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Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

alexstechthoughts.com

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Re: Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

#141

Post by coldtea »

rfnslyr wrote: post #3

When I worked at a large corporation, I nearly automated all of my work and I was called lazy. I'd do about an hour work a day, customize an existing script to process new data, then read for the remaining 6 hours. Co-workers called me a lazy nerd and proceeded to copy paste words into excel for 8 hours. Now I get to wake up at 12, smoke a joint, have a beer, take a shower, go for a walk with my dog, and then work on…

>I think somewhere down the line we got lost, or fucked by the previous generation, probably a combination of both.

I think this book, light as it is, provides a lot of clues to that:

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Our-Future-Now-Our-Everything/dp/...

Re: Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

#142

Post by jsonne »

enraged_camel wrote: post #74
rfnslyr wrote: post #3

When I worked at a large corporation, I nearly automated all of my work and I was called lazy. I'd do about an hour work a day, customize an existing script to process new data, then read for the remaining 6 hours. Co-workers called me a lazy nerd and proceeded to copy paste words into excel for 8 hours. Now I get to wake up at 12, smoke a joint, have a beer, take a shower, go for a walk with my dog, and then work on…

Fetishizing hard work is a purely American phenomenon. Like many other parts of American culture, it has to do with the country's Puritan roots. Back in England, the Puritans were entirely city people. Even those who lived on the countryside were not farmers. So when they came to America, they had to work extra hard to learn farming and adopt that lifestyle, which was made even more difficult by the fact that the soi…

I was under the assumption that the entire idea of the "protestant work ethic" had it's roots in calvanism and predestination not farming. The idea was that because everything was already predetermined by God, working hard and making lots of money was your just reward and signaled to others you were righteous.

Re: Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

#143

Post by mortehu »

walshemj wrote: post #97
antitrust wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm 24; I work a day job from 8 to 5; I go to the gym and go home and work on a startup from ~7-12 and do it all over again. And your life occurs where in that process? Sounds like a path to being a droid.

or work your self an early grave like my mate who works for one of the big 4 in London has seen some of his young co workers do.

> the big 4 in London

Big Ben, Big Bus Tours, Big Red and ...? After Googling, it seems like the Big Four are audit firms, two of which are headquartered in UK. I guess there's a few people who don't know that.

Re: Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

#146

Post by ivankirigin »

Many people enjoy working long hours if they feel the work is impactful. Hustle by itself is pretty distasteful though. It is a humblebrag.

I actually just published a tangential blog post, mainly focusing on whether more people should work less while focusing on other things in life that matter. http://blog.kirigin.com/10x

Re: Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

#147

Post by oz »

jtbigwoo wrote: post #140
enraged_camel wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fetishizing hard work is a purely American phenomenon. Like many other parts of American culture, it has to do with the country's Puritan roots. Back in England, the Puritans were entirely city people. Even those who lived on the countryside were not farmers. So when they came to America, they had to work extra hard to learn farming and adopt that lifestyle, which was made even more difficult by the fact that the soi…

There's theology behind it as well. Puritans believe in Calvinist predestination. In a nutshell, God has known you for eternity. God knows what's going to happen and what you're going to do. God decided whether you will be saved or not before you were born. Your salvation/damnation happens through God's grace, not through your good works. This presents a dilemma: Why be a good, hard-working citizen if you can't affec…

To add a bit to this, the Puritans believed that earthly success was a sign of one being predestined to eternal salvation. So they worked hard for success.

Re: Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

#148

Post by enraged_camel »

glogla wrote: post #134
workhere-io wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fetishizing hard work is a purely American phenomenon True, if by "American" you mean "American, German, Swiss, Austrian, Swedish, Japanese, Victorian British, and Protestant". (I'm sure I left out a few, actually).

I do have some experience with Germans, and I don't think so. Germans are pros. They expect you to be professionals, the expect you to be prepared, on time, and do a good work, and they expect you not to waste anyone's time. This, in the end, makes for a every different business culture than I remember from US -- the meetings are as short as possible. The managers actually listen to their engineers, because their exp…

I agree. German work culture is about efficiency whereas American work culture is about long hours.

Re: Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

#149

Post by iends »

rfnslyr wrote: post #91
nether wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I worked at a large corporation, I nearly automated all of my work and I was called lazy. I'd do about an hour work a day, customize an existing script to process new data, then read for the remaining 6 hours. Co-workers called me a lazy nerd and proceeded to copy paste words into excel for 8 hours. Oh my god, I'm dealing with this now. I made a Python program that automated a lot of our Excel work. It reduced…

You need to run the scripts under the radar. Once you are discovered you are fucked. No manager will pat you on the back for automating your work. Programming is a tool in your toolbelt that should be used with stealth.

How does this rule apply if you're a full time UI developer?

:(

Re: Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

#150

Post by enraged_camel »

jtbigwoo wrote: post #140
enraged_camel wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fetishizing hard work is a purely American phenomenon. Like many other parts of American culture, it has to do with the country's Puritan roots. Back in England, the Puritans were entirely city people. Even those who lived on the countryside were not farmers. So when they came to America, they had to work extra hard to learn farming and adopt that lifestyle, which was made even more difficult by the fact that the soi…

There's theology behind it as well. Puritans believe in Calvinist predestination. In a nutshell, God has known you for eternity. God knows what's going to happen and what you're going to do. God decided whether you will be saved or not before you were born. Your salvation/damnation happens through God's grace, not through your good works. This presents a dilemma: Why be a good, hard-working citizen if you can't affec…

Yeah, I left the theology part out since it can potentially devolve into a religious debate. :)
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