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There's a middle ground where you have a life and also a fulfilling job that you care about. Finding that middle ground, and the job and lifestyle that allow it

There's a middle ground where you have a life and also a fulfilling job that you care about. Finding that middle ground, and the job and lifestyle that allow it, is important for putting out a sustainable effort and not burning yourself out. I've never been able to put my full effort into jobs where I felt like a mercenary in the way that you described. I've found that breeds a more dangerous (existential) form of burnout, where you feel like you're spending a solid chunk of your lifetime on something that means nothing to you.

myWindoonn 8y ago
You hit on something important. I did feel like I was spending a solid chunk of my lifetime on something that, worse than meaning nothing, I felt might ultimately mean the erosion of rights for many folks, and I did it as an unwitting cog. I have heard myths of good employers, but I doubt that they exist. Americans have this delusion that jobs should be part of their identity. Fuck that shit. Brands are terrible; recall the etymology [0] and then think twice about being branded. Employers have no loyalty to employees. I've been fucked by every HR department for good-Samaritan behavior and I don't know anybody who hasn't. Employment today is a losers' bargain, where we give up unreasonable amounts of personal autonomy in exchange for a meager pittance. Nobody is paid what they're worth; hilariously, you will find people here on HN defending this practice as necessary for business. When people defend the concept of business, they reveal themselves as servants of Mammon. Business itself is not an end, but supposedly only a means, and even then only supposedly a way of outdoing a planned economy. By giving business itself a value in our society, we invite ourselves to be turned into hamsters in wheels. And not even good hamster-wheels! The software that we use in our daily lives, the good software, the software produced with care and concern and quality, is overwhelmingly produced by academics, by volunteers, by amateurs, by R&D groups, by patronage, by government sponsorship, by weekend projects, and (most gallingly) by full-time employees who write code without explicit managerial approval and don't ask for permission. Just think: The nerve of those FTEs to write code that would become our text editors! How dare they! They should have been working on what their employer told them to work on; that is good business! And yet it is only because of employees ignoring employer desires that we are able to enjoy our current degree of openness and freedom. So yes, I'm existentially burnt-out. Aren't you? Your username indicates that you're at Google. How meaningful is your current project? How many people do you know who are unassigned and spend their time on the roof of the Hooli building? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock_branding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock_branding
- deleted 8y ago
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myWindoonn 8y ago

You hit on something important. I did feel like I was spending a solid chunk of my lifetime on something that, worse than meaning nothing, I felt might ultimately mean the erosion of rights for many folks, and I did it as an unwitting cog. I have heard myths of good employers, but I doubt that they exist. Americans have this delusion that jobs should be part of their identity. Fuck that shit. Brands are terrible; recall the etymology [0] and then think twice about being branded. Employers have no loyalty to employees. I've been fucked by every HR department for good-Samaritan behavior and I don't know anybody who hasn't. Employment today is a losers' bargain, where we give up unreasonable amounts of personal autonomy in exchange for a meager pittance. Nobody is paid what they're worth; hilariously, you will find people here on HN defending this practice as necessary for business. When people defend the concept of business, they reveal themselves as servants of Mammon. Business itself is not an end, but supposedly only a means, and even then only supposedly a way of outdoing a planned economy. By giving business itself a value in our society, we invite ourselves to be turned into hamsters in wheels. And not even good hamster-wheels! The software that we use in our daily lives, the good software, the software produced with care and concern and quality, is overwhelmingly produced by academics, by volunteers, by amateurs, by R&D groups, by patronage, by government sponsorship, by weekend projects, and (most gallingly) by full-time employees who write code without explicit managerial approval and don't ask for permission. Just think: The nerve of those FTEs to write code that would become our text editors! How dare they! They should have been working on what their employer told them to work on; that is good business! And yet it is only because of employees ignoring employer desires that we are able to enjoy our current degree of openness and freedom. So yes, I'm existentially burnt-out. Aren't you? Your username indicates that you're at Google. How meaningful is your current project? How many people do you know who are unassigned and spend their time on the roof of the Hooli building? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock_branding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock_branding

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]