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Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

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Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#71

Post by dogman144 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #65
dogman144 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s important to calibrate what “great pay” is in a full spectrum way. Cutting corners on details here - Jane, making $120-150k as an engineer at non-FAANG, but fully (or at least maximized risk controlled) on the right side of every gnarly automation unemployment theme we all know is coming simply because Jane knows how to code, link systems, and is ahead of the curve such that she can learn how to use AI i…

This is a potential outcome, but by no means guaranteed.

It is happening already, the extent to which it fully occurs is the potential part. The vendors are out there and shopping. Or, OAI and co are totally blowing smoke.

Latter is possible for sure, but I don’t think anyone really thinks the tech hasn’t arrived, or isn’t on edge enough to give it the serious benefit of the doubt. Things just have to develop naturally from Netflix in 2013 (laggy and small library) to Netflix in 2024, and we’re there. IMO it’s a willful blind spot from those benefiting from this change to fully argue otherwise.

Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#73

Post by jimbokun »

throwaway9143 wrote: post #55
jimbokun wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When someone says “non-qualified”, why do you immediately associate that with minorities in your mind? Sounds like you have some racist biases to work through.

[flagged]

Next step is cutting out all the articles with suspected dog whistles, taping them to your walls, and connecting them with red string to crack the code.

Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#74

Post by fishpen0 »

itake wrote: post #31
thesuavefactor wrote: post #28

I theorize it's the wage gap. Why bust your ass for a company that makes millions or more, when the wage you get as an employee will not even allow you to buy a roof over your head? Real estate is bought in bulk by the same people that rake in the big bucks in those companies as well. And rented out to people that can't afford to buy a house for premium profit. The same is happening online: companies are using the co…

> when the wage you get as an employee will not even allow you to buy a roof over your head? is this actually an issue for tech workers? I don't know a single person in tech that can't afford a home within 30min of the city center.

HN is full of tech workers yes, faang workers no. HN is full of way more people in tech roles at non-tech and old-tech companies who don't shower them equity that only goes up than you might be aware of. I work in the meetup space and know many dozens of tech workers in Boston that are feeling the rent squeeze and will never own property here

Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#75

Post by floating-io »

dogman144 wrote: post #71
toomuchtodo wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a potential outcome, but by no means guaranteed.

It is happening already, the extent to which it fully occurs is the potential part. The vendors are out there and shopping. Or, OAI and co are totally blowing smoke. Latter is possible for sure, but I don’t think anyone really thinks the tech hasn’t arrived, or isn’t on edge enough to give it the serious benefit of the doubt. Things just have to develop naturally from Netflix in 2013 (laggy and small library) to Netf…

People said similar things about the cloud: shrink your IT staff!

I don't think that dream quite materialized.

I doubt it will with AI either; they will just be supervising the AI, or spending time on more important things that the AI frees them up for.

That's my "prediction", anyway...

Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#76

Post by [deleted] »

dontparticipate wrote: post #60
dogman144 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With WFH, you get social reward from people who aren’t forced to be there with you, from the sources parent comment mentioned. Conversely, many don’t find that forced socialization you advocate for remotely rewarding and have to suffer through it for the minority that do like it. Again - a majorly depressing blind spot for the RTO crowd, or the RTO crowd devalues/dislikes their families and communities I guess? Edit…

So you're spending time with your families and communities instead of working during the day then. That thing you're calling "forced socialization" has another name. It's called work. Your ability to have conversations with your coworkers and customers about your work is in fact part of most jobs that involve developing products. Most of us making over $200k don't just pull the code lever at the code factory all day…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#77

Post by hu3 »

bm3719 wrote: post #8

Maybe it's because money doesn't buy as much as it did 4 years ago. Since most employees have limited control over their mostly-static salaries, they've scaled down output accordingly.

That's what my colleague is telling his boss. He doesn't even want a raise. He just wants income adjustment to keep the same buying power he had 4 years ago.

Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#78

Post by hu3 »

thesuavefactor wrote: post #28

I theorize it's the wage gap. Why bust your ass for a company that makes millions or more, when the wage you get as an employee will not even allow you to buy a roof over your head? Real estate is bought in bulk by the same people that rake in the big bucks in those companies as well. And rented out to people that can't afford to buy a house for premium profit. The same is happening online: companies are using the co…

> I theorize it's the wage gap. Why bust your ass for a company that makes millions or more, when the wage you get as an employee will not even allow you to buy a roof over your head?

Something related I heard yesterday during consulting in a client:

"Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that's why my code, comes from AI"

Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#79

Post by uh2010 »

rrgok wrote: post #67

Hardly a day goes by without my thoughts turning to Ecclesiastes. What did people believe? In an ever-progressive world? That’s a limited and superficial perspective on life. Everything that is born, whether physical or not, will eventually die. The current circus will also come to an end. There is a time for everything...... a time to tear down and a time to build... The natural cycle of things will unfold, regardle…

My favorite book in the Bible. King Solomon's history is fascinating.

Re: Ask HN: Widespread Apathy?

#80

Post by rapjr9 »

I think a good place to look for clues is in information sources that managers read, for example:

https://hbr.org/magazine

https://hbr.org/

https://teambuilding.com/blog/manager-magazines

Read the articles and imagine your company leaders are following this advice. For example:

"When Your Employee Feels Angry, Sad, or Dejected"

https://hbr.org/2024/07/when-your-employee-feels-angry-sad-o...

Gives advice on what the right thing to do is, to get your employee performing again. It's almost like the leaders do not know this stuff themselves and are learning how to fake empathy. The article creates a two dimensional matrix for when to engage with employees and the two axes of that matrix are "Is your employee focusing on a time-sensitive goal?" and "Does your employee seem to be coping?". If the employee is doing something time-sensitive and they don't seem to be coping the advice is to "intervene and help that person focus". That is, help them focus on their work, ignore their problems, give them a pep talk, "you can do this", wink at them in meetings if they get shot down.

I've watched managers transform from nice people to tyrants due to absorbing stuff like this. They share this kind of advice with their peers also. "10 tricks to get more out of your employees and accelerate meeting your project deadlines". Maybe you could buy your managers a subscription to Psychology Today or something else that you think would be a better influence on them?

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