[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Do you have any experience asking to be down...
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       Ask HN: Do you have any experience asking to be down-leveled at
       $Corporate_Job?
        
       I am in my mid 30s. I have been working in tech for about 15 years
       and I have decided that it is time for me to work on my exit from
       the industry. I have enough money, I see burnout in my future, and
       I know that my next step in my life is to work more with people and
       less with/about computers. I am going back to school to pursue a
       more humanities-based degree in the fall.  My ideal plan would be
       to continue working for my current employer while I take night
       classes. However, I am currently a senior dev with a large number
       of responsibilities. My current work load takes ~50 hours of my
       time per week, and I just won't have that much to dedicate while I
       am going to school.  Does anyone here have experience with trying
       to negotiate with their employer to take a lower-level position? In
       theory it seems straightforward: pay me like an entry-level
       engineer, and I'll pump out a few API updates/bug fixes each week.
       I'll be a better deal than an 'actual' entry-level coder since I
       won't need hand holding and will probably push fewer bugs. If I
       worked full-time at Starbucks and said "Hey, I'd like to work half
       the hours for half the pay" my manager would do it without
       blinking.  However, I feel from my time in this industry that
       trying to negotiate such a deal won't be easy. I sense that there
       is an unwritten rule in tech that everyone is working as hard as
       they can, and I've never really met a management chain that could
       handle an IC who is good at saying "no, that's too much work right
       now". There is also a myth that one should only hire candidates
       with growth potential, even though we have all worked with entry
       level coders that obviously do not have this potential.  Thoughts?
        
       Author : zwkrt
       Score  : 5 points
       Date   : 2023-01-30 22:13 UTC (48 minutes ago)
        
       | TheKnack wrote:
       | I have experience trying to get a down-level job for a different
       | employer. I think that might be even more difficult than staying
       | with the same employer. I was trying to down-level for more or
       | less the same reasons - burnout from 20+ years of 50-60 hour
       | weeks managing an I.T. department with mission critical systems
       | and too few staff.
       | 
       | I interviewed for several "down-level" positions, a couple where
       | I subsequently found out that I was clearly the most qualified
       | candidate. One HR person more or less told me that they didn't
       | understand why I was willing to take a ~30% pay cut. I think they
       | thought it seemed suspect... because who would do that?
        
       | dekhn wrote:
       | I don't understand. You want a lower level because that means you
       | can work fewer hours and you're worried if you work fewer hours
       | you'll get fired?
       | 
       | Better to go to your employer and say you want to take night
       | classes and need to reduce your hours, duties/resposibilities,
       | etc, but cannot afford reducing compensation or level. Or, if you
       | "have enough money" then you shouldn't work.
        
         | zwkrt wrote:
         | I'm not worried about getting fired, I'm just trying to see if
         | anyone has a similar experience of shifting priorities without
         | finding an entirely new position.
         | 
         | For the sake of not having to disclose the specifics of my
         | personal life and finances, lets just say that for whatever
         | reason I would rather make $90k to primarily make well-known
         | code changes than my current position of making $300k to work
         | long hours and tackle large ambiguous problems.
        
       | sibeliuss wrote:
       | Have never encountered this sort of thing in my long career, but
       | I have seen numerous people take a pay cut to work fewer days in
       | the week. It was assumed that less critical tasks would go to
       | these individuals, though their seniority in each case remained
       | the same.
        
       | gigatexal wrote:
       | I would keep "down leveling" as a last resort and just talk with
       | your employer about going par -time or taking less hours. They'd
       | probably benefit more from having some percentage of you to work
       | and train than 0%.
        
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       (page generated 2023-01-30 23:01 UTC)