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The Mundane Existence

bootstrappingindependence.com

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Re: The Mundane Existence

#21

Post by wazoox »

smoyer wrote: post #16
wazoox wrote: post #15

This is horrible. Seriously, this will eat you alive, you must impose yourself to your environment, not the other way around or you'll be crushed. You think this meeting is useless? Tell others, and don't attend it. You have more work than you can reasonably do? simply say no. You won't get any advantage from working too much, anyway, you'll just be squeezed some more. When others leave, leave too. You're not suppose…

exploited nice guy ... That's another interesting side conversation. If you start out with the attitude that it's just a job and you leave when your time has been put in, it's far better than starting out as the nice guy (read that as dedicated) and then changing. You'll be massacred for changing your attitude.

Massacred? Certainly not. Either they take it or they fire him; he can't really lose.

Re: The Mundane Existence

#22

Post by dualogy »

wladimir wrote: post #18
dualogy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key might be variety. I'd hate "spending the rest of my life programming in front of a screen" as much as "spending the rest of my life making coffee" or "spending the rest of my life on a potato field". But trying your hands at various jobs for a few months or years? Sounds much more refreshing, doesn't it!

That would be great. However, I'm afraid in this age we're condemned to our specific specialization for life. For every job, to get a job at all, years of experience ('XX years of YY specific recent buzzword experience') is generally required. Even for things a flexible, intelligent person could easily learn on the job given some time and hard work. You could probably switch career once with a lot of hassle, but 'try…

For every job? Doubt it. There are always demand/supply imbalances somewhere in the caleidoscope of "all possible jobs" at any given moment and place. In a demand/supply imbalance you may not be the "perfect choice" but the second-best and totally-acceptable if you demonstrate that "I'll learn on the job and I have the basic core soft skills of enthusiasm sane-humility big-picture-view hands-on-brain" in your interview.

Well you just tell them "pay me 80-90% instead of 100% of your usual salaries for 1-2 months, then decide whether to keep me for another year or not. I always learn on the job and I always get good at it, fast."

Only if it's the truth of course.

(Of course, that's for "simpleton" jobs, not for programming. You better had been building stuff privately or at uni for at least a year, obviously.)

Can-do or can't? "It's your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude!" ;))

Re: The Mundane Existence

#23

Post by Psyonic »

skittles wrote: post #19
pemulis wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If every shop clerk, Starbucks barista, bus driver, electrician or other professional realized that there must be a better way of working, what would happen? The first three you listed are well on their way to being automated within a few decades. The last one seems out of place, since electricians are relatively well-paid and often self-employed. I think that we're seeing a gradual shift away from a service economy,…

I call it the "Star Trek" economy, but I think something more like "The Matrix" is coming. Most people will have cookie-cutter lives where basic needs are supplied for them. Others will rebel against that life and do something they think has meaning (the red pill poppers). I'm willing to listen to alternatives, because my prediction depresses me. I just can't see us shifting back to a less automated world where skill…

Vonnegut explores this in "The Player Piano." His take isn't terribly positive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_Piano

Re: The Mundane Existence

#24

Post by mdda »

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. - Henry David Thoreau

But less depressingly : I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. - (also) Henry David Thoreau

Re: The Mundane Existence

#25

Post by wladimir »

dualogy wrote: post #22
wladimir wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be great. However, I'm afraid in this age we're condemned to our specific specialization for life. For every job, to get a job at all, years of experience ('XX years of YY specific recent buzzword experience') is generally required. Even for things a flexible, intelligent person could easily learn on the job given some time and hard work. You could probably switch career once with a lot of hassle, but 'try…

For every job? Doubt it. There are always demand/supply imbalances somewhere in the caleidoscope of "all possible jobs" at any given moment and place. In a demand/supply imbalance you may not be the "perfect choice" but the second-best and totally-acceptable if you demonstrate that "I'll learn on the job and I have the basic core soft skills of enthusiasm sane-humility big-picture-view hands-on-brain" in your intervi…

Right, that might have been true ten years ago, and was even more true if you go back further. These days it's hard to get a job even for people that have a lot of experience in some area (at least if it isn't computer-related... we're the lucky ones for now, but that's another story).

I mean, if you aim for the simpleton jobs, you'll be competing with more experienced people that'd happily take the 80%/90% offer just to get a job at all (if it isn't below subsistence level).

Re: The Mundane Existence

#26

Post by TeMPOraL »

skittles wrote: post #19
pemulis wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If every shop clerk, Starbucks barista, bus driver, electrician or other professional realized that there must be a better way of working, what would happen? The first three you listed are well on their way to being automated within a few decades. The last one seems out of place, since electricians are relatively well-paid and often self-employed. I think that we're seeing a gradual shift away from a service economy,…

I call it the "Star Trek" economy, but I think something more like "The Matrix" is coming. Most people will have cookie-cutter lives where basic needs are supplied for them. Others will rebel against that life and do something they think has meaning (the red pill poppers). I'm willing to listen to alternatives, because my prediction depresses me. I just can't see us shifting back to a less automated world where skill…

I used to think of it in terms of Star Trek until I (recently, thanks to HN :)) read Cory Doctorow's "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" story about Bitchun Society, in which death and energy are not a problem, economy is based on reputation and today's luxuries are theirs basic rights. Interesting book, BTW :).

Re: The Mundane Existence

#27

Post by smoyer »

wazoox wrote: post #21
smoyer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

exploited nice guy ... That's another interesting side conversation. If you start out with the attitude that it's just a job and you leave when your time has been put in, it's far better than starting out as the nice guy (read that as dedicated) and then changing. You'll be massacred for changing your attitude.

Massacred? Certainly not. Either they take it or they fire him; he can't really lose.

I meant that you're better off setting those boundaries when you start your employment than after people have become accustomed to your behavior.
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