by make_it_sure on 5/26/22, 1:59 AM with 78 comments
Lots of dev forums talk about this and encourage others do the same, even juniors, just to earn more because their 2 hours or work is better than 8 hours of their colleagues from western countries.
I don't want to judge the morality of doing this, but is this that spread only in this part of the world since the pandemic or everywhere?
by soared on 5/26/22, 3:22 AM
I work for a company's whose headquarters is in Poland and we rely on eastern europeans for a fair amount of work. For context on this statement, we (americans) all believe our 2 hours of work is equivalent to their 8 hours of work.
To massively oversimplify, eastern europeans believe american corporate speak and many meetings are a huge waste of time and inefficicent communication. Americans believe eastern europeans miss critical context that leads to work which needs to be redone because its incorrect.
by scyzoryk_xyz on 5/26/22, 6:35 AM
Reminds me of my Polish high school. Not only were people cheating and open about it between each other, teachers were encouraging that if you don’t get caught then it’s not a problem.
It’s a feature of our culture that at the end of the day tires everyone out because you have to be on a constant look out for fuck ups.
by smt88 on 5/26/22, 2:34 AM
This is unfortunately also pushing me toward daily standups, which I have also avoided my entire career so far.
It is unethical, certainly. But it also hurts the honest people who don't do it.
by moneywoes on 5/26/22, 2:50 AM
by mhitza on 5/26/22, 8:15 AM
I find it hard to believe, but I'm also far detached from large corps nowadays to know what kind of shenanigans can be passed by them.
I still very much doubt all of your claims, without some proof. As an Eastern European developer with a sizable network of peers, first time I'm hearing of this as "common practice"
by seattle_spring on 5/26/22, 4:40 AM
by xupybd on 5/26/22, 3:38 AM
I'm interested in what's behind the claim that 2 hours work in country y is better than 8 in country x?
by loxias on 5/26/22, 2:59 AM
Though, in my own personal experience, I've observed the exact opposite as you with regards to geography :)
I'm from the USA, and am "one of those" who's been writing software their whole life (though I only entered the market around 2001).
Over the past 10 years I've had multiple contracts where I billed my client 40hrs a week, though the work only took me perhaps an hour a day, if that. Client's extremely happy, because in his words, my hour of work is more useful than 8 hours of work from a 4 person team from India or China.
My guess, knowing nothing about how it's done over there, is that labor costs must be so inexpensive that you can assign 30 people to a 1 person job, and hope that something works? But I'll always be curious.
Regarding morality, I don't see how it comes into play! Be honest, be ethical. But your money source is just that -- a money source.
Do you think your employer would feel bad about hiring someone similar to you at the same time, so that after a year, they could fire the lower performing one? They wouldn't feel bad at all. At some businesses, this is an established procedure!
OP: Don't Feel Bad about working multiple jobs at once. It's not a marriage or a intimate relationship. There's no expectation of exclusivity. As long as you can do well at all your jobs at once, more power to you.
Put differently, I think active deception would be immoral. I can't believe it but I heard a story recently about foreign workers taking advantage of remote work/pandemic by running a "bait and switch". One person applies, gets the job, then someone different (and unqualified) actually shows up. _That's_ unethical.
by hansor on 5/26/22, 9:04 AM
I'm from central Europe as well.
You live in bubble. That's it.
by ipaddr on 5/26/22, 2:06 AM
by barrysteve on 5/26/22, 6:33 AM
Over subscribing works until it doesn't. Some people are going to get caught out when one job eats their whole day or management wants to cut staff.
by jusssi on 5/26/22, 7:07 AM
Also, thank you for this. Now I know why out-of-country contractors have such a variable rate of output.
Imagine an /s here if you feel it's appropriate, I can't decide.
by mouzogu on 5/26/22, 7:42 AM
I would love something where I can work 2-3 months then take 1 month off. We were asked to go back into the office and my first day I felt extremely depressed - I never felt like this before and I'm worried about what will happen.
by haik90 on 5/26/22, 6:04 AM
I mean the real works, for example 4 different people from different company asking for 4 different solution it’ll take some times to process
How big is contract works over there, in my place I never heard someone take more than 2 jobs 1 fulltime 1 freelance
by hoseja on 5/26/22, 7:03 AM
by durnygbur on 5/26/22, 8:42 AM
by cosmodisk on 5/26/22, 6:03 PM