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Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

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Re: Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

#81

Post by scombridae »

mattnewton wrote: post #66
scombridae wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our species should always prefer more to less interesting work Look around, your eminence. Most of our species prefer not working at all, and if we must, prefer expending the least mental effort.

Sure, I get it, it’s naive and idealistic. However, as a counterpoint I have seen repeatedly that people actually go a bit nuts without interesting work or hardship. I think that’s why puzzles, video games and dramatic television shows are so popular. The problem is that we want work that is accessible, and interesting. It should be right near the edge but firmly within our abilities to be satisfying and meaningful,…

The problem is that we want work that is accessible, and interesting

In the words of Chris Farley, "sounds like a personal problem."

Re: Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

#82

Post by TaylorAlexander »

paulcole wrote: post #71
fatherzine wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"no one is required to work for survival" Sadly, this automates away the #1 source of meaning in one's life. "I made it this far, in spite of all the adversity" is what most decent adults lean into to motivate themselves out of their beds in the morning.

What do you mean by “decent”? In the US at least, we’re going to get a point in the next few generations where it’s going to get harder and harder for many to find meaning in life. Increased automation, increased climate change, decreased financial security for people who expected to be secure. It’s going to be rough.

Collective ownership of automation means everyone sees the benefits from automation. Decent means a life better than that for 90% of Americans today (but available to anyone worldwide). But “better” is subjective and I’m talking about good healthy food, a clean safe home, good clothes, transportation, and a wealth of free time to spend with others.

And people can still work for more if they want. I just don’t think that makes sense as a focus for everyone, because it devolves in to what we have today, which is a mess for most people.

But ultimately what is decent is up to everyone. I just think open community innovation is a better way to manage progress than what we have today, and would benefit everyone more than what we have now.

We aren’t exactly meeting everyone’s needs to the maximum we could today.

EDIT: I just think open community innovation is more likely to produce what more people want and need. I think it will actually produce more innovation than the current system. Remember that the sole function of a patent is to prevent innovation on top of existing ideas by third parties.

Re: Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

#83

Post by 8note »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #9
saimiam wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do “wolf” and “sheep” mean in this context? Genuine question.

He's implying that a wolf would sacrifice his fellow workers job to advance for themselves, while a sheep would stay with his flock of fellow coworkers and not release the project.

Don't wolves work in packs to succeed?

Since when do wolves kill all their pck members so they can hunt alone?

Re: Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

#84

Post by HWR_14 »

mattnewton wrote: post #44
HWR_14 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I wish someone _would_ automate my job so I can find even more interesting things to work on What makes you think you would work on "more interesting things" as opposed to "nothing". That is, why would your employer keep you on as opposed to firing you.

They might fire me yes and I would find another job (or try my hand at consulting or making my own business). But, to me, that would’ve been preferable to doing busy make-work, or worse lobbying to keep the inefficiencies that provide me the busywork I use to justify a salary. Once something becomes automate-able, I think it should be. I have never seen software people at the big co FAANG companies I’ve worked at get…

> They might fire me yes and I would find another job (or try my hand at consulting or making my own business).

> But, to me, that would’ve been preferable to doing busy make-work

Good news. You can totally stop doing busy make-work and find another job, start consulting or start a business right now! You don't have to wait to be fired.

Yes, if you work at a large software shop, they may reassign you. Or maybe not. Apparently even FAANG is trimming workforce.

Re: Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

#87

Post by resoluteteeth »

jeroenhd wrote: post #65
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #51

Somewhat related to your predicament, a good friend of mine was working data entry in Verizon in the early 2010s, and automated his entire job with VBA. Never told anyone on his team, least of all his manager. Spent a year or so doing no more than 10 minutes work per day. Learned Python and after a year revealed all and left for a better job. Apparently there was chaos afterwards. So, either tell your direct manager…

I don't understand why you would reveal that you automated your job after all that time. If the contract states that you get paid in hours rather than tasks per time period, you might end up losing a lawsuit. Just leave and say nothing. Don't give your code to someone else, don't give it to the company, just go. Even without the potential lawsuit, on the odd chance that your future employer ever calls up your previou…

> I don't understand why you would reveal that you automated your job after all that time. If the contract states that you get paid in hours rather than tasks per time period, you might end up losing a lawsuit.

> Just leave and say nothing. Don't give your code to someone else, don't give it to the company, just go. Even without the potential lawsuit, on the odd chance that your future employer ever calls up your previous employer to verify your credentials, the company won't describe you as a lying hack.

This. It makes zero sense to tell them "I automated my job and was doing 10 minutes of work a day for a year." There is only risk and no benefit for you, you're pointlessly antagonizing people, and you might be harming your former coworkers or causing other problems by doing this.

Maybe if you really like the company and it wouldn't cause problems there could be a situation where you could pass on the software in case it was useful, sure, but not in an extremely unprofessional way where you're smugly rubbing their face in the fact that they were paying you to sit around and not do anything for a year.

Re: Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

#88

Post by Nextgrid »

jeroenhd wrote: post #65
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #51

Somewhat related to your predicament, a good friend of mine was working data entry in Verizon in the early 2010s, and automated his entire job with VBA. Never told anyone on his team, least of all his manager. Spent a year or so doing no more than 10 minutes work per day. Learned Python and after a year revealed all and left for a better job. Apparently there was chaos afterwards. So, either tell your direct manager…

I don't understand why you would reveal that you automated your job after all that time. If the contract states that you get paid in hours rather than tasks per time period, you might end up losing a lawsuit. Just leave and say nothing. Don't give your code to someone else, don't give it to the company, just go. Even without the potential lawsuit, on the odd chance that your future employer ever calls up your previou…

> Just leave and say nothing

Or stay and say nothing? Why prematurely kill the golden goose?

Re: Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

#89

Post by thatguy0900 »

8note wrote: post #83
thatguy0900 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's implying that a wolf would sacrifice his fellow workers job to advance for themselves, while a sheep would stay with his flock of fellow coworkers and not release the project.

Don't wolves work in packs to succeed? Since when do wolves kill all their pck members so they can hunt alone?

It's the "lone wolf" alpha male type ideal, it's not a thing in wolves in real life.

Re: Ask HN: I automated part of someone else's job in my free time – how to proceed?

#90

Post by mattnewton »

HWR_14 wrote: post #84
mattnewton wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might fire me yes and I would find another job (or try my hand at consulting or making my own business). But, to me, that would’ve been preferable to doing busy make-work, or worse lobbying to keep the inefficiencies that provide me the busywork I use to justify a salary. Once something becomes automate-able, I think it should be. I have never seen software people at the big co FAANG companies I’ve worked at get…

> They might fire me yes and I would find another job (or try my hand at consulting or making my own business). > But, to me, that would’ve been preferable to doing busy make-work Good news. You can totally stop doing busy make-work and find another job, start consulting or start a business right now! You don't have to wait to be fired. Yes, if you work at a large software shop, they may reassign you. Or maybe not. A…

This misses the point that things become busywork because there are better alternatives. There is a difference between weaving a pattern by hand now vs hand weaving before the invention of the loom. My work isn’t busywork _yet_ because I don’t know of a way to automate it.

As an aside about large software shops reassigning, I’ve found at large software shops a big part of the role is making up meaningful work for yourself that helps the firm, and that’s a large part of what is actually rewarded (as opposed to fixing bugs or maintenance). I think a lot of people fall into the career trap of needing their immediate manager to narrowly define what is useful exactly. Usually when you are made redundant nobody reassigns you directly they just kinda ask you to figure it out and give you a couple weeks to a month to talk to teams with headcount and pick one with a problem area you think you can make progress on.

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