Part one. Conflict
Wednesday, March 4, 2020, noonI rest at home. Our technical director Roma calls:- Misha, when will you be at work?“I decided to stay home today.”- Okay, I will pass it on to the management- There is a norm in the TC that if there is a delay of 15 days, then you can not leave(at that time I did not see a salary for more than a month)- Yes, I knowRoma will call me back in 15 minutes:- What time can you to come for a salary?- Come on tomorrow, as usual- Okay, then see you tomorrowThursday, March 5A beautifully spent Wednesday day set me up for work, rested, and all in anticipation of accomplishments I drove to work. A few more touches, a couple of weeks of coding, and our iOS client for WebRTC will come close in quality to the analogues on the market. Perhaps we will agree and they will approve a 4-day working week. Recently, I have been constantly hinted that my work is not worth the money promised to me. I am ready to compromise and work for less, four days a week instead of five.Exactly at 11:00 I go to our chic business center, through the turnstiles and roads boutiques I go to the office, I usually hang my jacket on a hanger. Passing the boss’s aquarium, I say hello. "Misha, come in." I go in and sit down.“Why didn't you go to work yesterday?”“You did not pay, but I did not go out.” 15 days delay, I have the right by law.- You #### who do you consider yourself to contact me on you? Once again, you will tell me “you” - I am not responsible for myself- I am not used to contacting “you” with those who turn to me “you”.- I have the right, I'm your boss! How did you decide to talk to me.Decided to beat me? Now you will see my dark side!- Sorry, Borisych. When two weeks ago everyone was paid a salary, but not to me, you said “tomorrow”. The next day - said "on Monday." On Monday - "I spent your salary." The delay for today is more than two weeks.“And what should I pay you for?” Where is the result? Here is a piece of paper for you, write what you have done during this time.- To compile a report, I need to look into the history of commits. Ido not keep the solved problems in my head.- Write what you did.Other employees are invited into the room, the “meeting” continues.Actors:GB (chief boss),Vaga (lawyer),Sergey (genius and programming magician, shadow techdir),Vadik (accountant),Roma ("techdir" with a salary of 100,000 rubles) TheGB pronounces a monologue to everyone that I’m a fraudster, which did not live up to expectations, several times asks me to write down with a pen on a piece a list of the tasks I have solved. After a while, Roma prints out and brings the list of tasks from the hitlab. I myself add a few points in words. The monologue continues, occasionally Sergey puts in his good opinion.Me: As I understand it, they will not give me a salary today?GB: What did you do for this salary?Sergey: I walked along the corridor many times and saw how it works - it sits and does not press a button. Just sitting in front of the monitor! Do not even scroll with the mouse!Me: Sergey, you with your vision don’t see the text on my monitor right now, but now you tell me that you saw from the corridor (from a distance of 5 meters) I’ll scroll with the mouse or not.Sergey: Yes, I have!GB: Hand over the keys to the telephone box(put the keys on the table)GB: And pass(put the pass on the table)Me: I understand that we won’t work together anymore?GB: We will not. Write the password from the working computer (gives me a slip)Me: We can go to the computer, I will remove my userGB: You are not going anywhere. From here you have one way - at the door. Write the passwordMe: There, my personal correspondence is in a telegram, and I do not want you to read itSergey (falsetto): Personal correspondence on a working computer! This is unacceptable!GB: You think I can’t make you say your password?(Borisych’s eyes are filled with blood, his face turns crimson. He gets up and punches himself in the palm of his hand)Vaga: Mishanya, bro, if we were on the street now, there would be a completely different conversation, you understandGB yourself : Write the password !! ! (comes close to me, swings)Having estimated what the situation may turn out to be, I write down the password on a piece of paper. The accountant Vadik goes to open space to check the password, the technical director Roma collects and brings my personal belongings. I get confused by the excitement of numbers, they bring me a keyboard - I remember my password with muscle memory. As a result, the password is suitable. The "meeting" is already in its third hour.GB: What are we going to do with the money? With the money that you were paid for these three monthsI: This is my moneyGB: You have a salary of 15,000 rubles under the contract, the rest was given to you as an advance. What did you do for the money?Me: As I understand it, I won’t get my money today. Can i leaveGB: You're not going anywhere. Now we will draw up an act, determine the amount that you owe. Then you will goVaga: We will arrange everything, you will get your labor in your hands. Do you need a pension?What am I doing in this company? How did I manage to work in it for three months? But let's start from the beginning.Part two. Magician and wizard
Since childhood, Sergei did not catch stars. He grew up in a provincial town, had vision problems. The day on which his parents bought him a computer, he remembered today. What is the point in this street hustle and bustle when there is a whole world behind the screen of a beetle-eyed monitor? At some point it was boring to go through the games, why not start writing your own? Sergey discovered BASIC, and then C / C ++. Since then, life has acquired one direction - to become a programmer. The Internet is another point of no return. Network protocols, Unix-like systems with their POSIX - it was a new, unusual world in which everything is possible!Let's move nowadays. Where are we now? All the same, in a small southern town. Technological progress is already here, and Serge discovered freelance for himself. How many of us could boast that freelancer in 2010? Serega could. Other contemporaries will write about him:1« 2007. . – . . .NET, . , , ReMix . . , . — Borderlands , , . . , . . , , . . , . , , , , , . — – , , 6 — . 12– . , . »
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Any genius will have both admirers and haters!What is good about freelance is that it expands the circle of communication. The customer wants one thing - he wants a miracle. “Show me a miracle, get rich”, as the customer tells you. And now the sluggish barely pulling system unit is replaced with the latest gaming computer. The monitor adds to the diagonals, and the food becomes more diverse. From the world of your own fantasies, you come to the world of beautiful cars and spacious offices. It’s a good thing to be a magician !It was then, during the years of freelance, that Sergey found his patron. Borisych became him - an eccentric middle-aged businessman with indefatigable energy and, most importantly, a craving for a miracle. It was Sergei who was able to convince Borisych that the future was not in the color industry and not even in cattle, but in technology. Android, google-glass, do you understand what time we live, Borisych? Borisych understood. And how can one not understand? The world around has changed! Messengers, social networks. And this man knows everything about it! It seems that there is nothing that Seryoga did not understand! It was then, in 2014, that the beginning of a wonderful friendship was laid.Five years have passed.Borisych was doing well, partnership programs were outlined on all fronts. The partners themselves brought them their money! Prototypes for every occasion - this is exactly what Sergey was able to do. By that time, he had mastered Android perfectly, and it was not difficult for him to fulfill any Borisovich whim. Borisych, in turn, enjoyed everything as a child. Any unusual animation gave rise to a wild flurry of emotions in him. "Why so slow?" - he said, and Serge did faster. “Why does it leave on the right, and not from below?”, And Seryoga did everything right. They felt like people of the Renaissance, creators. In their world there were no specifications, boring business plans. There was only creativity! How can one not win with such a team?Already in September, they moved the whole office to Moscow. They took with them only the most valuable ones - designer Iskander (a native of five republics), Volodya the marketer, and a few other trusted people. Moscow partners rented a huge office, Borisych clearly jumped above his head, having obtained such an investor. The main thing now is to live up to expectations. “Do you understand how high our stakes are, Sergei?” Asked Borisych sometimes. Sergey understood.An application for Android and a backend to it were already ready. An important component for an investor is a messenger with a call function. More recently, Google brought to mind WebRTC, which means it has become easy to make peer – to – peer calls, completely safely and without having to load the server. Every 5 seconds, the application sends a ping to the server, signaling that the user is online and can call him. The application can be opened, minimized, or closed completely - the desired service keeps the connection and sends ping. At any time, the application can pick up a user on a call. Such a seemingly simple and ingenious scheme. But there is one problem. iOSiOS – devices do not allow working according to this ingenious scheme. Apple has forcibly limited the ability of applications to make server requests. If the user closes the application - it can do absolutely nothing in the background! Sergei could not believe it. Really? Is there really no, the smallest way? All iOS developers with whom they worked unanimously said no. If we are not talking about jailbreaking, then the application cannot afford to do ping on the server, and generally do something continuously for a long time. There is the possibility of launching background tasks, and even then only at the time that the device itself will choose (for purposes, for example, swapping news feeds or mail).How? How could he have miscalculated? It can't be! All his experience testified that the program can do what it wants and when it wants. iOS is the same Linux under the hood, no? Serega read forums, watched presentations, manuals, searched, searched ... But nothing was found.“We need an iOS specialist,” said Sergey, entering Borisych’s officePart three, in which everything becomes clear
Friday, November 28, 2019This vacancy has been hanging on the headhunter for more than a month. STC “Rost”, a simple search showed a serious organization with large-scale projects. Work in the Astra Linux development team? The rate indicated in the ad has been steadily increasing. Starting her journey from 200,000 rubles, she rose to 250,000, then to 350,000 rubles a month. 350 000 rubles is the ceiling for the iOS developer in Moscow. This was not a pseudo-vacancy in the LATOKEN style - it was clear that a specialist was really needed to work, and they were ready to pay for the work. No information about the project by phone, no skype interview, "we will tell you everything in the office." I did not find the time to get to the office right away, but finally I'm here. Vereiskaya Plaza is an impressive business center with a strange location and frantic parking prices.Arrived, met. Two big gentlemen are already sitting in the room - Serega and Borisych, and it is clear that they were waiting for me. Go straight to the point. Without unnecessary introductions, we turn to the essence of the problem - the organization of the application in the background. I immediately propose to give my expert opinion on this issue, three days for a reasoned report. I can go full time, a salary of 300 thousand rubles a month, 250 thousand for a test. Clean. A trial period of a month, a month is enough to understand whether we can cope or not. They agree. The format of the relationship is not important to me, of your choice. They do not consider a remote otter, I agree to full time. SwiftUI not considered, support for older devices, well, ok. It turns out that there is already an application with which to work, a codebase for 9 months. The developer is a scoundrel and a scammer, almost on the run. The second developer is here,but he is below level (did not participate in the interview). They talk about the mission of the company, Napoleonic plans. Offer to go to work tomorrow. Tomorrow is Saturday! Just in case, I explain my position about processing - no processing, after work I need restoration. Till Monday!December 2019On Monday I was provided with a well-equipped workplace - a brand new aimak, a working device, everything was as it should be. I connected to the repository, began to dig documentation and practice on the task assigned to me, along with analyzing the code remaining from the predecessor. Having counted the number of lines in the project, not counting the frameworks, I got about 70,000 lines of confused, hastily written, rewritten, and not cleaned up code, a typical set of freelance frameworks dragged to the place and out of place. Well, okay, they pay me for raking this. We are working!In addition to me, a young programmer has been working in the iOS department for a couple of months, his name is Denis. I did not immediately understand the essence of the application. Some kind of wild hash from whatsapp, telegram, instagram, avito. There is no technical task, there is only an ever-changing application on the android. This is a guideline and an absolute ideal. IOS should be brought closer to android. I saw it only after a couple of weeks, when I more or less understood the code of an existing application. The first weeks passed surprisingly calmly - without asking questions about the essence of the application, I scooped up someone else's code, and the code turned out to be quite confusing - with its own custom (and at the same time unfinished) modules, attempts to implement MVVM, reactivity. On the fly, I managed to find to remove about 10,000 lines of non-working code and unnecessary copy-paste.I deleted half of the storyboards - the application underwent a complete redesign several times in 9 months.The task for which I was hired has been completed in the form that I have objectively proved its impracticability. The application cannot ping its server all the time and be in the app. There is no technical task and is not expected. Accordingly, my task is to improve the application to the level of what is on the android, which is essentially just a mockup. The release of the Android application was delayed and delayed. We were told about affiliate programs, about how important it is not to hit the face in front of partners.Having worked in this way for almost a month, oddities in the company became clearly noticeable - I handed over all the documents for registration, but the employment contract was not drawn up for me. Moreover, it was not framed by many of my colleagues. The designer, who came from vacation a week after my arrival, turned out to be a citizen of one of the Central Asian republics, and complained that he had to fly through Belarus, because the company did not draw up documents. He, like the whole company, moved to Moscow from Rostov. The work culture in the company assumed unpaid processing at the first whim of the boss, and everyone tacitly agreed. Half the office came out on weekends, even when there was no obvious need for it. New Year's Eve also passed in a strange way - while the whole country was resting and eating Olivier, the serfs of Borisych were serving their corvee. I went out toobut only part of the days than caused a storm of indignation against him. Payments on time, in cash, directly from the hands of superiors.Everyone knew about it in advance. Discussed what to give. Quest "Dashing 90th"? Laptop bag for 15000 rub.? The birthday man himself decided the question. Usually the salary is paid out as follows: you go into the office, there are already piles of five thousandth notes already laid out. You take your handful, sign it, leave. This time the procedure is slightly modified. You take a bunch of money, sign it, and on the side there is a bunch of five thousandths. “This is a common fund,” says Borisych. "Put it on how much you do not mind." There is nothing to put less than five thousand - all have salaries rounded off. I put five thousand. It was possible not to put anything, probably. Or not. I do not know. We are going to work together on Saturday - the pressure on the project is growing, very important meetings are planned. After work, we sit in cars and go to celebrate our birthday. Rublevskoe highway is one of the dull places in the region: no beauties, solid fences made of profiled sheet.We’re going to some wild forest, a strange shopping center, a windowless room. I recalled an episode from the story of a British reporter about his conversation with Berezovsky: “we met with him in a place as if taken from a Hollywood film about the Russian mafia.” There was just such a place - curtains on the floor, dishes, moonshine, no wine. Purely male party. There were congratulations, karaoke. Co-owners drove in - respectable people. Workers at their desks, leadership at their own. By evening, warm we leave this strange place, the day after tomorrow to work.Purely male party. There were congratulations, karaoke. Co-owners drove in - respectable people. Workers at their desks, leadership at their own. By evening, warm we leave this strange place, the day after tomorrow to work.Purely male party. There were congratulations, karaoke. Co-owners drove in - respectable people. Workers at their desks, leadership at their own. By evening, warm we leave this strange place, the day after tomorrow to work.The work takes place as usual, without specifications. Borisych sets local goals, we report on the implementation. Salary delays begin. First for a couple of days, then for a week. Crazy organization of the process, unpaid processing, etc. lead to the fact that two designers are fired first. Then, without working with Sergey, the senior android developer leaves. Then we are told that the delay is due to the fact that we did not finish the product (salary money comes in tranches from partners). At some point, I find out that everyone except me was paid a salary. I directly ask Borisych about this situation. “I spent your money,” Borisych says guiltyly. Well, ok, next tranche from partners in a week. I will do a favor. After a week my money is gone. I have a tough conversation with Borisych, he begins to accuse me of incompetence,and that I did not earn my money. Already March 3, and the company owes me a full salary for February. I decide not to go until I get paid. Arriving for my salary, I get a portion of accusations and threats instead. They try to force me to sign some documents, and they do not release me until I sign them. I literally break out of the office, jump through the turnstiles (they took my card).What we have as a result, OPEN PRODUCT LLC (registered for some reason as STC Rost on a headhunter), co-owned by serious people, has a CEO of a chaos, a mammoth from the 90s. He threw me on a salary for more than a month, and intimidating me with his connections. Add my number to the black list and do not answer calls. Absolutely confident in his impunity. I don’t know what to add. The company is actively looking for developers.
UPDATE: Sergey mentioned in the story untypedunsubscribed in comments
Also a character is active in commentshamen18who denies any involvement in the organization.Everyone makes fun of himsee comments of the employer Also in the comments my ex-colleague Svetlana was noted