JimboOmega

The best start I could get was to build the one at the diner on Geary and Masonic (very easy way to get the permit for the first goal) and then build Treasure Island (is there another pre-approved?) - that one you can get the first phase in before any crash, and sell - which gets you through a lot the reviews.

I can't make any other megas besides mission rock pencil. How did you do that?

I mostly started cranking out 100% affordable during the early 2020s... probably should have hired more teams since that seems to be the limit, especially towards the end.

What's your "build order"? I can usually get permits for something, but struggle getting the 40 units started by the second one (if I do get permits, it doesn't pencil).

One thing AI should eliminate is the "proof of work" reports. Sometimes the long report is not meant to be read, but used as proof somebody has thoroughly thought through various things (captured by, for instance, required sections).

When AI is doing that, it loses all value as a proof of work (just as it does for a school report).

My AI writes for your AI to read is low value. But there is probably still some value in "My AI takes these notes and makes them into a concise readable doc".

Has there been any progress or effort on solving the underlying problem?

I'm not entirely sure why AI knowledge must be close to a year old, and clearly this is a problem developers are aware of.

Is there are a technical reason they can't be, for instance, a month behind rather than close to a year?

I've always wondered why we don't make student loans similar to other loans; IE, dischargeable in bankruptcy, and thus force lenders to evaluate credit risk when making them. That would mean less loans are issued and schools must cut costs and borrowers must pick more economically advantageous programs.

"We will pay for it, but it's a loan so not really" is a fallacy. If we decide that education is an all around good thing so we want to subsidize it, great, but let's just do that directly.

SoFi offers 4.00%, and vanguards prime MMFA is 4.64%

64 basis points isn't nothing, but I think that qualifies at close - and I didn't go digging, those were just the first two that came to mind.

There are many situations, especially as a middle manager, where you are incentivized to play organizational games more than actually deliver.

We (I'm a middle manager myself) Aren't stupid, so we will.

More headcount and influence means more (at least potential) business impact, and often promotions. If the organization encourages us to fight with other managers to get more of that, that's what we'll do instead of running our organizations better.

This is a really good article on the subject. I like the 6 factor model.

It's really easy to see hours as the only real problem. But they really aren't. Another article I read talked about how people who are constantly ruminating about work but work about 40 hours are at a higher risk for health impacts than those working many more.

I know this personally; I'm currently on a leave of absence because I burned out. And no amount of 'boundaries' around work kept it out of my thoughts all the time.

It really was about the other factors in the six factor model. Values drifting. Loss of control. Worsening relationship with my lead and no real peers to work with.

It would have been very different, even with more work, if I felt like I was part of a team trying to solve problems, rather than trying to put out the latest needless fire my boss created.

Yeah, in 1918 the sort of car centric sprawl that is ubiquitous now would be unheard of. It's doubtful that removing school would have removed social interaction the same way it does now.

Especially when the alternative is social media.

It smells like privilege.

That isn't to say that the OP was protected regardless. But the mindset that lets you do this is a mindset that comes from a background of abundance. Where you can always get another job if you want one, where you always have friends or parents who will bail you out or give you what you need.

A background where things just always seem to work out.

Figure out what motivates you and what drains you. Do you feel drowsy every day regardless of what's going on, whether it's a work day or the weekend?

Do specific things or tasks take energy from you? It might be that meetings sap your energy. Or, if you're extroverted, meetings might give you energy.

Sometimes it's bigger things - like a job that's just not interesting any more. Can you shake it up with different tasks and challenges?

Or maybe it's burnout, which can manifest as constant fatigue. Maybe you need a break. Maybe that break is a small one during a hectic day, or maybe you need a break from your current life situation to recharge.

Physical health absolutely matters, but don't forget the mental aspects. If you just aren't finding your current situation stimulating, that might be a signal about the situation, not just your body.

I can't speak to being a CEO - I'm just a middle manager - but a lot of this, especially the loneliness, resonated with me.

Did I choose management? Yes. Do I have a choice to stop? Also, yes. Do I make enough money either way to have a nice apartment and no real material concerns? That too.

But I'm definitely stressed and lonely. I'm really not sure if this is what's best for my mental health. From the article him and I aren't the only ones with that feeling. My boss, too, has talked about feeling exhausted; when we have events for leads, it feels like we're even more burned out than the rank-and-file.

Lonely is easy to explain. The more you move up, the fewer peers you have. The fewer people you have to look up to and emulate. The more "on your own" you are, expected to operate independently and direct more folks. There's less of a playbook. More acting by intuition. More people looking up at, depending on, and often resenting you. Your relationships with communities of coworkers changes. When they're upset, rather than joining in on the griping and feeling camaraderie you feel either vaguely responsible or unaware of what's really been going on. Whatever it is not just a thing to bitch and moan about - you're responsible.

The stress comes from the same place - feeling a sense of responsibility for all the people in your org, for the company, all of it. It's a much bigger scope than your IC responsibility. It's hard to let go of, to accept that you might not pick the right 2 or 3 of 100 things to focus on, and when you do, there are real consequences for real people. With that kind of scope you're making a lot more mistakes just because there's so much more surface area. Those mistakes matter, too! Hire the wrong person, ignore a team that needs your attention? These are big painful mistakes. People might quit, their careers might languish, an asshole might make people miserable, customers might have a bad day(/month/quarter/etc), etc.

You have to accept a lot of failure in this very difficult job with a huge scope and no real rules or guidance, but that's hard when you're a competitive, success-oriented person.

"But you can quit!" is a valid argument. One the article addresses - it says it takes years to set up for a CEO. For me, it's shorter, but I still feel like it's something that you can't just hire an eager replacement for - for a bunch of reasons. Pick the wrong person, and again, lots of consequences to people you care about.

Somebody in leadership did quit without notice recently - and I saw all their reports bump up to their lead, who was already way stretched thin. Those people won't have real support for a long time. Their new lead is really stretching himself very thin. I hope the person who quit is able to find peace in it (genuinely, I don't think they wouldn't have done it if they felt there were alternatives). But I know I wouldn't be able to.

Sometimes I wonder if there would be an equivalent to a Dwarf Fortress tantrum spiral. Somebody quits, their team flows up, that person then snaps, etc, until half the company is reporting to a handful of people. (and imagine how responsible the CEO would feel if that happens?)

Also - COVID has made all of this worse.

Can't upvote this enough.

I think the origin of "Staff, Senior Staff, Principal" came from an attempt to create an IC track. You've been around a while, and you can execute stuff well on your own, where does your career go from there besides manager?

The fact that the assumption was manager is why we have a lot of these problems, tbh. I hate managers who hate managing but that's a separate discussion.

Also funnily enough I was just having a discussion how my company's career ladder explicitly says (in bold!) that promotion is not a reward. If it's not, what is it? What is the reward for hard work and growth, if it isn't that?

Ultimately what I see underlying this article and many like it is an assumption that, at least at an "enlightened" company, politics don't matter. If a company prioritizes low-impact high visibility, that's a stupid company... Yet I've never seen a company free of politics. There will never be a company where your personal assessment of impact of your work matters more than your boss's or their boss's.

We also can't pretend like the amount of work at any given level matches the number of engineers at that level (or who want to be at that level). It just never will. So there will be jockeying for position.

You shouldn't be playing politics all day (a trap I sometimes fall in) but you can't ignore it either. Politics often means justifying your work up the chain, being aware of priorities of those above you etc - it's not just kissing up. Ignore it at your peril.

Me, my friends, coworkers, etc, are all broadly on the same side of this political situation. I do feel bad the things that are happening.

However, there are many people who I can't talk to without them insisting I donate more, I call all my representatives, etc., etc. etc.

It makes sense when I think about it. We all want to feel like we can actually do something when we feel so powerless. I have tried hard at work, they pick politics. We need something to do.

But I don't need to be reminded how terrible the latest event is; I want to get away from the news cycle, not lose myself in doomscrolling.