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The rise of the pointless job

theguardian.com

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Re: The rise of the pointless job

#351

Post by XorNot »

op00to wrote: post #314
ausvisaissues wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most gates are automatic now in Japan (with a conductor sometimes checking tickets on Shinkansen after gates). When I was in the US there was a guy handing me a towel in the bathroom. That is an incredibly meaningless and superfluous job!

Towel guy is there to prevent fucking and drug use in bathrooms (without a bribe).

Also I have to imagine it cuts down on whatever the hell people are doing in unattended bathrooms where every bodily fluid ends up on every possible surface at some point.

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#352

Post by badpun »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #55
tlb wrote: post #19

The goon category is interesting in a future world where AI has replaced most jobs, because it can employ an unlimited number of people. (Goon jobs exist to counterbalance other goon jobs. Militaries are the canonical example.) Most jobs -- teachers, auto workers, plumbers, farmers -- have a natural ceiling on employment related to demand, but goon jobs don't because when one side hires more goons, the other side has…

Advertising is a very typical arms race. If you're the only one advertising, a small cheap ad is very effective. If your competitor is advertising you have to spend just as much just to tread water. If you spend more, it forces your competitors to spend more too. It's not surprising that the modern Silicon Valley economy is built on advertising.

To give an example of that - my friend runs a one-man internet shop, selling niche items. His monthly profit is around (an equivalent of) $1-2k, while his Google invoice is $7k$-10k. So, essentially most of the fruits of his labor go to Google. And, according to him, if he tried spending less on advertising, he'd just vanish from the face of the Internet and customers would buy at his competitors.

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#353

Post by RealityVoid »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #55
tlb wrote: post #19

The goon category is interesting in a future world where AI has replaced most jobs, because it can employ an unlimited number of people. (Goon jobs exist to counterbalance other goon jobs. Militaries are the canonical example.) Most jobs -- teachers, auto workers, plumbers, farmers -- have a natural ceiling on employment related to demand, but goon jobs don't because when one side hires more goons, the other side has…

Advertising is a very typical arms race. If you're the only one advertising, a small cheap ad is very effective. If your competitor is advertising you have to spend just as much just to tread water. If you spend more, it forces your competitors to spend more too. It's not surprising that the modern Silicon Valley economy is built on advertising.

I've been thinking the exact same thing lately! There is also in there somewhere a nice paralel to proof of work.

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#354

Post by Vinnl »

bojo wrote: post #331
lainga wrote: post #15

I have said this before, but I see some parallels between the modern world and Japan during the early Tokugawa era. Japan had pretty much reached a steady state by the time Tokugawa Iyeyasu came to power in 1600; most of the available land had been cultivated or settled, and, especially after the policies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, society was locked in a rigid structure without much room for advancement or unrest. As a…

This reminds me of an entry level Business Japanese class I took many years ago from Peter Firkola at the University of Hokkaido, except as applied to modern day Japan. My memory is a little fuzzy about the specifics, but the following is the main gist of it. Basically the Japanese government funds a large number of "pointless" projects, such as freeways to nowhere, large sea-facing cement walls, or things like subsi…

Isn't that just like benefits, but instead of writing application letters or re-educating yourself or something, you dig holes?

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#355

Post by amelius »

expensivedrone wrote: post #80

I'm a programmer working at a big-tech company. I make ~$350k/year, even though my job could be done equally well by a college intern. I only do ~2 hours of productive work in an average day. My previous jobs were far more interesting and challenging, and I had apparently done extremely well in my interviews. Hence why I got an offer with an extremely good compensation package. However, the team that I go put into, i…

Instead of zoning out, why not work on a cool side-project?

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#356

Post by DanBC »

amelius wrote: post #355
expensivedrone wrote: post #80

I'm a programmer working at a big-tech company. I make ~$350k/year, even though my job could be done equally well by a college intern. I only do ~2 hours of productive work in an average day. My previous jobs were far more interesting and challenging, and I had apparently done extremely well in my interviews. Hence why I got an offer with an extremely good compensation package. However, the team that I go put into, i…

Instead of zoning out, why not work on a cool side-project?

The IP ownership can sometimes be a bit confusing.

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#357

Post by amelius »

not_real_acct wrote: post #118
expensivedrone wrote: post #80

I'm a programmer working at a big-tech company. I make ~$350k/year, even though my job could be done equally well by a college intern. I only do ~2 hours of productive work in an average day. My previous jobs were far more interesting and challenging, and I had apparently done extremely well in my interviews. Hence why I got an offer with an extremely good compensation package. However, the team that I go put into, i…

On a Monday I quit my job and gave my two week notice. The next day my wife was fired. The day after that, my old boss offered me a raise if I would stick around. I did both jobs simultaneously for six months. In my entire life nothing has been more lucrative than this. I've tried investing in stocks, bonds, and real estate. Nothing has been more lucrative than double-dipping. The thing that's so bizarre, is that it…

This story illustrates that what we're being paid often has little relation to what we're worth. And this relation is important for job satisfaction.

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#358

Post by ItsMe000001 »

edraferi wrote: post #239
modbait wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Through my long career, I've notice virtually no correlation between my pay and the utility of my position. And indeed, I've had one or two jobs like yours. Sadly for my bank book, I can only stand being useless for relatively short stretches. I still reminisce about my lowest paying job, my first. It was probably the most enjoyable and satisfying. It was also useful, though perhaps not at the top of that list. It's…

There's an economic theory that job satisfaction is a kind of compensation. That is, you have to pay people more to do unsatisfying jobs.

I doubt that top-paying jobs like CEO are undesirable to those people who have them as well as those who would like to have them. On the other hand all really shitty jobs pay nothing - that's true for hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of people worldwide. A >100k$ programmer office job in the US does not belong in the "shitty job" category, no matter how much someone complains online because they are bored while comfortably sitting in their chair waiting for the next big paycheck to arrive reliably.

That rule must have been made by one of those super-rich people grumbling about how unfair life treats them and how the government attempts to steal "their" money.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/02/po...

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#359

Post by tim333 »

ytwySXpMbS wrote: post #313
Thlom wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always a bit taken back when visiting the toilet at clubs and some restaurants when I'm in the UK as there's a gentleman sitting by the sink handing out towels and stuff. Very strange and utterly useless. Not sure if he's paid by the club or lives of tip, but it makes me really uncomfortable. I just want to take a piss and wash my hands, not have an awkward conversation with a towel handler.

I've never seen this in my life in the UK. There is a guy watching over the people in the toilets in the clubs near me, but you don't talk to him and he doesn't hand you anything. Even if he did hand you something, you don't have to have a conversation with him.

There are quite a few in London. Here's an article about them http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7335315.stm. I think they are mostly to stop people doing coke in the cubicles.

Re: The rise of the pointless job

#360

Post by hutzlibu »

Goons are only pointless, if you look at them from a idealistic all-humanity-together approach.

And even though they tell us often they are there because of the other goons... they are usually there to dominate(or exploite) the others. Which gives the own side a massive advantage. Even though it mostly happens today in a much more subtle way than the open conquering, stealing and blundering, of the past, it is mostly the same principle. There are nice exceptions, though, like the swiss etc. but big armys today are still there to enforce various interests, for a long time mostly only as a potential threat, but more and more in active engagement. And even though I appreciate honesty, I am a bit concerned, that they more and more drop the facade.

(Still, the german president had to resign a few years ago because he said that the german military is also there to protect german economic interests outside of germany, and he did not mean fighting pirates. But it is still highly illegal here (in theory), to make war for any other reasons than to defend, so he had to go, even though the public outcry was completley hypocrite)

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