Paul Graham on Remote Work

Re:Paul Graham on Remote Work by MortimerDukePhD on Monday June 12, 2023 @02:31AM (#36289194)

Your list of first-world grievances also describes: healthcare workers, literally anyone in the trades, grocery store employees, retail, etc. At some point tech employees have convinced themselves that they are likewise "essential" employees and deserving of special exceptions. But the fact of the matter is most tech jobs, apps, etc. could go away tomorrow and life would continue unabated (in contrast to the list above). Sure, with mild inconveniences, but society will find a way. It also proves how easily replaceable you are by employees in developing countries who are glad to show up in person to the office (for 1/6th the pay).

Also, who doesn't bring their own coffee from home vs. drinking the three-day-old moldy diarrhea at the office?

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Re:Paul Graham on Remote Work by aleph_minus_one on Monday June 12, 2023 @03:22AM (#36289604)

> Your list of first-world grievances also describes: healthcare workers, literally anyone in the trades, grocery store employees, retail, etc. At some point tech employees have convinced themselves that they are likewise "essential" employees and deserving of special exceptions. But the fact of the matter is most tech jobs, apps, etc. could go away tomorrow and life would continue unabated (in contrast to the list above).

Honestly, if multiple of my colleagues would quit their jobs in the department where I work at (or simply all became sick or took vacation at the same time (the latter can of course not be allowed)), whole departments of the big company where we work at might stand still at least for weeks. The central reason this all has not yet ended in a huge disaster is a quite capable section head who

- manages to stick the department together (to avoid quite a lot of people quitting as has happened in other sections)

- for some reason is able to play the political game with his superior really well

Field of work: "shadow IT" (DevOps work) at a well-known big company.

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Re:Paul Graham on Remote Work by KnobbleMcKnees on Monday June 12, 2023 @05:29AM (#36290646)

My old offices had two espresso machines and a drip machine, all cleaned on a bi weekly cadence by professionals. Fresh coffee arrived from a local roasters every Monday morning. Seven different varieties of milk are provided for the frother. Much better than my home setup... And yet here I am, still working from home.

I hope this serves as an example of why tethering your understanding of working needs to your extremely limited experience - as it is for all of us - makes your argument a bunch of weak anecdotes that add little to the debate.

Talking of limited experience - you think that the tech industry can disappear overnight and life will just "continue unabated"? Yikes.

"We can always go back to the stone ages", sure, sure we can.

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