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Google wants Geographers with masters degrees to drive their Google Street View cars for minimum wage in Seattle. Their requirements are ridiculous for their lo
by trome 10y ago
Google wants Geographers with masters degrees to drive their Google Street View cars for minimum wage in Seattle. Their requirements are ridiculous for their lowend positions.
- differentView 10y agoIt's not ridiculous as long as there are Geographers with masters degrees willing to take those jobs.
- jdavis703 10y agoActually it is ridiculous. Why were public funds spent on giving someone advanced education to drive around? Is there nothing better society can do with such skills?
- differentView 10y agoIt absolutely is not ridiculous on Google's part. You're making some other point.
- Baeocystin 10y agoIt absolutely is. If the best you can do with someone with an advanced degree is make them drive a car, you're wasting a valuable mind on a menial task.
- Trundle 10y agoIf it was a valuable mind then surely the owner of it would opt to do a more valuable activity than drive a car around? Google is just providing an option. Should they be binning applications for the position that include degrees?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- matt_wulfeck 10y agoHow pretentious of you to decide what's best for someone else. Your job shaming just reinforces the notion that everyone must get a higher education degree or GTFO. Maybe people doing the job enjoy it or are doing it part time or find that the resume benefits outweigh the pay? Either way there's nothing inherently wrong with a job that requires you to drive around all day. Work is work regardless of if you look down your nose at it as "menial".
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- abiox 10y ago> Your job shaming just reinforces the notion that everyone must get a higher education degree or GTFO. i think they were simply remarking that someone had an advanced degree and it wasn't being put to use. this point is really about the system/world/situation and not so much about individuals. > there's nothing inherently wrong with a job that requires you to drive around all day seems like a red herring.
- Baeocystin 10y agoRe-read what I said, because you are responding to something that has nothing to do with any of my claim. Restated: If you spend 8+ years and tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn something, not putting it to use is a colossal waste of resources for everyone involved. It's not just you. It's the seat you took from another student who would have appreciated it more.
- manigandham 10y agoThat's the same thing. It's not up to you to define "waste of resources" based on what someone chose to learn.
- Baeocystin 10y agoI have a different perspective. Education is resource-constrained, and learners do not exist in a vacuum. In my opinion, it is the height of ego to refuse to make use knowledge that so many others have spent time and effort to teach.
- abiox 10y ago> It absolutely is while i agree with your sentiment about not at all utilizing the potential of an advanced education, i'm not sure how google is "at fault" here... assuming this resume requirement is real: is it google's fault there is a sufficient supply of master's holders willing to drive for minimum wage, such that they're content having the requirement?
- Baeocystin 10y agoNo. But it very much is their fault for making such an asinine requirement. I have no doubt it actually hurts them, too. Turnover is expensive, and someone who has an advanced degree will bail for better prospects as soon as possible.
- manigandham 10y agoWhy would they not ask for higher requirements as long as the jobs continue to be filled? You seem to have a problem with the wrong thing.
- Baeocystin 10y agoThat very attitude (that higher degrees=better at everything) is what I have the problem with. Not only is it demonstrably not true, but it comes with real consequences. An entire generation is being saddled with crippling amounts of debt because of attitudes like this, and we all lose because of it. Our society becomes lopsided, with not enough jobs for college grads to enable most to pay off their student debt, and not enough tradesfolk to fill the ever-widening gap between our needs and who can do the work. Please note that I am not talking about learning in general. Lifelong learning is fundamental. But there are other paths to knowledge beyond a 4-year college.
- abiox 10y agothere was a candidate that wanted to address the "crippling amounts of debt" issue, but that movement was cut off at the knees.
- wtvanhest 10y agoWhile it is off topic, the other point is interesting
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- shard972 10y agoIt's kind of expected when in the US you have a culture of "everyone has to go to university or you are worthless".
- katzgrau 10y agoI'd probably make the argument that it's an overemphasis on the principles of supply and demand (capitalism) that make one potentially worthless. If there are enough geographers with graduate degrees applying for the gig even at minimum wage pay, you pay them minimum wage. In the US (and let's be real, most of the world), capitalism trumps altruism (paying someone more than their market value because you're nice). We exploit our own kind - it's always been that way, and there have always been a sufficient number of justifications (whether you agree with them or not) to keep up the practice.
- aianus 10y agoYou see exploitation, I see a market signal to high schoolers and undergraduates telling them we have enough graduate-level geographers, encouraging them to pursue something else and eventually making us all more prosperous in the future.
- elastic_church 10y agoI see cheap labor on mechanical turk woohoo upvotes are in my future for 1 cent!
- katzgrau 10y agoSure, just two different ways of looking at the same thing. I personally view all employment as fundamental exploitation. Obviously you only hire employees with the intention to extract more value than what you give back in compensation. Some employers are downright extreme in this exercise. I'm not against all of it. I just appreciate viewing things from as many perspectives as possible, uncomfortable or not.
- 10y ago
- Gargoyle 10y agoAnd if you profit from Google stock/options/rsus/whatever, you're benefiting from this exploitation.
- SamReidHughes 10y agoThose poor master's degree havers!
- hnbroseph 10y agoan american having a master's degree and getting low wages could mean they're indeed poor. a near-lifetime of non-dischargeable debt repayment.
- SamReidHughes 10y agoThey're clearly people who had choices in life.
- chillwaves 10y agoThat categorization encompasses what.. 98% of everyone? Your bar for sympathy may be a bit high.
- SamReidHughes 10y agoWell it's certainly not going to include people that have $13/hr jobs in America.
- hnbroseph 10y agowell, they presumably weren't born into slavery only to be worked brutally hard then tortured and murdered by a slave owner, so i guess they're worthy of a sneer or two.
- SamReidHughes 10y ago