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Not true. You spend three years "on the job", and the result is the same for blue- and white collar work. Most sysadmins in Germany that I know (some of them t

• beat 10y ago
  I'm not saying craftsmanship no longer exists. Computer ops in particular is a strong source of craft. But in general, my point holds. Many jobs that once had a strong craft tradition have been rendered obsolete by technological advance, or fragmented into meaninglessness by scientific management principles. My wife's grandfather has a stunning 19th century grandfather clock. It's made of beautifully carved wood, handmade gears, gorgeous engraving and inlays, the obvious result of hundreds of hours of highly skilled labor. It's huge,and it's not very accurate. Moreover, the fine craftsmanship is nowhere near as precise as a cheap kid's watch today. At this moment, I have three different clocks within reach of my hand. They're all synced to millisecond accuracy against an official atomic clock. They all cost pennies at most, and cannot be made by human hands. There is no point in grandfather clocks today, except as family heirlooms or decoration. That's what I'm talking about. Jobs like clock-making have been obliterated. Whole industries. Most "jobs" today are either white-collar brain work, or mere cogs in a wheel developed by someone else.