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The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

superlemon.bearblog.dev

91–100 of 125 posts

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#91
post #33
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean you haven't been working for 1 1/2 years? How do you buy food?

Presumably they haven't been living paycheck to paycheck for the past 19. It's not that difficult for a SWE in North America.

That's not rare for a SWE in NA. Difficult is another matter. Plenty of SWE's in NA are now staring down the barrel of not being able to afford their own home for much longer (or to afford their first home).

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#92
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah... that's 1 in 20? The smart kid in the back of the class grew up? I'm not sure who you were expecting that person to become. If the barrier to becoming an "elite" is that low and you still consider 6-figures a meaningful benchmark in a world that sells big macs for 10 bucks, are you also calling anyone running even a modestly successful small business "elite"? I'm not even sure I'm engaging with a meaningful po…

Yes. Having more wealth than the vast majority of people makes you an elite. I don't know why you think making a 100k or higher salary is just "Big Mac money," but you're either larping or exactly the kind of out of touch I'm talking about.

Exactly. Median income in the US like 50k. For the HN folk (including me) who make more than that, I'm very happy for you, but please stop pretending you are part of the downtrodden, oppressed proletariat. Be happy for your lot in life, but for the love of god find a way to be humble. Consider yourself lucky, enjoy your time in the sun, but no one is oppressing you by asking you to come to the office.

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is being asked to show up and clock in making things worse?

At a minimum any commute is extra unpaid time you have to spend for no benefit. For many people where I live, commutes can be an hour or more each way.

We should abolish zoning so that people can live closer to work.

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#94
post #88
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say both less efficient and less profitable. If you're saying FedEx people are also depressed, then maybe it's just delivering boxes that's the problem? But I think it's pretty safe to say that there is nobody more pissed off than post office workers. Are they nice in Estonia? Luckily I do most stuff online nowadays but when I have to go to the post office it's always an awful experience.

I would say it's more likely that the hours and wages are the problem. A few grumpy delivery workers aside, most people in Estonia are nice in general. You should come visit :) I don't know where you are but consider that the reasons your postal workers are pissed of may go deeper than simply being government employed. Could it be your state-owned services are being managed in way that makes their workers unhappy bec…

I'm in Poland, but I'm from Italy and I've lived in the U.S. for a few years. Worst post offices in Italy by far, but Poland and U.S. pretty similar.

Other low-paying jobs don't seem to generate the same amount of unhappiness.

I have no idea what the reason is, to me it's just that governments can't do anything right because they're too big with no oversight.

That's why I was complaining about socialism, anywhere I've been where the government runs more than just post offices it was hell.

In Poland, all these Soviet buildings and if you look at old pictures of people standing for hours in queues for bread. Truly horrific. I was recently in Cuba and even if they can't talk about it many people told me they would flee right away if they could, but the government doesn't give them passports. Socialism destroys everything.

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#95
post #75
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven't ever studied logic, I see. Look up "false dichotomy" to start with.

I'm a high school dropout. What are other economic systems..? Nobody seems to be able to answer, I would be happy to look them up to learn more about them.

Capitalism brooks no competition. You won’t find another economic system to study that isn’t markedly worse.

Look into what the Blackfoot Indians were doing. Their lifestyle inspired Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs — though he gets it pretty wrong IMO.

But here’s the thing: the Blackfoot didn’t really have an economic system divorced from other systems. It was all part of a whole that valued people and made sure everyone had what they needed.

Now here’s the kicker: Its my belief their society was based on spreading abundance. Whereas Capitalism is based on spreading scarcity.

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#96
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a high school dropout. What are other economic systems..? Nobody seems to be able to answer, I would be happy to look them up to learn more about them.

Capitalism brooks no competition. You won’t find another economic system to study that isn’t markedly worse. Look into what the Blackfoot Indians were doing. Their lifestyle inspired Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs — though he gets it pretty wrong IMO. But here’s the thing: the Blackfoot didn’t really have an economic system divorced from other systems. It was all part of a whole that valued people and made sure everyone…

OK, so there's capitalism, socialism, communism can't really exist, and then the Blackfoot Indians..?

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#97
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I guess investments, etc., but 1.5 years is a long time. I don't think I could go more than 2-3 months. Maybe I should start saving some money.

Location matters a LOT. The parent comment mentioned North America. This is huge. Tech salaries in Europe are half what they are in NA. In India, they're like 1/4 to 1/3. Saving is absolutely important, especially in such a layoff-ridden industry. You should really strive to get at least 6 months of living expenses into savings.

>In India, they're like 1/4 to 1/3.

My company pays 10k a year for an Indian contractor, full time. I don't know what their agency pays them, but it can't be even 1/4 of a typical NA SWE salary. More like 1/12th.

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#98
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably they haven't been living paycheck to paycheck for the past 19. It's not that difficult for a SWE in North America.

That's not rare for a SWE in NA. Difficult is another matter. Plenty of SWE's in NA are now staring down the barrel of not being able to afford their own home for much longer (or to afford their first home).

If you've been working for three years as a junior and just put down a big down payment on a house you can barely afford, yes, you're going to have problems.

If in 19 years as a SWE, you haven't saved up a lot of money, you are one or more of:

1. Incredibly unfortunate in the jobs you've been taking.

2. Have made some incredibly bad investments.

3. Are spending like a sailor, burning every dollar as it comes in.

4. Have gone through one or more absolute life catastrophes.

... Then yes, you are also likely to have financial problems if you're out of work for two years.

I don't mean to say that these are incredibly uncommon. They aren't, especially in people chasing the startup carrot and ending up with nothing but the brown, sticky bit.

But I think it's fair to say that a large number of people in the profession should have managed to avoid all four. (With #3 being the main 'avoidable' culprit, and with #4 being largely unavoidable.)

Consider that somehow, people making less than a quarter of our prevailing wages manage to live... Fairly comfortably.

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#99
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism brooks no competition. You won’t find another economic system to study that isn’t markedly worse. Look into what the Blackfoot Indians were doing. Their lifestyle inspired Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs — though he gets it pretty wrong IMO. But here’s the thing: the Blackfoot didn’t really have an economic system divorced from other systems. It was all part of a whole that valued people and made sure everyone…

OK, so there's capitalism, socialism, communism can't really exist, and then the Blackfoot Indians..?

You asked for a thing to research. So go do that and report back. Maybe it’s bullshit. Maybe you’ll do some research, be inspired, and change the whole world.

I dunno. I’m not an economist… have you asked an economist?

Edited to add: hey I found a use for AI; here’s a prompt for your favorite model:

“What economic systems have humans devised over the course of recorded history?”

:)

Re: The company I work for is losing all of its humanity, I don't know where to go

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might be needed if your salary expense has to be charged back to various internal accounts or to external clients. My first job was salaried, but I had to fill out a time sheet so clients could be billed.

Filling out a time sheet and clocking in and out are two different things. I have to fill in a time sheet, but I never ever clock in and out. If someone clocks in and out, they don't need a timesheet. It's automatically recorded.

I don't even fill out a timesheet; they just pay me. It was kind of shocking at first when my manager told me there wouldn't be any sort of time tracking.
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