Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#121

Post by baxtr » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:36 PM UTC

VonGuard wrote: post #5

The United States is weird in that you are defined, here, by your job or profession. TV shows put your job title under your name when you appear on them. People's first question is always "What do you do?" at parties and at events. In other countries, this isn't always the case. When I'm in Europe, people ask where you're from, what's for dinner, and what's happening? The question of your job is rarely asked up front…

Europe is not one thing, and so is America not one culture. Spanish friends moving to Germany often complain how the first question on any party is: so what do you do for a living. Well, and that’s in southern Germany. The north might be different.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#122

Post by GhettoMaestro » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:37 PM UTC

VonGuard wrote: post #5

The United States is weird in that you are defined, here, by your job or profession. TV shows put your job title under your name when you appear on them. People's first question is always "What do you do?" at parties and at events. In other countries, this isn't always the case. When I'm in Europe, people ask where you're from, what's for dinner, and what's happening? The question of your job is rarely asked up front…

Lol. Funny how someone thinks Europe values human life more than the United States. A light skimming history books would do you wonders. Europe has killed scores more.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#123

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:38 PM UTC

bonoboTP wrote: post #45

mywittyname wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially now with the record enrollment in CS/CE programs over the past 5-10 years. The industry has been awash with fresh talent for the past few years and I don't see it slowing down.

Maybe it's different in the US but in Europe companies still struggle to find good job candidates. They get tons of applications of course but they aren't good/experienced enough. Basically many companies' bottleneck is hiring.

I feel like that's unrealistic expectations - just because I'm applying for a senior role doesn't mean I'll have 5 years of React.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#124

Post by tombert » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:39 PM UTC

bluntfang wrote: post #72

tombert wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to write the same thing. Maybe I'm just being defensive as an American, but I feel like the reason that we tend to define ourselves by what we do tends to be that we put a lot of emphasis on taking pride in our work. I would agree that this is probably done too much, since I was being drilled on what I want to do for a living even in grade school, but I don't know that the conclusion of "omg Americans don…

Or it puts an emphasis on our social class, creating an immediate hierarchy to those who don't have the choice to have such a prestigious job.

Sure, fair enough, I wouldn't disagree with that, but that still doesn't inherently mean that Americans are "anti-human".

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#125

Post by dhhdhdsbdb » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:43 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #101

Ensorceled wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This illusion has been shattered first by the employers (outsourcing, at-will employment, gig economy), and now the employees (ghosting, switching firms without notice). This wasn't an illusion, companies actually did take care of employees and had pensions and full-time jobs and retraining and stuff. Also, ghosting and employees bouncing is a symptom of the employers not providing any loyalty to their employees. B…

Is it possible that the existence of companies themselves is subject to more volatility? How can they provide stability when they themselves have unstable sources of income? I've only been around for a little more than 3 decades, but I've seen many markets and businesses be transformed. Vastly fewer numbers of travel agents, many retail establishments, tv channels, secretaries, hotel front desk, self check out are ne…

Otoh, we have far more marketers, professional writers, video editors, programmers, and people who make their own profits via YouTube etc.

And a drastic drop in birth rate should mean fewer people so favor labor.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#126

Post by mjevans » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:43 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #101

Ensorceled wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This illusion has been shattered first by the employers (outsourcing, at-will employment, gig economy), and now the employees (ghosting, switching firms without notice). This wasn't an illusion, companies actually did take care of employees and had pensions and full-time jobs and retraining and stuff. Also, ghosting and employees bouncing is a symptom of the employers not providing any loyalty to their employees. B…

Is it possible that the existence of companies themselves is subject to more volatility? How can they provide stability when they themselves have unstable sources of income? I've only been around for a little more than 3 decades, but I've seen many markets and businesses be transformed. Vastly fewer numbers of travel agents, many retail establishments, tv channels, secretaries, hotel front desk, self check out are ne…

That's just a reason why all of the benefits need to be government (and taxes on corporations to pay for them) backed things that are retained across jobs.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#127

Post by romaaeterna » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:45 PM UTC

magicnubs wrote: post #115

Ensorceled wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This illusion has been shattered first by the employers (outsourcing, at-will employment, gig economy), and now the employees (ghosting, switching firms without notice). This wasn't an illusion, companies actually did take care of employees and had pensions and full-time jobs and retraining and stuff. Also, ghosting and employees bouncing is a symptom of the employers not providing any loyalty to their employees. B…

> companies actually did take care of employees Was this primarily due to employees having more leverage and demanding it (because union rights were a lot stronger)?

Unions were far stronger yes. And so were communities. The legal changes are minor, compared to the changes from a high-trust society to whatever we are now.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#128

Post by maxerickson » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:46 PM UTC

tabtab wrote: post #116

glitchc wrote: post #35

I think this reflects a general erosion of trust between employers and employees, which I blame Corporate America for. It used to be a tacit agreement in the workforce that if you worked hard, the boss and the company would take care of you. This illusion has been shattered first by the employers (outsourcing, at-will employment, gig economy), and now the employees (ghosting, switching firms without notice). The lack…

To compete with the rest of the world, the US companies cannot create commodity products or services. Our labor costs are too high for commodities. Thus, they must chase the Next Big Thing. The result is that they have to keep "flushing" their workforce to chase a different butterly every few years as the prior NextBigThing turns into a commodity and drifts overseas or is automated. To do this, companies want just-in…

The US is a pretty huge player in industries like mining and farming, industries that produce commodities in huge quantities.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#129

Post by wccrawford » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:46 PM UTC

cubano wrote: post #107

I've stopped fearing losing a job because, frankly, it happens so often as a remote webdev I basically never stop looking. In fact, I am currently unemployed after I rather unwisely completed a 20-week job in 11, and I was literally given no notice and a week's pay. So now its back to the Upwork slog and trying to convince someone (again) that yes, since I have been a professional programmer for 25 years I can for su…

"Do you think I'm lying when you read the years and years of experience on my CV ..."

Yes, they do. Because so many people do lie on their resume and hiring a liar is a very costly mistake. It doesn't matter that most people tell the truth... The ones that lie are just too much of a risk.

When my father was looking for a new job, he would walk into the interview and tell them all the problems they were having. When they asked how he could possibly know that with so little information, he would tell them it was because everyone who was hiring him had those same issues.

This helped reinforce that he understood the issues and had fixed them in the past.

Perhaps some similar prescience on your part could help you answer their questions quicker and easier? It's almost a party trick, but it really did seem to be effective for him.

Re: Americans' fear of losing their jobs grows

#130

Post by Ancalagon » Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 5:47 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #101

Ensorceled wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This illusion has been shattered first by the employers (outsourcing, at-will employment, gig economy), and now the employees (ghosting, switching firms without notice). This wasn't an illusion, companies actually did take care of employees and had pensions and full-time jobs and retraining and stuff. Also, ghosting and employees bouncing is a symptom of the employers not providing any loyalty to their employees. B…

Is it possible that the existence of companies themselves is subject to more volatility? How can they provide stability when they themselves have unstable sources of income? I've only been around for a little more than 3 decades, but I've seen many markets and businesses be transformed. Vastly fewer numbers of travel agents, many retail establishments, tv channels, secretaries, hotel front desk, self check out are ne…

I would say sure, if it werent for the fact that a lot of major corporations are currently having some of their most profitable years ever. And if you consider companies like Apple that are sitting on literal mountains of cash, this argument breaks down.