As long as there are more people that will do a given job for less, we're all replaceable. There's just no incentive to raise the wages or standards.
Tech's Elite Hates Labor
21–30 of 434 posts
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#22I fear we're missing a bigger contextual change in the cost/benefit calculation that these people are making in regards to layoffs. For over a decade it was an absolute survival related imperative for these companies to hire as many people as possible , and to keep them from going to their competition. Google was so afraid of competition in the ads space that they bought entire companies for hundreds millions, and pa…
My point is there is no strategy outside of “make line go up”.
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#23For another perspective on high-skill labor organization, also based in California, for an industry that dominates the industry of its biggest city and is also one of our nation’s most lucrative industries, let’s look to Hollywood. The Hollywood guilds should be held up as a model for high skilled labor. It’s also something tech and (and especially the gaming industry) can learn from. The WGA, for example, allows the…
I wonder how the WGA will change its tune when language models will write episodes of indistinguishable quality from human writers.
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#24For another perspective on high-skill labor organization, also based in California, for an industry that dominates the industry of its biggest city and is also one of our nation’s most lucrative industries, let’s look to Hollywood. The Hollywood guilds should be held up as a model for high skilled labor. It’s also something tech and (and especially the gaming industry) can learn from. The WGA, for example, allows the…
The hourly rate is fine. The min/max hours is fine.
The union exclusivity clause is bullshit. They won’t even allow you to use your own company’s employees to record temporary VO. It’s all or nothing.
Expo hall unions are even worse. I have to wait 30 minutes and pay someone $50 so they can plug my surge protector into a floor outlet? Thanks but no thanks.
Working in games I have had to work with different unions on several occasions. Each experience is absolutely dreadful. I’ll pass.
Edit: downvote my opinion if you think it’s bad. that’s cool. Doesn’t change that every experience I have ever had working with unions was absolutely awful.
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#25I fear we're missing a bigger contextual change in the cost/benefit calculation that these people are making in regards to layoffs. For over a decade it was an absolute survival related imperative for these companies to hire as many people as possible , and to keep them from going to their competition. Google was so afraid of competition in the ads space that they bought entire companies for hundreds millions, and pa…
When there's a technological inflection point, there is a tremendous market share opportunity, so hire like crazy to win the market and then once it's solidified, either look for new markets or cut costs. All these VCs are desperately searching for these inflection points (metaverse! Web3! GPT models!) for that reason. These companies all hired like crazy because they thought COVID might have been a cultural inflecti…
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#26For another perspective on high-skill labor organization, also based in California, for an industry that dominates the industry of its biggest city and is also one of our nation’s most lucrative industries, let’s look to Hollywood. The Hollywood guilds should be held up as a model for high skilled labor. It’s also something tech and (and especially the gaming industry) can learn from. The WGA, for example, allows the…
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder how the WGA will change its tune when language models will write episodes of indistinguishable quality from human writers.
wow it took only one comment to make the article right, and it's not only the elite, it's even the "little people" doing a lot of the hating.
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#28Rather than investing in a factory that employs people to churn out widgets...
Tech is investing in a factory (software/platform) that churns out digital widgets...
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#29I fear we're missing a bigger contextual change in the cost/benefit calculation that these people are making in regards to layoffs. For over a decade it was an absolute survival related imperative for these companies to hire as many people as possible , and to keep them from going to their competition. Google was so afraid of competition in the ads space that they bought entire companies for hundreds millions, and pa…
From my experience working at FAANG, most of the developers working at these companies are the same skill as anywhere else, they just managed to pass the interview by studying and prepping for it slightly more than the other guy
Re: Tech's Elite Hates Labor
#30I love labor and do everything I can to make them productive and happy in the service of working for me. I hate labor activists who want to tell me how to run my company and antagonize workers to see themselves in some sort of power struggle with management. We are all working for the same mission - make as much money as possible. I don’t need hostile people around.
> I love labor and do everything I can to make them productive and happy in the service of working for me. > I hate labor activists who want to tell me how to run my company and antagonize workers to see themselves in some sort of power struggle with management If you're actually doing everything you can to make them productive and happy, then you won't have labor activists because they won't have anyone to rally. An…