61–70 of 131 posts
You've discovered the strategy of: Come up with a way to get people laid off so you can monetize a portion of their salaries for yourself. The cynical me says they weren't smart enough to automate away their own work (so they could be assigned more, different work), so eff 'em, right? That is, until someone else automates away your job. The business me says, you found and fixed an inefficiency, so capitalize on it. W…
You've discovered the strategy of: Come up with a way to get people laid off so you can monetize a portion of their salaries for yourself. The cynical me says they weren't smart enough to automate away their own work (so they could be assigned more, different work), so eff 'em, right? That is, until someone else automates away your job. The business me says, you found and fixed an inefficiency, so capitalize on it. W…
> The cynical me says they weren't smart enough to automate away their own work (so they could be assigned more, different work), so eff 'em, right? That is, until someone else automates away your job. Sort of besides the point but I wish someone _would_ automate my job so I can find even more interesting things to work on; I’m trying and I haven’t figured out how to yet. Yes, this is obviously only a position someon…
Look around, your eminence. Most of our species prefer not working at all, and if we must, prefer expending the least mental effort.
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…
But why do you not see or feel that if you’re capable of doing more interesting work than your current role that you don’t need wait for automation to make you redundant to switch roles.
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> The cynical me says they weren't smart enough to automate away their own work (so they could be assigned more, different work), so eff 'em, right? That is, until someone else automates away your job. Sort of besides the point but I wish someone _would_ automate my job so I can find even more interesting things to work on; I’m trying and I haven’t figured out how to yet. Yes, this is obviously only a position someon…
> 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.
In theory, looking at a complete society's productivity, unemployment is a great thing, because it means little work is needed to sustain a specific level of wealth.
The problem is only one of distribution.
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…
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The cynical me says they weren't smart enough to automate away their own work (so they could be assigned more, different work), so eff 'em, right? That is, until someone else automates away your job. Sort of besides the point but I wish someone _would_ automate my job so I can find even more interesting things to work on; I’m trying and I haven’t figured out how to yet. Yes, this is obviously only a position someon…
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.
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, and we have problems when it deviates from that significantly.
It’s possible that for wide swaths of people that edge won’t keep up with the edge of what is not automate-able, but I think a) accepting that someone people will have to be supported out of work and b) others can have their personal ability edge pushed further with vocational training is both good for those individuals and good for society.
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I genuinely believe we can make a world where no one is required to work for survival. We could intentionally automate as much as possible while also ensuring that automation is collectively owned. Then we could all collect dividends on our system with ample time off for "what we will" as the activists fighting for the 8 hour work day used to say. I believe strongly that the current economic system is effective prima…
"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.
I really don’t think that compulsory labor is the best way for people to find meaning. We’re not going to sit around on the couch forever feeling so miserable that we can’t go out and do anything. We’d be so free to explore what we want! Sure, people raised in a society that worships labor would feel unsure of their footing for a while, but I don’t think that’s a deep part of the human condition. People absolutely would still work. Imagine creating a theater production. All the work on planning, set design and construction, etc. None of that may pay a living but it’s still meaningful work that most people can’t spend time doing today. In a world without compulsory labor more meaningful work will be found.
If you've come up with a way to make your employer's business processes more efficient, that's a good thing. You should share your work with the relevant people, talk about it with your manager and the people who are doing the work manually, and see where things go from there.
What will the reaction be? I don't know. In a healthy company with sensible people, they'll appreciate your initiative, and if they feel it's something that will help them they may adopt it (if they agree with your assessment of its value and usefulness). If the company you work for has a toxic culture where everyone only cares about their own short-term interests, it could backfire in some of the ways other commenters have suggested. I don't know how to deal with the latter case other than to just plow ahead anyway.
Think about this as one instance in a long term pattern of work philosophy, not as a once-off thing. If, throughout your career, you consistently look out for ways to improve things for the organisation you work for, including but not limited to automating manual tasks (and importantly, if you do so in a relevant and actually helpful way), you'll develop a reputation as someone is valuable and may be worth promoting or hiring to better positions where you can participate in or oversee IT projects.
In this specific instance being discussed here, the outcome might or might not be a good one, but as a general approach to your career I think yours is a good approach to take and will serve you well. But do communicate as much as possible with colleagues as soon as you have a proof of concept, since you need to validate it from an organisational as well as a technical perspective.
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…
This is a common perception but I don't think actually happens that much. A company be sued for what they say about you, so most will just provide your start and end date, employee type, and the type of termination.
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.
Family? Friendship? Education, community, creative pursuit, experimentation, travel? I really don’t think that compulsory labor is the best way for people to find meaning. We’re not going to sit around on the couch forever feeling so miserable that we can’t go out and do anything. We’d be so free to explore what we want! Sure, people raised in a society that worships labor would feel unsure of their footing for a whi…