Meet the Gen Z Google software engineer earning six figures who says he works 1 hour a day
Summary
Devon, a pseudonym Fortune is using to protect his privacy, says he begins his week writing code for “a decent part” of any given assignment before sending it off to his manager. Asked whether he was concerned about missing a message from his manager, he said that if he does, “it’s not the end of the world—I’ll just get back to it later tonight.” Devon counts himself among the thousands of tech workers who, by their own admission, are paid to do nothing. The trend was dubbed “penning,” in which companies desperate to hoard workers in advance of what they were certain would be a prolonged growth period made lucrative offers for roles that weren’t needed. In this sense, Devon exemplifies the stereotypical Gen Zer, doing the bare minimum at work and conserving his real brain power for the things that ignite his passion. “I’m sure at some point Google will send me emails about not badging in, but I won’t even worry about it until I get a warning.” And if they decide to punish him by letting him go, Devon says he’s still resting easy because they’ll give him a generous severance package.