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What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

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Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#161

Post by cholantesh »

xlii wrote: post #85

Long long time ago people in tech were in tech because of the tech. Then, at some point, being in tech became a gilded profession and everyone: salesmen, artists, clerks etc. joined in. Not because they wanted to be in tech. They wanted gold. For years it was working, but right now things shifted. You can no longer just do the thing you learned for a job and continue doing so, because landscape shifted. So they're mi…

Quite a lot of folks who got into tech for the tech are also miserable, because, as the byline rather aptly puts it, a lot of it is pointless. It does not serve a public good, or even a public desire, and 'work for its own sake' is only engaging up to a point.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#162

Post by throw-the-towel »

ang_cire wrote: post #147
ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Is discussing offshoring that takes away American jobs and has driven much poverty in the heartland equally political and unacceptable, or is it just the political discussions you don't like having that shouldn't be allowed? The "no politics" rule is about not posting constant "x politician said this about tech" articles, not about banning all discussion of real-world consequences of the tech industry.

Even by your definition, HN is still full of off-topic politics these days.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#163

Post by Gud »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #100
rob74 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you also consider that many of us, via the companies we work for, actively contribute to making the Internet (and by extension, the world) a worse place, the question in the article's title kind of answers itself. It also makes "quiet quitting" seem almost the right thing to do: doing only the least possible to advance your company's goals while keeping both your job and your sanity, hoping that you will one day b…

A counterpoint would be that you don't really ever see investment bankers reacting in this fashion.

Because engineers and investment bankers are wired differently.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#164

Post by 9rx »

JohnFen wrote: post #133
dspillett wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some cases being told "just treat it like you are a manager", when we've always done our level best to avoid anything vaguely like management because we like doing things particularly the nitty gritty details.

So much this. I've spent my whole career avoiding being promoted into management because I don't want to be or enjoy being a manager. So it always amuses me when genAI advocates say things like "your job isn't going away, you're just going to be doing management" as if that is a good thing. To my ears, that reads as "you'll still be getting a paycheck, but your job is going to shitty."

The last time a programmer wasn't a manager was when they were handed a piece of paper with toggle combinations and their job was to flip the toggle switches as detailed. AI doesn't seem to have much applicability in any other profession, other than maybe graphic arts, but the same holds true there. Artists are also always managers.

So, what is this magical not-a-manager but also at risk of AI taking it away career? Are you sure it actually exists?

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#165

Post by swat535 »

arendtio wrote: post #113
agys wrote: post #5

Side note: a half an hour call on a commute train (or in public spaces) is considered extremely rude in many parts of the world.

I think it depends not just on culture but also on the volume of the conversation. Some people manage to have a conversation when you can barely hear them; others seem to have a conversation with everyone on the train.

I don't mind people having conversations, just don't blast the volume up or put it on speaker for the whole train to hear..

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#166

Post by rhsjie294nd »

9rx wrote: post #164
JohnFen wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much this. I've spent my whole career avoiding being promoted into management because I don't want to be or enjoy being a manager. So it always amuses me when genAI advocates say things like "your job isn't going away, you're just going to be doing management" as if that is a good thing. To my ears, that reads as "you'll still be getting a paycheck, but your job is going to shitty."

The last time a programmer wasn't a manager was when they were handed a piece of paper with toggle combinations and their job was to flip the toggle switches as detailed. AI doesn't seem to have much applicability in any other profession, other than maybe graphic arts, but the same holds true there. Artists are also always managers. So, what is this magical not-a-manager but also at risk of AI taking it away career?…

That's a weird way to put it. Yeah, everyone does a level of management for their own time and work projects. Still, the bulk of the work is in the details. Programmers talked a lot more about data structures and algorithms instead of keeping the LLM on track or sandboxed. How is it not different? We can play semantics on what it means to be a manager but the jobs as they were are going away

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#167

Post by dec0dedab0de »

This dropped off the front page in the time I read it, I assume because of the controversial gate that favors upvotes to comments (which I am making worse by replying to others). It is a shame, because this really resonated with me.

I've been working in tech for over 20 years now in various roles, and this is the least I have cared about it. I used to want to get better, and was constantly excited about learning new things just for the sake of it. Now I daydream about being homeless. I look around at all the meaningless crap I have accumulated, and feel shame that I didn't use that money to retire early.

I am surprised that remote work didn't get a bigger mention in the article. In a few weeks I will have been working from home for 12 years, and I believe it is the cause of most of most of my angst. At first, the convivence was such a relief, but it has become a trap. The effort of the commute, forcing me to go out every day and talk to human beings face to face, even just little things like making sure I was showered and dressed every day, they all felt like a burden at the time but they were good for me and I didn't realize it. Not to mention that it makes my house feel like work, and I now I hate it here.

I will say as an anecdote counter to the AI examples given in the article. I have a young co-worker who is very excited about AI and is using it way more effectively than I am. Talking to him gives me hope for the future, the kids will be alright.

But to the point of the article: I have many friends my age that are making less than half of what I do working objectively harder jobs for way longer hours, but they all seem so much happier than I am.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#168

Post by scottLobster »

pc86 wrote: post #152
scottLobster wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He murdered a guilty man, not an innocent one. Still murder, and murder is wrong, but let's not get things twisted

[flagged]

The moral crime of excessive claims denials that resulted in many needless death for no better reason than he wanted a to boost UHC's stock price to get a bigger bonus.

He deserved death, but the manner in which that death is administered matters. Vigilante justice corrodes the very foundations of the justice system, if we allow it the end result will be far more dead innocent people than guilty ones. I don't want more innocents to die just to kill those who deserve it.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#169

Post by VCFundedGenYer »

When every other website (or its content) is AI-generated and not made by humans, we can't buy computers anymore, we're being forced to use AI at work (for no tangible benefit either other than "It's the future! You'll be left behind [citation needed]!!"), endless security vulnerabilities caused by AI burning IT/Infosec out, do you HAVE to ask?

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#170

Post by VCFundedGenYer »

FLeXMurphy wrote: post #7

This article is too inward, clique referential looking. It uses too many "known" things to frame and validate its points, but has very little contributions of its own. The way that people are described, and the conditions portrayed, have been this way for quite some time. The only thing that is changed is now there is a clearly defined boogeyman to point to that justifies it. Because the other boogeymen make the usua…

[flagged]
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