1) The notion that one is "doing something wrong" by not being able or willing to enforce a strict separation between work and one's private life seems almost sociopathic. When one sells one's labour his mind and emotions are - like it or not - part of the sale. It's simply the human condition. To absolutely abrogate all of one's interests, in the service of a "boss", requires an austerity of mind that perhaps Mithaldu and some others can perform without difficulty, but which for many is impossible.
2) One could (well, I probably couldn't) make the case that the degree of exploitation that characterises all relations between "boss" and employee is sufficient to permit the importation of at least some safety valve - some kind of relaxation, be it 10 mins personal email, facebook, whatever - in compensation. Indeed if you want to take the employer's POV, it's surely a good thing.
I don't think I've been particularly accurate here but it's a fuzzy approximation of the beginnings of a response!
Note that upwork isn't running a continuous stream, but only taking screenshots every 10 minutes.
On a more serious note: No, i am not. Only in my work life.
But, I lived in these conditions the past. One day I said to myself, I don't want this anymore, and quit.
What is preventing you to change your life for the better? :)
So i guess the only thing keeping me from making things even better than they already are is finding technical clients with Perl work that pay on the level of ~100$/h.
I had problems with non-technical clients as well. What helped me was calling them 2-5 times a week, depending on how insecure they feel.
It was horrible to me, too :D
I just noticed that people were more douchy on chat/email than on phone, so I started to call them when they started to rage online, haha.
I don't know one engineer who actually does this. The company doesn't own you. They can't dictate your life, thinking anything else is wrong. You own the labour, ergo you own the company, if their business process can't fit itself in your life, they can fuck right off.
Then again, workers here also enjoy a lot more protections than in other countries, so maybe it's the lack of feeling at odds with the company so much.
Really? This is the first time i've ever heard that. In fact just recently minimum wages have been raised here and many shops complained bitterly.
+ German workers have a lot more protections from actual surveillance compared to many other countries (video surveillance, E-Mail and Internet monitoring, ...).
The actual implementation still depends on the company and the job, as probably everywhere. People that have to be there certain hours to be reachable by customers etc have different attitudes than people who can do their job and leave once they are done for the day, some people mind disruptions more, some people don't care or feel under-paid, ...
You replace the private key with a new one that hasn't been compromised.
> Are you willing to forfeit 10 minutes of time to keep your SSH or whatever else uncompromised?
Too late, it already is.
> Or are you going to trust Upwork and your client to not somehow leak it, even accidentally?
See above. You've already leaked it, it is now compromised and needs replacing. It sucks, but if you adopt a different approach, you're risking a lot of trouble down the road. Private keys are private. The moment you leak it, accidentally or otherwise, it's no longer private and should be replaced.
It seems like dealing with checking for sensitive onscreen information every 10 minutes could be kind of flow-destroying.
Well, remember where this attitude took Germany in the previous century....
(tongue in cheek)
The difference here is of course that in the DDR you weren't asked if it's ok to listen in on you. ;)
>The difference here is of course that in the DDR you weren't asked if it's ok to listen in on you. ;)
Yes, but if enough big companies get away with this, then having a choice of "not using Upwork if you don't like it" wont matter much, because you'll be missing where most of the clients are.
In other words, you could still take the principled stance, but it will cost you.
Yes, you can game it even so, but it would be at least inconvenient for you.
Besides, if you do keep the stuff you don't want your client to see on another machine, then there's no reason to worry about being "spied" on. :)
It's been years since I've been an employee on any sites like that, but I still think the system is pretty bad. Just start with small projects and then scale up for high performing freelancers and don't offer repeat work to low performers.
Each snapshot is accompanied by a note of what you're working on as well (if you make one). If you're dealing with a client who'd question that, AND not accept/understand explanations, then you'd be dealing with many more problems from them as well, particularly without a work diary.
A screenshot taken every 10 minutes in no way proves you aren't slacking off. Your assertion that it protects you like this is specious.
It doesn't mean that IF i get the question, i can say "just look at the log".
It means that i have gotten questions like that and similar before (think "keep a regular logbook of what you're working on") in other jobs; and have never gotten anything like that on Upwork.
You might argue my clients are simply different, and it's possible, but i think i simply don't get things like that because they feel comfortable enough with my work and are mollified by the logs if they have worries.
If i'm employed in an office and working at my work pc, not only is the machine often administrated by the company i am doing work for, and thus may have additional software in there, even if it's as simple as a VNC server. It is also on their premises and the screen plainly visible to cameras or other employees that may be around. In the case of open plan offices or offices separated with glass walls, usually straight across the entire office. When i'm in the office i'm supposed to be working, and the machine is supposed to be used for work purposes. Not for entertainment or other personal things.
Similarly, when i am billing hours in the upwork client, i am supposed to be working, not playing around. So the machine does not have private things running on it at the time i am working. The things on screen are work-related and ok to be seen by my clients.
In my view, using my past work experiences as a guide line, same as in the office, if there are things in the screen that i would not want the client to see (or my coworkers/bosses in the office to see) it means that i am doing something wrong and not separating work/private properly.
Mind, if it does happen, it is easy to delete the screenshot even before it is sent on the wire, though that forfeits 10 minutes of billing, which as explained above, is to me exactly as it should be, since i was doing private things on client time.
So i don't see it as an undue burden. It just ensures that i am actually doing what the agreement between the two of us says i should be doing.
And this has a vital advantage to me:
The client can simply look and quickly see that i was working actively on his work, and i don't need to field questions like "This is taking a long time, are you slacking off?", which i then have to answer with "this particular bit is hard and complicated, just trust me on this".