Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post

KaVir · 02-05-2003, 07:06 AM

They also pay me to work a specified number of hours each week. Working weekends and pulling all-nighters is not part of my job description, but I still do them when the need arises - even though I don't get paid overtime. It's called "give and take". I typically get into work between half an hour and an hour late (unless I have an early meeting) and surf the net from time to time (perhaps just to give my mind a break, or maybe to wait for a compile to finish), but I also work more hours than are required. The company knows that the employees surf the net, and doesn't mind as long as we are reasonable about it and get the job done. My previously company had the same attitude as well.

I don't know what your job is, but in my line of work you cannot just sit down and mindlessly hammer at a keyboard all day. It requires careful thinking and puzzle solving, and that's not something you can just keep doing all day without taking a break every so often to clear your head.

Once again, it's never been considered a problem at the places I've worked, as long as we're sensible about it. In fact, as my current job involves developing software for mobile phones, we're specifically told that we can use our company mobiles to make personal calls (although once again we're supposed to be responsible about it - for example, we should go easy on international calls).

If I were paying you an hourly wage and you spent 1.5 hours doing it, then spend half an hour surfing the net, but only charged me for one hour, I would call it a bargain. If I then demanded that you stopped serfing the net, the chances are you'd charge me for the extra half hour next time.

And as an aside, I also mudded a lot when I was at University. That led me on to developing my own mud, and by the time I graduated it had taught me far more about software development, team work and project management than my University course ever had. My qualifications helped me get invited to interviews, but in the end it was the skills I earned through developing a mud that helped me pass the technical interviews and thus earn a decent wage. I went to University to learn. Does it really matter that I didn't follow the "normal" method of doing so - particularly when my method resulted in a better salary, which means more tax going back into the education system?

02-05-2003, 07:06 AM	#15
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	They also pay me to work a specified number of hours each week. Working weekends and pulling all-nighters is not part of my job description, but I still do them when the need arises - even though I don't get paid overtime. It's called "give and take". I typically get into work between half an hour and an hour late (unless I have an early meeting) and surf the net from time to time (perhaps just to give my mind a break, or maybe to wait for a compile to finish), but I also work more hours than are required. The company knows that the employees surf the net, and doesn't mind as long as we are reasonable about it and get the job done. My previously company had the same attitude as well. I don't know what your job is, but in my line of work you cannot just sit down and mindlessly hammer at a keyboard all day. It requires careful thinking and puzzle solving, and that's not something you can just keep doing all day without taking a break every so often to clear your head. Once again, it's never been considered a problem at the places I've worked, as long as we're sensible about it. In fact, as my current job involves developing software for mobile phones, we're specifically told that we can use our company mobiles to make personal calls (although once again we're supposed to be responsible about it - for example, we should go easy on international calls). If I were paying you an hourly wage and you spent 1.5 hours doing it, then spend half an hour surfing the net, but only charged me for one hour, I would call it a bargain. If I then demanded that you stopped serfing the net, the chances are you'd charge me for the extra half hour next time. And as an aside, I also mudded a lot when I was at University. That led me on to developing my own mud, and by the time I graduated it had taught me far more about software development, team work and project management than my University course ever had. My qualifications helped me get invited to interviews, but in the end it was the skills I earned through developing a mud that helped me pass the technical interviews and thus earn a decent wage. I went to University to learn. Does it really matter that I didn't follow the "normal" method of doing so - particularly when my method resulted in a better salary, which means more tax going back into the education system?