As someone who has applied to several jobs that use proctored tests like this, only now am I thinking of how invasive it is. It's actually a norm for developer jobs! And then, as I kept reading, I realized how toxic my current office is becoming and why people are leaving in batches and why I started job hunting. Unfortunately, it feels like half the companies I know are becoming some version of hellscapes. It's a sad time.
Oh damn, I didn't know it was so common for developers to go through this! Most companies with a high attrition rate have some truly shitty practices under the guise of work culture. Fingers crossed for you to find a better role in a nicer company — the market's kinda shit rn, but I hope things change soon!
I'm totally stunned at the concept of screen and camera monitoring software! Absolute madness. Employers shouldn't lack trust in their employees, this is the exact opposite of flexible working.
I feel like this capitalist society turns everything that *could* be beneficial to the masses (remote/flexible work) into something we would hate with the conditions applied, smh.
I’m always fascinated by this topic. On the one hand, I don’t support the capitalist notion that we all must be 100% productive 100% of the time. And I am against screen monitoring and that weird eyeball monitoring software.
But. My work uses a time tracker tied to specific tasks/items as a means of gathering data on how many people we need to accomplish the workload. One year, based on projections for the coming year, it was calculated we’d need 8 more people to do the work. It was better to know that ahead of time, get the resources, and *not* be drowning in work for months. So it has its upsides. It also depends on how management views it. For my team, it’s pretty chill. I’ve never been questioned on why it took X hours to do Y.
I think when done with the right idea, time tracking can be super beneficial. But most tech companies are doing it to control people and how they spend their time at work (as though all our ideas show up between 9 to 5 and we're work-free post that). I love the way your company used time tracking — hiring people to do the additional work feels like a utopian action. Most companies I've seen would just ask you to speed up your work — I've literally been told, "Don't focus on doing a good/great/the best job. Just get the thing done asap."
As someone who has applied to several jobs that use proctored tests like this, only now am I thinking of how invasive it is. It's actually a norm for developer jobs! And then, as I kept reading, I realized how toxic my current office is becoming and why people are leaving in batches and why I started job hunting. Unfortunately, it feels like half the companies I know are becoming some version of hellscapes. It's a sad time.
Oh damn, I didn't know it was so common for developers to go through this! Most companies with a high attrition rate have some truly shitty practices under the guise of work culture. Fingers crossed for you to find a better role in a nicer company — the market's kinda shit rn, but I hope things change soon!
I'm totally stunned at the concept of screen and camera monitoring software! Absolute madness. Employers shouldn't lack trust in their employees, this is the exact opposite of flexible working.
I feel like this capitalist society turns everything that *could* be beneficial to the masses (remote/flexible work) into something we would hate with the conditions applied, smh.
Thanks for reading, Ellen. :)
I’m always fascinated by this topic. On the one hand, I don’t support the capitalist notion that we all must be 100% productive 100% of the time. And I am against screen monitoring and that weird eyeball monitoring software.
But. My work uses a time tracker tied to specific tasks/items as a means of gathering data on how many people we need to accomplish the workload. One year, based on projections for the coming year, it was calculated we’d need 8 more people to do the work. It was better to know that ahead of time, get the resources, and *not* be drowning in work for months. So it has its upsides. It also depends on how management views it. For my team, it’s pretty chill. I’ve never been questioned on why it took X hours to do Y.
I think when done with the right idea, time tracking can be super beneficial. But most tech companies are doing it to control people and how they spend their time at work (as though all our ideas show up between 9 to 5 and we're work-free post that). I love the way your company used time tracking — hiring people to do the additional work feels like a utopian action. Most companies I've seen would just ask you to speed up your work — I've literally been told, "Don't focus on doing a good/great/the best job. Just get the thing done asap."