financial incentives and workplace satisfaction is highlighted as a critical aspect of career decision-making.
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:
I work as a Senior Software Engineer for a subsidiary owned by a mega corp. I am approaching 6 years at the company. In the last few years the company has had significant layoffs and I have been moved to a team by force with a new leadership chain and engineers I haven’t really worked with.
Even though I was disgruntled when this happened, I gave this new team a chance. I have been successful in driving change within my engineering boundaries but I just don’t agree with many decisions made my leadership. I have concluded this team and company are no longer for me and I want to move on.
Repeated layoffs, high bar for promotions, high stress( due to less people), no raises/bonuses have lead to fairly low morale across the org. Unfortunately, or fortunately the public stock price has gone up and many people are just resting and vesting. Even though I really want to leave it would be financially irresponsible. Are situations like this common in a software engineers careers? I am having trouble “resting”. Any advice on how to deal with the urge to perform yet you know it’s a bad decision?
My lunch break is sacred, how can I set boundaries as a new lead engineer joining a new company? I’ve discovered the agile process they use is far too exhaustive when compared with the size of the company. They have 3 hour meetings covering the whole lunch window (11:30-14:30) for backlog and sprint review on two consecutive days?! To me this is totally mad, however people seem to have just accepted it. How do I tell them I am not accepting this without rejecting their culture?
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