What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers • Hacker News Board

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#911

Post by rootusrootus » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 10:58 PM UTC

parpfish wrote: post #550

rootusrootus wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like we're probably going to have to give up something, most probably anonymity, to get back to anything like sanity. We'll see communities that are militantly anti-AI where it's hard to get in and easy to get kicked out, and it will probably cost money and require you to divulge who you really are. It could still be semi-anonymous at the user level but not at the administrative level. I'd like to see somethin…

Those plans might work to give a nice sane internet experience to the folks that are willing to put in some money and effort. But most people will still opt to stay on the slop-filled web because it’s free and because they like being angry. And as long as they stay the societal problems that stem from the toxic internet will live on.

I agree, it will filter for a certain kind of person, and most probably the people who are not a problem on today's Internet. If we cannot tamp down the filth that comes along with emphatic anonymity, then at least we can create some places without it. I'm getting to the point where I may pull the plug on my Internet as soon as I retire. Kinda hate to do that, because I remember when it didn't suck (at least not everywhere).

IMO once upon a time Facebook could have been that place, though maybe that ship has sailed now. There was a time when I thought they could choose to offer a premium experience for anyone willing to pay and there would have been a small but real subset of users who would go for it. Charge $25/mo (which I believe is approximately what they make off a normal US user) in return for zero ads, zero algorithm, complete control over the experience. Add another level above that which includes actively moderated members-only discussion forums.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#912

Post by johnnyanmac » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 11:29 PM UTC

andai wrote: post #313

marginalia_nu wrote: post #54

Saw a meme on mastodon the other day contrasting people of the '90s going online to escape from offline reality, and people of the '20s going offline to escape from online reality. There's something to that. I think a big part of it is just how incredibly toxic the web has become. If you spend any time online, as most tech workers do, you have exceptional resiliency if you're able to stay sane and level headed. Going…

Well it used to be that the government's job was to keep morale high. At some point that seems to have inverted. The coalition-of-Molochs appears to be finding it much more profitable to make everyone want to kill themselves. (Not sure if that's a great long-term strategy, but they seem to have thought this through.)

> but they seem to have thought this through

If there's one thing I'm confident of in my government, it's that they certainly did not think this through. Thus highlighting the core issue.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#913

Post by johnnyanmac » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 11:35 PM UTC

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #162

This dropped off the front page in the time I read it, I assume because of the controversial gate that favors upvotes to comments (which I am making worse by replying to others). It is a shame, because this really resonated with me. I've been working in tech for over 20 years now in various roles, and this is the least I have cared about it. I used to want to get better, and was constantly excited about learning new…

> Talking to him gives me hope for the future, the kids will be alright.

Not if current leadership has any say in it (and they do). I'm never really one who thinks "this generation is screwed" in the same way people go "kids these days". But I still use such sentiment. Because the generations before us did the exact opposite of leaving a seed for a tree they will never sit under. They are in fact trying to burn the forest down and kids will inherit the fire.

The kids will adjust, once the adults strop strangling them. Which at this point will probably need nature to work its course.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#914

Post by qwerpy » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 11:38 PM UTC

hellohello2 wrote: post #466

marginalia_nu wrote: post #54

Saw a meme on mastodon the other day contrasting people of the '90s going online to escape from offline reality, and people of the '20s going offline to escape from online reality. There's something to that. I think a big part of it is just how incredibly toxic the web has become. If you spend any time online, as most tech workers do, you have exceptional resiliency if you're able to stay sane and level headed. Going…

Yeah I'm not sure what happened but Reddit in particular is beyond saving, and I'm not saying it was ever great. I think we simply don't know how to create online communities that make any sense yet. I'd rather have second hand smoke than any more algorithmic "engagement" maximization at this point.

When people here complain about HN becoming Reddit, they get that snide HN guideline thrown at them. I mostly refuse to abide, and continue to call out and downvote/flag Reddit-tier comments. Fighting the redditization of HN is what will save this place.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#915

Post by johnnyanmac » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 11:41 PM UTC

cheschire wrote: post #218

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #162

This dropped off the front page in the time I read it, I assume because of the controversial gate that favors upvotes to comments (which I am making worse by replying to others). It is a shame, because this really resonated with me. I've been working in tech for over 20 years now in various roles, and this is the least I have cared about it. I used to want to get better, and was constantly excited about learning new…

I did the remote thing before Covid and rejected it for many of the same reasons. Then Covid happened and so many people got to experience it and loved it. But I still hated it while I was forced to. Every time I told anyone that I personally didn’t like working from home, and was excited about the return to office that would inevitably come, I got SHOUTED at. Absolutely flayed for not being 110% in support of this t…

Feels kind of sad. I wouldn't call myself an extrovert, but I did feel like one of the few people kinda hopeful about RTO back in my days. I got a total of 3 months of office time in my 2nd job before COVID locked everything down and I immediately missed that watercooler talk, hearing these renowned experts just casually talking about some of the crazy problem they did or are encountering and blooming seeds of new initiatives. I knew I wasn't going to get anything like that from an online Slack group, though there were efforts for it.

Time comes to potentially open the office back up, and I hear opines are mostly "nah, I don't ever want to go back into an office again". And I get it. Many of them were in industry for decades and have families at home they tend to. For that kind of environment, being able to WFH puts them closer to the people they truly care about. But for a single late 20's dude still adjusting to post-college life in a new town, it felt isolating even when offices technically opened up (on a true hybrid basis. 0 days? 5 days? all fine).

Even meetups post COVID just don't really feel the same. less frequent and a lot less people drifting in. I'm fine holing up in my place for days at a time, but I want some socialization with like minds.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#916

Post by burnte » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 11:46 PM UTC

uncivilized wrote: post #431

brushfoot wrote: post #372

"Knowledge work is mostly pointless" is the author's view, so his article (the fruit of knowledge work) should be measured by it. Amd that sentiment is hardly surprising, coming as it does from a Director of AI Operations (his title on LinkedIn).

Do you disagree that your work is pointless?

Absolutely. Across the board I reject that. Knowledge work is still work, knowledge is power. Those who can use knowledge are powerful. For over a decade I've helped transform healthcare businesses into stable, profitable companies that can grow and help more providers help more patients. My knowledge has helped 6 different companies grow and help people. In 6 months my coworkers and I took a company that was losing $15m a year and brought it to break even, and then on to profitable sales of the three different business units into larger companies those units have blossomed with. I cut $2m in spending but improved performance and reliability because I came in with 20 years of knowledge and experience.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#917

Post by burnte » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 11:52 PM UTC

dan_q wrote: post #708

mawadev wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea why we go down the route of "us" vs "them" type of thinking. Have you considered both sides to be an abstract kind of hell?

The "us" vs "them" thought pattern is the essence of "Western" (read: white, European, colonialist) culture, dating back to Plato's Republic. Marimba Ani's seminal work Yurugu is a sociological study of this culture from a non-western perspective. I can't recommend it strongly enough if you want to understand the nexus of social/psychological/epistemic factors that sustain the "us" vs "them" thought pattern and its c…

> The "us" vs "them" thought pattern is the essence of "Western" (read: white, European, colonialist) culture, dating back to Plato's Republic.

No, us vs them is an innate aspect of human psychology going back tens of millions of years. It is found in literally every single group of humans that numbers more than 20.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#918

Post by johnnyanmac » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 12:01 AM UTC

THX1137 wrote: post #286

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #162

This dropped off the front page in the time I read it, I assume because of the controversial gate that favors upvotes to comments (which I am making worse by replying to others). It is a shame, because this really resonated with me. I've been working in tech for over 20 years now in various roles, and this is the least I have cared about it. I used to want to get better, and was constantly excited about learning new…

> forcing me to go out every day and talk to human beings face to face, even just little things like making sure I was showered and dressed every day This part is strange to me. I've worked from home for about 10 years and I've never once had an issue with twice-daily showering, meeting people face-to-face, going out for coffee, going outdoors, going to the gym, etc. The fact I can just go sit in a park, on a hiking…

> I'm surprised at people who tell me that they are isolated by home work when there are so many opportunities for social and natural connection everywhere...

It begs the question of "with who"? If you have family/spouses then it makes sense. if you have a social circle it comes down to if they are also wfh and have time to meetup for lunch or whatnot. Which is iffy these days. If you have no one... well, you don't have anyone taking you away from the computer and are tempted to just stay at your workstation. Nothing else is waiting for you.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#919

Post by johnnyanmac » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 12:03 AM UTC

shimman wrote: post #910

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #814

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am very jealous of you.

Unless you live in a self isolated monastery you have neighbors and the only person stopping you from making friends is yourself.

neighbors farther along in life than I. Story of my life, pretty much. I'm in an awkward gernation of being some 10 years older than a lot of other kidsa my parents were friends with. But still 15 ish years behind the parent generation with everyone having kids and families to tend to. And that's before getting into shared interests like tech or art or whatnot, which further filters out potential friends.

I dunno. Maybe this is simply the issues of a suburb where I'm clearly not at the heart of some urban sprawl.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#920

Post by johnnyanmac » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 12:10 AM UTC

xlii wrote: post #85

Long long time ago people in tech were in tech because of the tech. Then, at some point, being in tech became a gilded profession and everyone: salesmen, artists, clerks etc. joined in. Not because they wanted to be in tech. They wanted gold. For years it was working, but right now things shifted. You can no longer just do the thing you learned for a job and continue doing so, because landscape shifted. So they're mi…

>For people I know who are in tech for the tech nothing changed

I'd say I'm in tech for tech. Everything changed, the social contract was defiled. The gold rush was always temporary, but the act of "getting a job in tech" (which was already an excessive process) became a wild goose chase itself. I can't even just hope for a boring bank job making 90k anymore (which was always told as my reassurance "if all else fails). We're just in a broken system, now.

My goals aren't derailed, but my career sure was.