The video (French) is a career-advice monologue warning developers and employees against doing extra company work (e.g., building a website, translating content, developing internal systems) outside their job description in exchange for promised raises or recognition. The speaker argues such offers typically benefit the company, not the employee: unpaid extra work can reduce measurable KPIs, assign ongoing responsibility for the deliverable to the employee, expose them to legal/ownership disputes, and create a "linchpin" dependency without promotion. He recommends refusing such tasks or, if involved, proposing to hire and manage an external agency (project-manager-style role) rather than doing the work oneself. The speaker also briefly mentions PIN (a France-based channel partner) and that support may be covered by France Travail under some—but not all—conditions.
Questions this video answers
Mauritius (on a beach).
A channel partner organization based in France.
No — the speaker says France Travail covers PIN support in most cases but not 100% of cases.
Good morning, my friends. A beautiful beach this morning, Mauritius, where the temperature is starting to rise a little and the water is getting more and more pleasant, isn't it? So now we're almost ready to go swimming. So one thing I wanted to do today is answer a question that was asked to me by someone on WhatsApp that I'm sharing with you. Here's what he told me. He told me I'm a developer in my company. So he does software, he's a developer, and at one point his company wants to create a website. They're consulting agencies to see if they can create a website. So what he wants to do is tell me that since I haven't had a raise in a long time, that I'm not recognized for my work. What I want to do is tell them, give me a raise and I'll build the website for you. I'll do it myself. Well, to be honest with you, I'll tell you something. I've never seen a company or business enter into this kind of deal. Like you do something that's outside of your job description. And in return for what we're going to do, we're going to pay you. We're going to pay you extra. No, it doesn't work like that. Usually companies want everything for nothing. What does that mean in practice? What we're going to do is that you're going to build a website. You're going to do it on top of your current job that you're doing. So you'll have to work overtime if necessary. You won't get a raise at all. And the problem is that after that, the site will become your responsibility. And when it needs to be changed, updated, or even when it goes wrong, when WordPress is slow, or when WordPress shows PHP errors and so on, well, you're the one who's going to be called, which means that there's really nothing to gain by doing that. There's really absolutely nothing to gain by getting involved in this kind of deal. I was in one, I was in not one or two. I've worked a lot in American or British companies and sometimes when they're exposed to documents in French, they'll come to me. So if a colleague, even a colleague from another department, is stuck with a document, they don't understand the subtleties. They've tried translating with Google or something and it didn't work. They still don't understand. I'm willing to help a colleague read the document and everything. I have no problem with that. But I'm not going to run around asking for a raise later. I'll just do it on the side. On the other hand, what is not possible is that, and I have had cases, the company wants to translate documents or wants to translate a website. I'm not going to be the translator. That is out of the question. I'm not going to translate for them and then give them the already done thing while taking the food away from someone else. No, if they want to translate, there are agencies that do that. They just have to pay them or they just have to translate with L's or something, do a crappy translation and then put it online if that is what they want. But there is no way I am going to do that alongside my job. Why? Let me tell you, companies are very structured, very organized. They do not work in an anarchic way. They do not work just like that by chance. It is not a grocery store. It is not a company created by three friends who each try to be the Swiss army knife. It doesn't work like that. When companies create a position, they have a job description. This means a scope of responsibilities that are defined. What do they do next? There are what are called KPIs, key performance indicators. These are performance indicators. This means that these are performance values that will be captured and put into a database that will be analyzed by human resources to determine your performance. This could be the number of calls you've answered, the number of projects you've been involved in, the money you've brought in, the number of deals you've signed. It doesn't matter how many labs you've built, it doesn't matter. There are values that are put into a database. And now here's the problem is that if you go to your line manager, line manager, or a manager from another department or whatever, and you tell them, listen, I'm going to make you a website, okay? As long as you save them money. You're going to save them money. They'll say yes, you want to make the website, do it. So we were struggling to choose a supplier, all that. We were struggling with quotes. But if you kindly offer to make the website go ahead and do it, not one of them is going to say no. Why would they say no? They're not going to say no, you want to do it, do it. The problem is that it doesn't lead to anything for you. It leads to them. The website will be made, the price will be zero, all that. But what's going to happen to you? Since creating websites for the company isn't part of your KPIs isn't part of your job description. Isn't part of your job description. What's going to happen? Well, we're not going to do anything, right? We're not going to capture the fact that you created the website. Even worse, that's what's going to happen. Since you're spending time creating the website, we're going to take your KPIs, right? And we're going to lower them. Well, they're going to lower, inevitably, because you're not getting paid for this website. Okay, you did it. You did it. But if you do it to the detriment of your main task, which is measured, captured. When we look at the year, when we look at the end of the year and look at each other, well, apparently your performance has dropped. You've done less, you've worked less this year than last year. There you go. You work less, you work less. So you work less. You can't claim a raise. Why? You do less work. You want a raise. Why? Why would they do this to you? Do you know what I mean? So very important, my friends. Never, never take away food from other suppliers. Let other suppliers do their work. The company wants a translation, wants something or other. Just imagine something. Imagine, uh, you, I don't know, you're a handyman, you do painting. And then you're recruited by a company as, I don't know, a cook, a bus driver or a Java developer. And one day you see that they want to repaint the offices. Will you tell them, oh, can I come and repaint? Do you think that's going to work? I'll come and repaint? No, you're also going to create the signal that you're acceptable. That means at the beginning, well, you, you make the website, you're nice, all that. Okay, we'll pat you on the back. And then over time, uh, every time something happens, we'll say, yeah, he's very willing. Well, give it to him. What? And you'll end up climbing the stairs, won't you? You'll go from one to the other, and then there will be steps in between, but that's it. And honestly, in their accounting, it's much easier for most companies to pay an external agency, pay €5,000 to an agency to make the site, than to give an employee a raise and have to pay for the site every month, add it to their salary to pay for the site, and on top of that, employer contributions and Social Security contributions and all that, just because they made the site from what I know from my experience. Before going any further, I'd like to talk to you very quickly about the PIN comment. It's the channel partner, okay? It's an organization based in France. So only contact them if you is based in France, and then they can help people either find a job when they've lost their job or change jobs when they're tired of the job and want to go further. Their support is covered by France Travail under certain conditions. In most cases, it's covered by France Travail, but not in 100% of cases. So you check with them, you call them, and you see if France Travail can cover your situation in any case. Back to our story. I know people. I know people in dramatic stories. I know a guy, for example, who worked for over 10 years, who ended up doing two different jobs because he was recruited for one job. So he was recruited for one position. He started wanting to try other things because he liked it, because he wanted to be helpful, because he thought, if I do more for them, they'll give me more. No, he. It doesn't work like that. Companies want you to give more while getting less. That's the ideal employee, the one who gets nothing and then gives everything he can. And that's not the one who gets more pay or advancement or whatever. The one who gets promoted and gets more pay isn't making websites for the company, isn't plastering stairs or painting walls, right? Or moving or whatever. The. The one who gets promoted is the one who's having drinks at the bar with the bosses at 10pm okay? That's how it works. Okay? Let's not kid ourselves. In companies, the more you give, the less you get. So learn to be minimalist in the way you do things. Learn to be minimalist. Learn to protect your interests. I was telling you, I knew a guy, he worked two jobs. He ended up. He ended up working two jobs. That means he held two roles because at one point, the main person in charge was sick. He came and stopped coming. Then one day he resigned. So since they saw that he was willing to take on the position, they let him do it. And then for over 10 years, he worked two jobs. Well, the story ended up in court, all that. He ended up getting paid and everything. But honestly, avoid. Avoid putting yourself in that situation. I also know the story of someone. It's the same. He started developing a management system for the company to save them an SAP license. He said, yeah, why are you paying for an SAP license? I can develop something for you. There you go, I can develop something for you and all that. And the problem when you do that, the risk is that if the system works really well, they might even tell you we're reselling it. They might even tell you it's ours. It's our license. You were paid by us, you made it. So we pay you. I mean, we don't pay you. I mean, we keep it. We can fire you if you want. You give us the source code and then we'll market this solution. They won't give you a cent. Same thing. The guy ended up getting into another bitter legal case and so on. So honestly. Honestly, I'm sorry, I wish I had. And if I had a company, someone who makes more, gets more. I guarantee you that someone who makes more on my watch gets more. Yes, they'll get bonuses, yes, they'll get money. Yes, they'll be the first to be considered for advancement and all that. However, that's not the case in general. That's what I'm telling you. That's the exception in most companies. It doesn't work like that. It's not the one who works for free and all that, who, who evolves and then is recognized. That's not true. You just become the linchpin of the company. And what's the main characteristic of the linchpin? Well, you don't evolve. You're the worker. Well, you're the worker. You clean, you do the dirty work, and you keep quiet. There you go. So to answer this person, my answer is no, don't do it. Don't make them the website, you see, Let them do it if necessary. If necessary. I'll tell you something here. I'll give you a more a, ah, more interesting position. Companies don't value what they do. Those who do the work, okay, What I often call the don't value, he values those who manage, those who do the talking, right? So what you can do is tell them this. I'll help you split the difference and pull the rug towards you. Do this. Look, you say, look, I have experience in web development, even though at the moment I'm not able to develop the website, but I'm used to managing web development projects. So here's what I suggest. You hire an external agency and I'll manage it. You give me the website project, you let me choose the agencies, you let me compare quotes, you let me control their work a little bit, and then the project is mine. But you, you don't actually do anything. You see what you're going to do, you're just going to look at the quote from time to time, call the guys, see what they're doing and so on, give two or three instructions, and that's it. You see? That's better. It's less work for you, and it's already more valued in the company than someone who's just working hard typing code to create the website. Okay, so there you go. We had a photo, uh, photobombing. There you go. Of people who were passing by. So, okay, my friends, so I'll stop this video there.
