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Fuck being productive

dostoynikov.bearblog.dev

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Re: Fuck being productive

#241

Post by curmudgeon22 »

908B64B197 wrote: post #230
mulmen wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m more interested in how this happened, not that it is happening.

Out of control immigration. 10x per capita what's allowed in the US, all going to three major cities. Not only that, but when filing out immigration petitions, most firms will actually file in Canada and the US. Workers who can't meet the higher bar for US immigration will be sent to Canada.

Immigration is actually an interesting one. There is a large amount of immigration for sure, but my understanding is that our economy will be in huge trouble without it.

We don't have sufficient birth rates to maintain things and so both economic productivity but also the tax base will be significantly harmed without this immigration.

That's not to disagree with your comment, the large amounts of immigration do cause problems and as you say, much of it flows into certain cities.

Re: Fuck being productive

#242

Post by asdff »

yamtaddle wrote: post #31
zwieback wrote: post #20

Yeah, just wait till you're in your fifties and feel like you're also running out of time to do things! For example: "how many more growing seasons do I have to try this or that tomato" or "should I learn Spanish?". On the plus side kids are out of your hair.

At some point it dawns on you that unless you make some special effort, you're only gonna see your favorite movie or listen to your favorite album or eat your very favorite food or see such-and-such person or go to [place you really like] a disturbingly small count of times before you kick it.

This is what is so depressing about going through different life stages too. You make friends most of the time because you happen to be around these people all day. Coworkers, schoolmates, neighbors, relatives, etc. Its tough to keep that up through your life when the reason for you all being at a place consistently disappears too. Even visits a few times a year feel pretty forced and packed in, when you consider how few hours will be spent conversing during that visit versus in past times when your lives overlapped.

Re: Fuck being productive

#243

Post by lmm »

nly wrote: post #147
badpun wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To retire in 10 years you're going to have to be able to live comfortably on something like 1/3rd of your take home pay. That's very easy if you don't have kids - just don't get on a hedonic threadmill (and, if you're already on it, start gradually getting off). I'm not a parent myself, so won't speak about the "with kids" situation.

Rent isnt a "hedonic treadmill". Neither is food or energy. These are the 3 areas seeing the most inflation right now. Rents in London are up 20% in a year, food almost the same, and energy ...well, everyone knows what has happened to energy. The average Londoner is paying almost 40% of their take home pay on rent, so saving 2/3rds is already impossible. Even as one of the lucky ones earning a top 1% salary, I _still…

You do have to live somewhere with a housing policy that doesn't suck. But that's doable. Believe it or not it's possible to find jobs that aren't in London that pay more than 20% of a London salary. (If you don't want to deal with moving internationally, often the easiest way is a remote job for a company based in London). UK planning laws are awful and are crippling the country. That's a fact about UK politics, not a law of nature.

Re: Fuck being productive

#244

Post by presentation »

danny_taco wrote: post #79
sBqQu3U0wH wrote: post #15

Honestly, I do feel somewhat similar. I work a normal 8-hour day and I am not obsessed with productivity nor I am some kind of anti-work activist, but it just feels like such a waste of time. The only reason I go to work is for money. I don't care about the products we build for someone else (why should I?), nor the technologies used (each of which brings its own challenges and frustrations). If I didn't need to go t…

The main reason we all work for someone else is for money but there is something to be said about the things we build at work and not caring about them. This is something that took me a long time to realize but you need to stop thinking about software as a field and start thinking of it as a skill set. From there figure out what interests you. Wildlife, economics, vehicles, etc. or whatever, and then use your skill s…

Not true for everyone, I’ve worked in fields that are very interesting to me and felt bored, then worked in fields that are not at all interesting to me and I really enjoyed it. I’ve found my day to day happiness has less to do with the actual thing I’m making with software and more to do with who I’m making it with and if I feel I’m growing somehow through it.

Re: Fuck being productive

#245

Post by asdff »

jmkni wrote: post #125

When I was younger, I tried to spend as much of my free time as possible learning things that would enhance my career. New programming languages, frameworks, etc, things like that. Eventually I realised that doing what is basically your job in your free time is fucking exhausting. Nowadays I try to spend that time learning things which won’t enhance my career. Gardening, cooking, woodwork, much less stressful and mor…

Its hard to have a fulfilling job. Too many the managers try and make you feel like you are either fighting off an invasion or reloading between waves, no rest no reward just keep up the pace. All that effort you put in frequently has nothing lasting happen after with it. Reset tomorrow with more piled on your plate like today never happened.

Meanwhile, with these other things you do get fulfillment because you see directly the fruits of your labor investment. You garden and get food and a beautiful environment. You cook and get a wonderful meal. You woodwork and get something beautiful or functional or both. You work out or do sports and you see your body develop and improve. In all cases, you are getting better at something or producing things and taking full advantage of it. You get this sense of progression like you are skilling in an RPG except the benefits are tangible.

Re: Fuck being productive

#246

Post by klabb3 »

incahoots wrote: post #189
danny_taco wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main reason we all work for someone else is for money but there is something to be said about the things we build at work and not caring about them. This is something that took me a long time to realize but you need to stop thinking about software as a field and start thinking of it as a skill set. From there figure out what interests you. Wildlife, economics, vehicles, etc. or whatever, and then use your skill s…

I think what you've laid out here is invaluable. My skill-set is mostly geared towards sysadmin work, and I loathed working for corporate places, being on-call, dealing with immediate emergencies (which were all superficial), stressed over attending bullshit meetings. I saw my local library was looking for a sysadmin, it did come with a pay cut, but damn if it isn't a quarter of the responsibilities, fulfilling work,…

This sounds awesome!

> it did come with a pay cut

> a quarter of the responsibilities […] and I write my own schedule […] it shortened my commute

You should factor that into the pay calculation. It’s possible you didn’t get paid less per time-effort.

Re: Fuck being productive

#249

Post by missedthecue »

asdff wrote: post #238
missedthecue wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point where the diminishing returns start happening is actually quite high however. Especially if you don't earn a US salary.

Stress takes off years of life too. IMO no job is really worth stress. Whats the point of working that hard to die five or ten years after you retire?

True stress is bad for health, but anecdotally I have noticed an impact on life expectancy due to occupation. Are there studies on this? Do emergency room surgeons for instance live shorter lives than insurance actuaries?

Re: Fuck being productive

#250

Post by 908B64B197 »

curmudgeon22 wrote: post #241
908B64B197 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of control immigration. 10x per capita what's allowed in the US, all going to three major cities. Not only that, but when filing out immigration petitions, most firms will actually file in Canada and the US. Workers who can't meet the higher bar for US immigration will be sent to Canada.

Immigration is actually an interesting one. There is a large amount of immigration for sure, but my understanding is that our economy will be in huge trouble without it. We don't have sufficient birth rates to maintain things and so both economic productivity but also the tax base will be significantly harmed without this immigration. That's not to disagree with your comment, the large amounts of immigration do cause…

> We don't have sufficient birth rates to maintain things and so both economic productivity but also the tax base will be significantly harmed without this immigration.

With family reunification, it's not uncommon to see aging parents and relatives be sponsored. They add very little to the tax base but are a huge burden long term.

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