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I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

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Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#141

Post by CodeyWhizzBang »

leetcrew wrote: post #34
lolc wrote: post #14

It looks like this is a case where everybody is happy. A process that was plagued by manual errors now runs smoothly. And there is an admin around to jump in should it break. While the firm might be indignant if they found out, they may actually already know and just accept it. They're unlikely to change it if it runs well. On the other hand, I don't think I could work like that. I always look for ways to improve lif…

> While the firm might be indignant if they found out, they may actually already know and just accept it. They're unlikely to change it if it runs well. if they knew, they might be tempted to fire the person and keep the script. OP talks a big game about how it's running on their own hardware, but the company has a legal claim if it was developed during the workday. not smart to play legal games with a law firm.

The reality is, their core business is law. They probably don't hugely care about IT as long as it works.

The most likely thing, if they found out, is they'd give him some other IT stuff to do as well to fill his time (which he may also be able to automate). I doubt they'd want to fire him - as long as the task is being done appropriately.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#142

Post by Aissen »

binarytox1n wrote: post #7

Many subreddits are simply themed containers of creative writing. With all the media attention the AntiWork subreddit has gotten lately that brings more karma farmers and therefore more fiction. It's an entertaining read, but not likely true.

Even if that were true, no harm done…

But imagine for a minute it isn't. What's the point of farming karma on a throwaway account ? Plus, we are social creatures, and sometimes we just need to offload our personal stories. Quite often there's a new fun thing that I wish I could write about or tell the world, but I don't because of real consequences to some people, or even myself. Recounting these stories is cathartic. And to go back to the original point, they are also weirdly cathartic even if fabricated.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#143

Post by b112 »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #80
adrianN wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a software engineering job where I clocked in and time was tracked. Pretty good deal for people who tend to overwork themselves.

In Austria (and I think in Germany it's the same), for most jobs, including IT, employees must track their working time for legal reasons, so I had to clock in and out via a device at the entrance like a factory worker, to prove to HR, accounting and the bureaucratic government institutions in charge of taxing me, that I'm indeed at my workplace 8h/day. One company I interviewed at had a work-time time tracking machi…

for companies and governments to realize people working in tech and other sectors can be just as productive

It may seem this way, but the conditions allowing this situation still exist.

I assure you, large swaths of people will be called back to the office ASAP.

And many non-IT/computing types need to be there, to be productive. Which means many managers need to be too. Which means, in non pure tech firms, the call will be stronger, for lots of other employees will be in-office.

Some say, that they'll just refuse. That's fine and dandy now, but when the market crashes, 2 years, 5 years, and jobs become scare?

You, and everyone else will work in office to put food on the table.

I don't think this will stick.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#144

Post by sebringj »

If this is true or not, I had a situation in my past where I was developing an ecommerce API as a business that had both web and backend. Basically, it made integrations take a day instead of 3-4 months. I hired some offshore developers to use my API to setup for new clients, effectively making a killing as I could still charge quite a lot for this specific integration and yet undercut all the competition. Long story short, my API code was stolen from under me by the offshore people I hired and I subsequently was made obsolete in my business model. I did not know how to prove this or go forward with litigation. Anyways, that's in my past but kind of a reverse way of screwing yourself.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#145

Post by jimmaswell »

laurent123456 wrote: post #52
nlh wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I had this exact same thought. The red flags for me were their use of “clock in” and “shift”. Those are not concepts generally in play for IT staff at law firms.

$90K just to move some files from one folder to another seems high too. Either the job involves more than what's he saying, or it's simply fake.

I used to get 60k and have no work to do for months at a time. "Forgotten employee" situations are certainly real.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#146

Post by skinnymuch »

neom wrote: post #27
arbitrage wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh no, won't someone think of the businesses?

Depends on if you care about other people I suppose. The West subscribes to capitalism as the modality to move society forward, so yes, till that changes, do think of the business imo.

You’re conflating different things. The business doesn’t really care about the person. The west as a whole subscribing to capitalism does not then lead to the things you are saying “if you care about other people”. There is no logic there.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#147

Post by rhino369 »

fesoliveira wrote: post #33
nlh wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I had this exact same thought. The red flags for me were their use of “clock in” and “shift”. Those are not concepts generally in play for IT staff at law firms.

FWIW he mentions that there is no IT department in the firm, and that he works under administration.

This is the actual red flag. A mid-size firm simply couldn't function without IT. They could outsource it to a contractor, but, in that case, they'd never then hire someone for 90k to do one small IT task.

If there is any true to this, he's probably on the books as an "Litigation Support Tech" and his job probably involves (or is supposed to involve) more than he's describing--like interfacing with vendors who do the actual data/document processing.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#148

Post by jerf »

binarytox1n wrote: post #7

Many subreddits are simply themed containers of creative writing. With all the media attention the AntiWork subreddit has gotten lately that brings more karma farmers and therefore more fiction. It's an entertaining read, but not likely true.

Like TheDailyWTF stories, this is in the category of stories where even if the literal person who wrote that wrote fiction, something that is effectively the same story is true for someone.

As developers who start writing big servers learn, scale matters. Crap you'd never think twice about when running a script on your workstation will bring your entire service down. There's 7-ish billion people in the world. Entire industries live in situations you've never experienced. There's plenty of scale that all sorts of weird things really do happen to someone, somewhere in real life.

I don't find this all that hard to believe. To be honest, I'm not even sure what you're finding hard to believe. What exactly is it? That a law firm could be that clueless about tech? That someone would discover this opportunity and simply milk it for all its worth? I don't find any aspect of this story particularly hard to believe. I'm sure this story is happening at least a thousand times over somewhere in the world in some form.

In fact I'd bet that if we could investigate carefully enough, we'd find someone out there who has at least three of these jobs with different companies. Someone who blundered into one of these, figured out some useful pattern, and figured out how to do it systematically. Probably as a contractor.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#149

Post by hwbehrens »

CountDrewku wrote: post #58

Ugh that subreddit is just a cesspool. Most of the stories are fake and it attracts the bottom feeders of society. People need work to feel fulfilled. I get that a corporate job may not meet that demand but this idea that you can just eschew any work and be mentally ok isn't true.

> People need work to feel fulfilled.

While you're likely to get skewered for this line, I think it's because of a mismatch in vocabulary that is being ignored. The "work" in antiwork is usually referring to paid employment, but it seems that you're using it more akin to fulfilling accomplishment. I agree with you on the whole that people need to feel that they are making a positive impact on their surroundings to feel satisfaction.

Maybe that comes from paid employment, or volunteer work, or hobbies, or social interactions. A street preacher, a stay at home parent, an ancient cave painter, a bricklayer, and a software architect might all feel equally satisfied by their work, irrespective of the value placed on that work by their society.

In fact, I would argue that the (professed) goals of antiwork are aligned with your view -- people should be free to pursue the work they personally find the most fulfilling, rather than the most profitable.

Re: I automated my job over a year ago and haven't told anyone

#150

Post by wonderwonder »

neom wrote: post #121
wonderwonder wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Friend what you are suggesting is a very slippery slope and leads to employees not making any suggestions at all to improve business processes as its not part of their job description. You are essentially saying that OP would be better off just never attempting to automate the process at all and to just continue the existing process that was not working after all its the role of whoever is in charge of efficiency to…

"Hey folks, I'm going to implement this script, I'm concerned in doing so, you will just fire me and keep the script, I enjoy my job and working with you all, is there a way we can find additional tasks for me to do in the business" is a fine conversation to have with your manager, sure.. you don't have to, but in my humble opinion, then pretending you're not stealing from the company knowing what you know, is questi…

ok, lets go with that. What happens when the manager says "yes, implement the script and then we are going to fire you". What if Op refuses to implement the script then and just quits? A logical employee with rational self interest would never have that conversation because they know it likely ends with their termination. So in reality your proposal actually leads to the employee never implementing or recommending the script for fear of losing their job and the employer continuing to suffer as the prior manual process leads to missed deadlines. Your suggestion can only end with a lose / lose scenario. This is a prisoners dilemma where OP is incentivized not to discuss his solution with the employer and is really his only rational option.
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