511–520 of 695 posts
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How about direct control of human lives? Therac-25. Toyota unintended acceleration. Tesla full self crashing. Tesla software locks trapping people in lithium fires.
Cars and medical equipment are already heavily regulated.
The federal government classifies most software people as a computer specialist, not an engineer.
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I work in a union shop and I admit that it doesn't seem to have all the problems I have with the big tech. People seem to care and have passion, but don't pretend to work 80 hours a week, some of them at least. Some of them are decades older then me. Nobody is ever fired, but it somehow pays well above the median pay, but not comparable to the big tech.
>Nobody is ever fired, but it somehow pays well above the median pay, but not comparable to the big tech. So why would good people want to join this union when they could have a better life elsewhere?
It makes even more sense if you take having children into account. I want to play dark souls with my son more than I want to deal with some css, form validation or api integration bullshit. Once he grows up, I will never have this moment back.
Class consciousness is firmly in the zeitgeist: witness season 1 of Severance. There is no going back from this, as once you are disillusioned it is much harder to be re-illusioned. There will be some sort of collective response by white-collar professionals at some point. I think people are ready for change.
Most developers are paid more than 2x the median wage. For HN, that difference is probably 3x-5x or more. If class consciousness is on the rise, HN's readership is in the classes that the lower economic strata are going to be rising up against. If you have any illusions that the proletariat will welcome you with open arms for your claimed solidarity, think again or you might be in for a shock; specifically, a short,…
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My initial reaction to this whole thing was the same as yours (not that I have any love lost for academics). Software engineers do basically no physical labor and usually get paid better than many people who physically work way harder. On the whole, software engineers are not "the victim," as you said. However, your examples made me think. > In other places, you can have a typical 40h/week job at a salary way better…
as a once remote cottage guy, yes you can have internet. kids love it out there. you bring your friends. its better out there man. i miss it. I was waking up with no alarm to blue sky and chirping birds, and then I could read papers and to pytorch all day. Never heard a car.
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When would it kick in, do you think? Would you need a JSON loisence? A bash loisence? Is Javascript ok but only in the browser, and only under 500 lines? At what point does the bobby say Oi! ?
How about direct control of human lives? Therac-25. Toyota unintended acceleration. Tesla full self crashing. Tesla software locks trapping people in lithium fires.
Software engineering is one of the ways of playing life in "easy mode" (I moved from academia over a decade ago, and I know the difference). This blog post tries to paint it differently - and it feels like it lacks perspective compared to virtually any other occupation. > We’re living in a world where billion dollar tech companies expect us to live and breathe code, demanding 80 hour weeks under the guise of "passion…
Incredible that people like you will watch the industry lay off hundreds of thousands of workers then turn around and make this argument. It's like devs are allergic to any semblance of labor solidarity.
It's not just devs, but the crowd in here.
When I was a high school teacher you either had to belong to the union (CTA) or pay the same dues anyway, and the difference was that they didn't let you vote. I felt that about 90% of the dues were used against me and the students. That was the other big reason I quit, besides the low pay, which the union didn't fix. So I moved on to become a much higher paid developer who has zero pressure to join a union. My dad w…
The Unions that created this system essentially became the system themselves. The government will sure like it and stamp over it. If the Union gets paid regardless, then it'll essentially become useless. Unions where the syndicate has to fight for its salary will act as paid gangoons. They are essentially the police version of the workers.
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Jesus Christ. That’s not how it works! Capitalism is explicitly not about that. Holy shit this is insane that you think that’s how capitalism works on a website that’s literally about venture capital. What the fuck.
X and Y exist right? Why can’t you divide them to make a proportion?
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Your employer doesn’t need you to buy food or pay for a roof over their head. You need your employer to stay fed and housed. There is a lot more downside for you than your employer, thus a massive power asymmetry. The only way to restore the balance is solidarity between workers and it’s usually a union (or a guild)
Get some financial discipline and arrange an emergency fund covering at least 6 months of expenses. It's amazing how much less leverage your employer is able to exert if you can make good on a threat of leaving.
Look how well it worked for the mass layoffs.