Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Coders Automating Their Own Job

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

481–490 of 499 posts

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#481

Post by myWindoonn »

klibertp wrote: post #406
myWindoonn wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're probably coming off as an arrogant prick. Try something like "In order to write better tools and automation, I need to empathize with the people using the tools and experiencing day-to-day pain. Can we find somebody who is willing to let me watch over their shoulder for a few minutes on one day?" Note the implicit bargaining for small amounts of time and only small intrusion, as well as the understanding that…

Good advice, but the first line is completely unneeded. I don't think that assuming someone's manner of speaking to be off-putting based on a short, evidently intended as a summary, comment on a forum is a polite thing to do. Using this kind of thinking suggests that you're no less of a prick than the GP, which is obviously wrong... right?

I am, in fact, more of a prick than GP.

There is a strange desire on this site to assume good faith. I have no idea where that comes from; nearly everybody is clearly posting with a heavy, thick personal bias. I suspect that folks only feel that they are arguing in good faith, and that their feelings blind them to their biases.

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#482

Post by gerbilly »

m00n wrote: post #316

A question for the people that have a positive attitude towards keeping time savings for yourself instead of passing them on to your employer. Would you be also okay with the following situation: You have someone remodell your garden. He comes up with an estimate of 1 week worth of full-time work for two people. Based on your experience this seems reasonable and you agree on a fixed price of 10000$. Two scenarios of…

Humans have a bias to root out and punish 'cheaters.'

Some cognitive tasks become magically easier if we reframe them in terms of cheating. We seem to be hard wired for this.[1]

It's not a question of logic at all, but of human nature.

This is why it seems unfair to us when people 'use robots' to do their work.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wason_selection_task#Policing_...

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#483

Post by lwhi »

datavirtue wrote: post #420
lwhi wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intelligent choices will lead to success. Including creating roles that make sense. As an employer .. if something can be automated, and you're paying someone to do it manually—do you deserve to get burnt?

Yes. I think that was the main point of all this.

Hmmmmm.

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#484

Post by arthur46363 »

myWindoonn wrote: post #384
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I find fascinating about the article is that it's assumed the cleverness was the code written to automate. This is incorrect; the cleverness is in noticing when a task can be automated. Typically, the code itself is trivial. I have told my work more than once that if they wanted to get the most out of me they should put me on the "front line" for a month or two, and let me decide what needs to be automated.…

You're probably coming off as an arrogant prick. Try something like "In order to write better tools and automation, I need to empathize with the people using the tools and experiencing day-to-day pain. Can we find somebody who is willing to let me watch over their shoulder for a few minutes on one day?" Note the implicit bargaining for small amounts of time and only small intrusion, as well as the understanding that…

The first line is very right. The op thinks his colleagues think he is cute but actually it is arrogant because what he is trying to do is take their jobs away. It's a Powerful feeling to think of automating as a programmer but also need to keep in mind the human emotions on the other side.

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#485

Post by EADGBE »

protonfish wrote: post #409
noir_lord wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our most recent stocktake I took the day off from programming, grabbed a handheld and went around doing the same job as anyone else doing stocktake, I have about half a dozen small-medium sized changes I can make that will vastly reduce time for next stock take. I've also spent time in our sandblast units and our loading docks and sales team. How can I architect and build good software if I don't have a good understa…

Trying to get access to the people who actually do the jobs that can be automated is almost always a struggle. It seems weird and counter-intuitive to me so I have never figured out what to say to get this critical resource. Typically you have to gather user data through a telephone game-like chain of middle managers. And that doesn't really work,

I've found when trying this there's obvious resistance to inviting me in and showing me the ropes; they know I'll try to make it easier for them (still a manual job, in some aspects) but some are afraid I may eliminate their need.

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#486

Post by [deleted] »

myWindoonn wrote: post #481
klibertp wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good advice, but the first line is completely unneeded. I don't think that assuming someone's manner of speaking to be off-putting based on a short, evidently intended as a summary, comment on a forum is a polite thing to do. Using this kind of thinking suggests that you're no less of a prick than the GP, which is obviously wrong... right?

I am, in fact, more of a prick than GP. There is a strange desire on this site to assume good faith. I have no idea where that comes from; nearly everybody is clearly posting with a heavy, thick personal bias. I suspect that folks only feel that they are arguing in good faith, and that their feelings blind them to their biases.

[deleted]

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#487

Post by Skrillex »

myWindoonn wrote: post #481
klibertp wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good advice, but the first line is completely unneeded. I don't think that assuming someone's manner of speaking to be off-putting based on a short, evidently intended as a summary, comment on a forum is a polite thing to do. Using this kind of thinking suggests that you're no less of a prick than the GP, which is obviously wrong... right?

I am, in fact, more of a prick than GP. There is a strange desire on this site to assume good faith. I have no idea where that comes from; nearly everybody is clearly posting with a heavy, thick personal bias. I suspect that folks only feel that they are arguing in good faith, and that their feelings blind them to their biases.

>I have no idea where that comes from

Here, I will show you. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#488

Post by dec0dedab0de »

flukus wrote: post #469
noir_lord wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our most recent stocktake I took the day off from programming, grabbed a handheld and went around doing the same job as anyone else doing stocktake, I have about half a dozen small-medium sized changes I can make that will vastly reduce time for next stock take. I've also spent time in our sandblast units and our loading docks and sales team. How can I architect and build good software if I don't have a good understa…

The proudest bug I've ever fixed came from working with the team using our software. They had a task that should take 5 minutes that the have to do several times a day but it was taking 30 minutes, 25 of those minutes was spent finding the right item in a massive list in a combo box (think medical codes). The only fix required was to an an order by clause so they could find what they were looking for, but they couldn…

Unfortunately someones authority was undermined and I was let go a few weeks later.

That is so depressing.

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#489

Post by Aloha »

hessproject wrote: post #410
Aloha wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting sober and finding a shower aint as hard as it would seem.

Finding a shower no, but depending on how long he's been an alcoholic getting sober could be a different story, and alcohol withdrawal is one of the few withdrawals that can be fatal and frequently requires medical supervision

It depends on if he's a casual drunk or not.

Re: Coders Automating Their Own Job

#490

Post by peteforde »

myWindoonn wrote: post #481
klibertp wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good advice, but the first line is completely unneeded. I don't think that assuming someone's manner of speaking to be off-putting based on a short, evidently intended as a summary, comment on a forum is a polite thing to do. Using this kind of thinking suggests that you're no less of a prick than the GP, which is obviously wrong... right?

I am, in fact, more of a prick than GP. There is a strange desire on this site to assume good faith. I have no idea where that comes from; nearly everybody is clearly posting with a heavy, thick personal bias. I suspect that folks only feel that they are arguing in good faith, and that their feelings blind them to their biases.

Even if being civil and assuming good faith wasn't baked into the ethos of HN (and YC in general), I'm genuinely curious as to why you'd personally default to assuming the worst in people. As far as strategies go, is it working for you? I am not being glib or sarcastic.

I ask because I directly attribute almost every bit of "luck" I've experienced to people acting in good faith. It's literally been the most important decision I've ever made and stuck with.

Personally, I have no energy for discussions where people assume the worst by default. That falls way too close to "someone is wrong on the internet" for me. It's easy to find people to disagree with, and difficult to find smart people that can illuminate why you might be holding onto incorrect assumptions.

Post reply on HN