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Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

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Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#11

Post by drb91 »

danharaj wrote: post #9

Software development has proven methods for organizing labor by labor instead of by the whims of the owning class. The most useful software in the world is developed by an ecosystem of communities that resembles anarchist, communist ideas of how society at large could operate. Because of the unique capital requirements for software development, cooperative firms are more viable than in any other industry. We could be…

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

Nowhere is this more true than Silicon Valley.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#12

Post by tenpoundhammer »

This article brings up a common theme, people don't want to work 40 hour weeks. I see nothing wrong with that sentiment, but I also don't see any wrong with a 40 or 60 hour work week.

Every person on this planet needs to decide how they want to spend their time and the quality of life they want to have. If you want to work fewer hours you will have less money. It's pretty simple.

If you want to do that good for you.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#13

Post by deckar01 »

I have had about 10 jobs in my life. About half of them were specific to my career. I have found that I am happier building things that the author might consider "bullshit" (relative to my interests) compared to working on things that I am passionate about. When I have a job doing what I "love", someone inevitably takes a steaming shit on the thing I created and forces me to break it in some stupid way. I would rather do the things I love on my own time so that I don't have to compromise my work to keep food on the table.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#14

Post by danharaj »

drb91 wrote: post #11
danharaj wrote: post #9

Software development has proven methods for organizing labor by labor instead of by the whims of the owning class. The most useful software in the world is developed by an ecosystem of communities that resembles anarchist, communist ideas of how society at large could operate. Because of the unique capital requirements for software development, cooperative firms are more viable than in any other industry. We could be…

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." Nowhere is this more true than Silicon Valley.

Kind of ignores the fact that socialism did take root, like Eugene Debs running for president, but it was violently uprooted and the ground was torched and salted and a massive state apparatus was developed to make sure it could never be entertained again.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#16

Post by seppin »

drb91 wrote: post #11
danharaj wrote: post #9

Software development has proven methods for organizing labor by labor instead of by the whims of the owning class. The most useful software in the world is developed by an ecosystem of communities that resembles anarchist, communist ideas of how society at large could operate. Because of the unique capital requirements for software development, cooperative firms are more viable than in any other industry. We could be…

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." Nowhere is this more true than Silicon Valley.

This implies the poor are better off under socialism than as lower class in a rich country.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#18

Post by fileeditview »

bmj wrote: post #8

This article assumes that every developer works for an SV-style start-up that requires 80 hour weeks building trivial things. I work in the medical industry, rarely work more than 40 hours a week, take six weeks of vacation a year, and can generally feel okay about my output actually helping people lead better lives. Of course, yes, sometimes I do a lot of BS things at my job. However, as another comment has already…

I really don't think it's about doing some "BS" or annoying things at work.

It's about creating products(in this case software) that are utterly useless to the world. That maybe even make the world a worse place over the long run.

It's about products that nobody would miss if they wouldn't exist.

It's about the 1000th clone of some app that offers some wannabe feature plus social networking.

The problem is not software alone.. our world is full of shit products no one really needs. But in software you don't need to cut down trees or mine ore.

You just have endless resources.. which increases the crap output by a lot.

EDIT: Oh and I'm sure not every software dev job is useless/boring/..

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#19

Post by reaperducer »

Something happened around the time computer programmers started calling themselves "engineers" -- they became self-important. And in doing so, convinced others that they are indispensable.

I tell people, if you don't have a flashing light and a siren, your job is not that important.

My employer tethers me to a work cell phone that I never ever use. Why? In case the web site goes down while I'm not at work. Except that the site is on an intranet. And the entire company is 9-5. If I'm not there, nobody else is there, either, to see if the site has crashed. But somewhere along the line, coding became more mission critical than it really is.

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