Note that a dog here don't mean "work like a dog", but obey like a dog, and "wag your tail", and when your master says black is white, white is black, wag your tail. I just accidentally became a contractor: I didn't put too much effort grinding LeetCode and didn't get into a FAANG (like in the past 15 years, I didn't have to do the Sliding Window Max or Convex Hull even once in real life), but a headhunter called and said, you want to work for a FAANG as a contractor? I took the job, or now I know is like biting the hook. And now companies are saying, "oh, you were ONLY a contractor?" But when they consider converting me to a full time, I found that the manager always used a test: when he was so unreasonable to you or like an a*shole, how will you react? Obey, or argue back. Or I have presented very objective facts: I am new to project and the other FTE went onto PTO for the whole week when we have a feature launch this week. She wrote a script for backend and it has error and couldn't run, and I am in front end (and I am asked to do this new project for only 2 weeks so far), and the manager said, "even so, you have to fix the backend code in 20 minutes if it doesn't work", "Even though you are a front end engineer, you need to look at any backend code and be able to fix bugs in 10 to 20 minutes." If I argue back or present the objective facts, it is almost like guaranteed I won't be converted. Well, I just saw a standup comedy. The comedian said in his life experience, somebody up top advised him, "Peter, you know, once you are out in the society in the real world, before you know how to be a person, you have to learn how to be a dog." (obey and wag your tail). Which I found true. I had to be like a dog. And when I looked at some of the coworkers, they really are also a dog. Selling their souls to get the $300k TC instead of the contractor's $180k TC. Saying wrong is right, right is wrong. Whatever that pleases the higher ups. TC 180k
tldr
Usually when people say this, they learned to be a dog and that was enough; they never continued the learning to become a person.
but I never want to be a dog in the first place (wagging the tail). Some of coworkers are not just a dog. They are like a cockroach.
You wouldn’t get converted even if you fixed the script in 5 min. Contractors entire purpose is to be temporary help so they don’t have to pay you FTE wage, stocks, bonus. Hiring you defeats the whole reason they brought you on. It’s just part of the work agreement. Do your best and move on
that may be true. And the headhunters, to lure you in, always say, "this is 'contract to hire'" (as a bait). Now I found that some headhunters are some of the biggest liars on Earth. When I said to them, contractors 180k, and FTE 300k, so why do I want to be a contractor? They always say: don't worry, this is contract to hire, and in the past, this company has a 90% rate of converting the person to full time. And then later on, I found it is more like 5% perhaps. Also, when they convert you, they lowball your TC, because they say: you were getting 180k? WHY would we give you 300k if 220k or 240k is like a 20% or 30% jump for you? The thing is: you HAVE NO choice, If your fair market value is 300k and we pay you 220k and you have to say yes, why would we pay you 300k. (we are not to be fair. We are here to mooch, to loot, to scrape benefits from Earth the best we can, before it is all scraped up and we need Elon to take us to Mars to scrape some more).
Pay me a lot and I don't have to make decisions or think hard? Sounds like a win.
the point here is not about "work like a dog", but "wag your tail" like a dog
That seems easier than working like a dog.
I would suggest, be what you can be happy with. And you will eventually find manager who values that. My manager values people showing him the ground reality.
that's also one life experience I have. Like in Pokemon Go, you can try to find a "shiny Pokemon". It is just trying and trying, until you find one. It can be just whether you are lucky: you tap on the 3rd one and it is already shiny. But sometimes, you have to tap on 600 of them before you find one. I am not sure how many managers you meet before you can find a good one, and if it is a good manager, maybe he is like in Dell or Lam Research, not FAANG, the cut throat type of companies. Also, I had a good manager once, and then because he was good, he didn't know how to play politics and in 6 months, he got transferred else where. Well, I suppose to find the way to a good life and able to retire well, I have found it: just earn $180k or $300k or whatever, but the key is to save 20% of your pay and invest in something that grows with compounding. When you retire, you have $4M vs $10M and it really doesn't matter so much.
Op, was it at Cisco?
not at Cisco this time, but similar things have happened at Cisco
In that case, everyone was a dog. It's just dealing with ramblings of person in power.
that sounds true to some degree. However, one big thing is, I look like I am over 40, and ageism, which I didn't believe when I was 25, really exists, now I feel. So many FAANG companies won't hire me, and even they sometimes do, my offer went to the VP and it can get rejected, with the VP saying they want to hire somebody more junior (AKA younger). I am thinking to sue them for my $1M, but some lawyers say, if you really can sue and win, then these cases will be all over the US By the way, in some contracting roles, I did finish something that the FTE were wrecking their brains for, and I didn't care to become a full time anyway, but then they just used me and sent me off, and they just went to find another sucker anyway. I am just grateful the world has so many people who are so fair
Is your TC over 500k?
I’ll eat your lunch