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I think it's great articles like that get posted here - it's a window to employment conditions that techies would never accept. It's a good reminder of privilege.
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Why stop at implying that some have undeserved fortune? Obviously plenty of people do. A truly meritocratic society would not let the personal circumstances of your biological parents affect (either positively or negatively) your life status, whether by moving to a more expensive part of town with better grade schools, encouraging you to stay in school and helping you with your homework, paying for college, immigrati…
Who will determine where merit is deserved and undeserved? You? The Flying Spaghetti Monster?
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Oddly enough, While flying back from Shanghai in 2006, the Caucasian woman next to me had a son that worked on the line in one of their sweatshops and had done it for over a year. They were from a prettywealthy family that produced things in China and the son decided he wanted to start at the very bottom. She said he insisted on sleeping in the dorms, would not take a special AC unit offered to him, ate with the rest…
It's easy when you have a fall-back plan though. Obviously I know nothing about him or their family, but I'm guessing he could just quit, and rely on their resources while he looked for a new job. A lot of people don't have that option
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I was assuming that "merit" inherited from parents is undeserved, but yeah, perhaps that's unjustified. Do you have an argument that it is deserved?
Unless someone has broken the law in their process of accumulating resources, they are legally in possession of such resources.
I think it's great articles like that get posted here - it's a window to employment conditions that techies would never accept. It's a good reminder of privilege.
> it's a window to employment conditions that techies would never accept. I absolutely would accept those employment conditions if I didn't have any other options and needed to make money to survive. I would also spend my free time learning a skill so I could get a better job at some point in the future. > It's a good reminder of privilege. It's not a matter of privilege, it's a matter of ability. In tech more than a…
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> free time What makes you think those people have free time after 12.5 hour days and a commute out to the middle of nowhere?
> What makes you think those people have free time after 12.5 hour days and a commute out to the middle of nowhere? I think that's what the OP called the "privilege". Those that have it, don't see why others can't do the same. It comes from having a completely different world view and priorities. That's why it is common to hear "how come they don't sit down learn to code and become full stack developers, that would b…
Plenty of people I know had access to the same thing (most of them actually), they just didn't pursue it. It's frustrating to hear people make assumptions about myself and others in the industry. I had someone talk about how "disgusting" it was that there were so many white males in tech. Of course, she said this to my face, and I'm a white dude. Believe it or not, it didn't feel great.
It's as though a bunch of people who had zero interest in tech for the last 20 years suddenly think they should have all of the same skills and opportunities as us that have spent our childhoods buried in it.
I think it's great articles like that get posted here - it's a window to employment conditions that techies would never accept. It's a good reminder of privilege.
> it's a window to employment conditions that techies would never accept. I absolutely would accept those employment conditions if I didn't have any other options and needed to make money to survive. I would also spend my free time learning a skill so I could get a better job at some point in the future. > It's a good reminder of privilege. It's not a matter of privilege, it's a matter of ability. In tech more than a…
>I absolutely would accept those employment conditions if I didn't have any other options and needed to make money to survive.
But you do have options, so you would never accept the conditions. That's the point he was trying to make.
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> What makes you think those people have free time after 12.5 hour days and a commute out to the middle of nowhere? I think that's what the OP called the "privilege". Those that have it, don't see why others can't do the same. It comes from having a completely different world view and priorities. That's why it is common to hear "how come they don't sit down learn to code and become full stack developers, that would b…
Yes, I had the privilege of having a basic computer with dialup as a kid. My family moved so I had no friends and was bullied constantly. For this reason, I became obsessed with the computer, learned to program, and ultimately it got me a job. I'm not sure I would describe that as the height of privilege. I spent most of my childhood living in a trailer. Plenty of people I know had access to the same thing (most of t…
You probably have a better paying job and more free time than than most people (and as a nice side effect than people who bullied you probably).
The privilege mentality is thinking that you made the decision to go into tech consciously because you knew it was going to be hot in 20 years and will end up with a well paying job. But it sounds like you didn't, just like me, you were poor, and was really passionate about computers. Being bullied (I was too) also had a side effect of isolating you for longer periods of time.
Looking back, I'd like to think of myself as having great insight and a keen sense of predicting the future, knowing that computers and internet will be big and I'd have a way to crawl out of poverty. Then I methodically executed that vision over the next 20 years. But, that would be dishonest, because it is not how it happened. Maybe it did for you...
In general, yeah, it would be great if more people would start coding and things would be more diverse. But sometimes we make it too simple and we re-write memories and history as to how we started coding and think -- why can't coal miners just start writing single page apps in React.js over a few weekends, why can't this part time middle aged mom from Walmart who was laid off as an HR person just write Android apps and make more money.
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I have no idea what the people in the warehouse do, so forgive my ignorance, but wouldn't this be a prime spot to test out drones? I'm guessing if you are in an enclosed area, the air-space rules that Amazon keeps fighting don't apply?
One of my previous jobs we automated a warehouse using a crane and mini-RVs that drove around a picked up pallets. The whole warehouse only* required a couple of fork truck drivers to load the trucks and that was only because of legal restrictions on loading trucks with an automated conveyor. * It also required 2-3 just out of high-school "technicians" making about $15/hour who oversaw the whole operation as well as…
AFAIK picking is very hard to automate because it's very hard to match the dexterity and eye-hands coordination of a human being.
[edit: grammar]