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We are complicit in our employer’s deeds

(drewdevault.com)
215 points LaSombra | 4 comments | 05 May 20 13:04 UTC | HN request time: 1.978s | source
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spaced-out ◴[05 May 20 14:38 UTC] No.23080465[source]▶
We technologists like to pretend we're powerful, that we could bring these giant megacorps to their knees because those fancy suits need us, right?

No. They need an engineer, not any one specific engineer. Companies like Amazon reject many candidates that could probably do the job they applied for, but were rejected because they can afford to be picky. If anything changes at Amazon it not be because of the loss of that guy's engineering skills.

What would actually make the world a better place is if we recognized that we're really just well paid technicians, and that the true power in society is held by a relatively small number of people who hold a massive amount of capital. We need to give up the fantasy that we can change things with individual action, and start looking towards collective, society-level solutions to the problems today.

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1. random9763 ◴[05 May 20 15:18 UTC] No.23080926[source]▶
Engineers should begin to understand that they are not some enlightened beings that have somehow grown beyond the need for workplace organization. They are still cogs in the machine that can be replaced at any time; pricey cogs for sure, and replacing them may take some time, but they are still cogs.
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2. stronglikedan ◴[05 May 20 15:25 UTC] No.23081006[source]▶
Indeed, and even the ones where "replacing them may take some time" are only a very small percentage.
3. inetknght ◴[05 May 20 15:46 UTC] No.23081290[source]▶
> Engineers should begin to understand that they are not some enlightened beings that have somehow grown beyond the need for workplace organization. They are still cogs in the machine that can be replaced at any time

This kind of thinking is exactly why Amazon warehouse workers are fed up.

4. stjohnswarts ◴[05 May 20 18:52 UTC] No.23083428[source]▶
That's why you have to learn to live for your own "selfish" good as opposed to giving yourself to your company. You use them like they use you. That's why I have worked for an assortment of companies that HN would turn their noses up to. I would never work with an "evil"company per se, but companies that don't do "life changing" or "socially aware" software is perfectly okay with me. Software is just a tool in my tool box to live the life that I want to live. Let go of the rat race and find out who you are. A yacht, a sports-car, a superb algorithm, a vapid partner on your arm, will never make you happy or feel like you're living your best life. Don't let work become your life. Otherwise you'll just be a burnt out programmer, salesperson, businessperson, or whatever, it's not a field that's doing it to you, it's yourself.