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Siemens Hello all, plz provide me some insights about engineer - design and development position for the CT department of siemens healthineers (wlb, hikes). I got an offer for this dept. The work sounds interesting to me but I'm worrying abt tech stack as it is a bit old (.net framework)
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Coach
Your first mistake is assuming that biglaw firms are rational
I think you are missing a big piece of the puzzle. Full remote makes all firms to associates, and all associates to firms, fungible employment/billing units. This is not a recipe for retention in the long run, it is a recipe for all your associates to leave every 2 years. My firm's data pretty solidly shows that people stay for a lifetime, when they choose to do that, mainly because of the personal relationships they have. How could permanent WFH possibly help retention in a firm like that? I'm sure most firms that are in the middle of the pack in AmLaw 100 are in a similar boat.
People stay where they feel valued, regardless of whether they are remote or in person. Most of these arguments ignore the office politics that happens when people are in person. I personally found that going remote leveled the playing field - women weren’t discriminated against when they were pregnant because you don’t see past their shoulders, black people were able to bypass the multiple micro aggressions that they face in the office - people touching their hair, making tasteless comments about their appearance etc., disabled people found that it was a much more level playing ground... Clients turned their videos on and people that wouldn’t otherwise have attended those lavish grooming events where Partners and their favorites met clients were suddenly given an opportunity to make an impression.
The people that really suffered were the favorites who suddenly found themselves at the same level as everyone else.
A lot of the yammer about needing to be in person is about people needing to re-establish an order of things that favored them to the exclusion of others.
I’m highly skilled and extremely smart. I don’t think I suddenly become fungible because I’m working from one location and not the other.
Subject Expert
I also think your assumption that firms really care about burnout and retention beyond getting through certain short term periods (like now) is not necessarily accurate.
Mentor
This. The law firm model counts on associates burning out and leaving. If every associate hired as a law student stayed and made partner it would be a disaster. They don’t want you to stay forever. They want you to leave after a few years in most cases. They just don’t want you all to leave at once.