Ask HN: What companies offer part-time positions?
Gumroad somewhat notably is a company that has only part-time employees. There are some companies that do a 4 day work week, and some big companies like Google have policies where full-timers can ask to go down to 60% or 80% pro-rated, but you can't apply directly for those positions.
Are there other companies like Gumroad that offer part-time employment as a competitive hiring advantage and as a formalized program? Note I'm not asking for companies that have allowed it one-off for a key hire, or a company that hires contractors occasionally.
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[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 130 ms ] threadI'm looking for more companies of Gumroad's type though where it's far more flexible, or maybe all employees are given the option of FT vs PT.
> We have no set hours or expectation that you’re online from 9 to 5. You create a schedule that allows you to get your best work done.
But no mention of part time.
Pretty much mandatory if you want to retain women, TBH.
Usually someone has to step back/make compromises once children are had, because even good childcare won't take your kid if they're sick, and things like pandemic/staffing school shutdowns can leave people without childcare. For example, my boss's kid's school just shut down 3 hours early because too many of their staff were out sick. So the parents were just kind of stuck.
At some point in your life, things like these will be "of course" to you. (Eg women more often wanting to be with their kids, or choosing jobs where they get to take care of others. And men, looking at large numbers, caring less, and more about themselves. För evolutionary reasons...).
When you live in a small group like most humans, you do what needs doing because if you don't, it doesn't get done. Think a nuclear family unit: If mom is out of the house, of course dad changes the diaper because otherwise it doesn't get changed. But all the time. There are some tasks that only can be done by one sex, but very few. Turning down a competent hunter or caregiver because they had the wrong genitals is suboptimal for group survival. Overspecialization in general is only possible after a certain number threshold has been reached.
The social part is important because it's also important to remember that evolutionary history =/= written history. We don't have records from most human societies. Limiting our data set to written records on gender/sex cuts out all pre-literate societies and also introduces substantial bias. (e.g. just because cuniform exists doesn't mean that any average person can use it or that their writing would survive or be accurate).
Modern societies have, up until recently, been fairly restrictive on the basis of sex. My mother wasn't allowed to go to college and her interest in electronics wasn't acceptable. This in turn impacts what I (and my sister) were told: Most parents will give their children advice that they think will help the children survive and flourish, so girls are told to lean in to their communication skills while boys are told to lean in to other things (I'm not a boy, I'm not going to speak on y'all's experience). Likewise, I've heard from men that a fair amount of them had to discard the part of them that would want to care for others/go into a caring profession.
There's also how we categorize professions as caring or not. Doctors vs. nurses are a good example as are college professors vs. high school teachers. A high school AP Calc teacher is in a 'caring' profession, but an adjunct teaching algebra in a community college is not.
And that's without even getting into 'is the average human aware of why they make choices'? The majority of what I've been told/seen has suggested that the couples make the decisions on the basis of finances, but I don't know if that's true or if it's just the most comfortable story for everybody. Humans are great at lying to ourselves, particularly if it helps us fit into a group.
And if that part was eliminated, afterwards, there would be more female doctors than male, and more male software developers than female, from what I've understood about this monkey species.
And it's important that everyone gets the same chances and encouragement to do whatever s/he likes :-) Teaching both ones boy and girl how to code (if one has kids) and build mechano spaceships.
You might find it interesting to read about what jobs people choose, in countries with higher equality and social safety nets, compared to more dangerous countries where you're left on your own. There was an article here on HN a while about that, maybe I can find it
I agree that it makes sense for women with newborns/infants to choose less intense professions due to the material reality of nursing and childbirth (you need a job that at the least lets you stop what you're doing every couple of hours) and there are some biological indicators that would suggest on average you'd see more male software developers in a vacuum (e.g. a greater prevalence of autism causing a greater affiliation for the type of systems thinking that's helpful, particularly in lower level programming, greater variance in IQ and ability due to the single X chromosome meaning males are more likely to do most things at the highest and lowest levels). And there are definitely biological factors at play - almost all recorded societies have an exponentially greater female prostitute class than male for a reason.
It'd be brilliant if we could try to disentangle those variables but it's difficult given we are all apes who want to fit in with one another and it's difficult to discuss outliers without judging them in some way. At this point, I agree with the observations based on sex because I'm not into denying reality, but the ascribed motivations tend to be illogical and quite silly. (On all ends: bad evo psych about how women don't want status is up there with 'all men are inherently prone to violence' from radfems).
The X thing -- yes I've seen that before. Found some research articles about it now when I websearched.
> basing one's idea of what women and men do naturally on parents ignores childless humans. If women were naturally inclined to making our decisions based on family planning, then what's up with those of us without kids?
Not sure about that. Evolution didn't take contraceptives into account. (If there had been no contraceptives, maybe the childless people in today's society instead would have had kids? I mean, the lifes they're living, works for making kids ... If there had been no contraceptives)
(This: "naturally inclined to making our decisions based on family planning" Im unsure what it means -- hmm what decisions? Like, what job to have?)
But TLDR, whether by preference, or because there's no better choice, much of the gender wage gap can be attributed to the fact that women are usually the primary caretaker when kids come along. Part-time roles can be a good way to give women (but really any parent) more options on how to balance career and family. At least in the US tech industry, often times the answer is really work or quit without many intermediary options (that are well known at least).
Most of the people I know who do this is because of the cost of daycare here, which is in most places higher than your rent or mortgage. Both partners will work 4 days but have different off days, so they pay only for 3 days of day care.
its basically: be 6 months in the company when the company has more than 15 FTE.
the company can deny it but its the same as the "Nebentätigkeit" thing where the reasons have to be substantial and its not that easy.
So take those "policies" with a grain of salt.
I think there might be a bigger shift towards part time being the norm in some time.
Of course another way is to do consulting/freelance :)
Also i’m in the EU so YMMV.
The page has a lot of useful information about the different positions available, as well as information on the requirements and application process. I think it could be a great resource for anyone looking to find a part-time job in the blockchain industry.
In addition, if you have a Web3 project in mind and you want to develop it, Rather Labs can help you with that. I contacted them in the past in order to tell them about my project, and they were willing to help me.
I hope you find this recommendation helpful! Let me know if you have any questions.