3 ms·

Unless you're born with all the resources you'll ever need, you have to put in one kind of effort or another to secure them. Work never had to have meaning beyo

by gdulli 10y ago

Unless you're born with all the resources you'll ever need, you have to put in one kind of effort or another to secure them. Work never had to have meaning beyond being a way to stay alive. One just needed to accept that life wasn't going to be all leisure. I have a pretty comfortable job/career. I have a hard time saying I'm being exploited just because my work makes someone else richer to a greater extent than it makes me richer. It's engaging (enough) and I live well. I'm not putting my own resources at risk or making personal sacrifices. 20 years into my career and I've never burned out, probably because I never told myself I needed to, or was going to, change the world. And I made it my goal from the start to just find a job/life I was happy with.

betenoire 10y ago
I tend to agree with you. Being exploited sounds negative, and I assume most of the people using the term mean it that way. But it's not a necessary condition of "exploitation". And why wouldn't my employer take full advantage of my services that they are paying for?
- gdulli 10y ago
  Sure, if we're going by the clinical use of "exploit" without the negative connotations. I can more easily feel like I'm the one exploiting my employer. I get over $200K/year in salary and benefits to spend 40-50 hours/week doing what usually doesn't even feel much like work. I can work extra to get ahead when it would benefit me, or I can do the minimum at a given time. They have to give me free food and a top of the line computer and let me manage what time I come in and leave and what I wear. Because if they don't, I can find another company that will. I get a really nice bonus when the company does well but my comp doesn't go down if it's not doing well. I've spent more time at this job than I did in college, learning a lot here as well, and I can freely take that knowledge to another company whenever I want, I have no commitment here. Obviously it's not always like this. Not even within tech. But many of us can choose whether to see our jobs in a positive or negative light.
  - betenoire 10y ago
    > But many of us can choose whether to see our jobs in a positive or negative light. Right, that's the point.
  - frgtpsswrdlame 10y ago
    Of course it's easy to not feel exploited when you make an extremely large salary, get all sorts of benefits and get to learn useful, transferrable skills. The point is that you're in rare company, most Americans couldn't even dream of a job like that.
    - gdulli 10y ago
      I agree, that's why I objected to the "Even for tech workers, the novelty has worn off" sentiment. Most of us are very lucky compared to most other professions.
eli_gottlieb 10y ago
>Work never had to have meaning beyond being a way to stay alive. One just needed to accept that life wasn't going to be all leisure. That doesn't sound very passionate. You're fired! (joke, joke)

by gdulli 10y ago

betenoire 10y ago

I tend to agree with you. Being exploited sounds negative, and I assume most of the people using the term mean it that way. But it's not a necessary condition of "exploitation". And why wouldn't my employer take full advantage of my services that they are paying for?

gdulli 10y ago
Sure, if we're going by the clinical use of "exploit" without the negative connotations. I can more easily feel like I'm the one exploiting my employer. I get over $200K/year in salary and benefits to spend 40-50 hours/week doing what usually doesn't even feel much like work. I can work extra to get ahead when it would benefit me, or I can do the minimum at a given time. They have to give me free food and a top of the line computer and let me manage what time I come in and leave and what I wear. Because if they don't, I can find another company that will. I get a really nice bonus when the company does well but my comp doesn't go down if it's not doing well. I've spent more time at this job than I did in college, learning a lot here as well, and I can freely take that knowledge to another company whenever I want, I have no commitment here. Obviously it's not always like this. Not even within tech. But many of us can choose whether to see our jobs in a positive or negative light.
- betenoire 10y ago
  > But many of us can choose whether to see our jobs in a positive or negative light. Right, that's the point.
- frgtpsswrdlame 10y ago
  Of course it's easy to not feel exploited when you make an extremely large salary, get all sorts of benefits and get to learn useful, transferrable skills. The point is that you're in rare company, most Americans couldn't even dream of a job like that.
  - gdulli 10y ago
    I agree, that's why I objected to the "Even for tech workers, the novelty has worn off" sentiment. Most of us are very lucky compared to most other professions.

eli_gottlieb 10y ago

>Work never had to have meaning beyond being a way to stay alive. One just needed to accept that life wasn't going to be all leisure. That doesn't sound very passionate. You're fired! (joke, joke)