4 ms·

Chinese workers aren't poorly educated as such, even if those still exist of course. Contrary to popular belief what make China succeed in manufacturing is ampl

by hoaw 8y ago

Chinese workers aren't poorly educated as such, even if those still exist of course. Contrary to popular belief what make China succeed in manufacturing is ample supply of semi-skilled workers. A lot of Chinese factories aren't that sophisticated overall. In a smaller factories equipment might be domestic Chinese or second hand Japanese/Korean equipment. Every few days, or even multiple times an hour, the machines needs help or maintenance. A light will go red and a machine operator will come an poke it for a bit until it works again. Poking a machine a bit is like a revered hobby in the west, if not a $100k job. And you can barely buy a screw retail. All so the rich can get richer through rents.

ethbro 8y ago
This is a good point. It feels like we've chased hyperefficiency in the West by specializing processes and workers. The end result is that you have great jobs, but no good jobs. Because you've eliminated room for them in the economy.
- hoaw 8y ago
  Or even worse, we still a lot of the really crappy jobs. Where people have no education and very little security. Basically anything that requires some sort of community seems to be diminishing. Which is really the multiplier for human activity. Seemingly even nurses, teacher and policemen are struggling now and it is hard to deny that those professions are pretty crucial to society.
  - ethbro 8y ago
    So, I can speak to some of that authoritatively. I work in enterprise process automation and date a nurse. From what I see, any deterministic back-office job that can be documented is gone by 2024 in leading enterprise companies (various tech). With first-order analysis jobs following in another 5 years (basic feedback ml). In critical professions, there's a labor-vs-capital struggle. There's a critical shortage of workers (e.g. a nurse can get a job anywhere, tomorrow), but they're seen as cost-centers by the for-profit companies that are managing most of the employers (i.e. hospitals). So you get sluggish wage growth and chronical overwork / shortages as the management companies optimize for financials by delivering just enough service.
paradoxparalax 8y ago
"light will go red and a machine operator will come an poke it for a bit until it works again" This was exactly what I remember, and literally the guy will take a tool that is not a hammer, a screw-wrench, and hit the shit out of the machine like it was a hammer, and then loose some screw, and then bang-bang again, and then tighten some other screw... Even the young, like 26 y.o. guy , from faraway Sichuan Province thats works doing this will receive a respectul title... ... and will be called a "Gong" (engineer) For example, if the guy's name is Zhao, he will be called with respect even by the bilionaire owner of the factory with the name and title: "Zhao Gong". Some old Eletric/industrial design like 66 years old are making good bucks still kicking, no one is at Key West drinking margheritas...

by hoaw 8y ago

ethbro 8y ago

This is a good point. It feels like we've chased hyperefficiency in the West by specializing processes and workers. The end result is that you have great jobs, but no good jobs. Because you've eliminated room for them in the economy.

hoaw 8y ago
Or even worse, we still a lot of the really crappy jobs. Where people have no education and very little security. Basically anything that requires some sort of community seems to be diminishing. Which is really the multiplier for human activity. Seemingly even nurses, teacher and policemen are struggling now and it is hard to deny that those professions are pretty crucial to society.
- ethbro 8y ago
  So, I can speak to some of that authoritatively. I work in enterprise process automation and date a nurse. From what I see, any deterministic back-office job that can be documented is gone by 2024 in leading enterprise companies (various tech). With first-order analysis jobs following in another 5 years (basic feedback ml). In critical professions, there's a labor-vs-capital struggle. There's a critical shortage of workers (e.g. a nurse can get a job anywhere, tomorrow), but they're seen as cost-centers by the for-profit companies that are managing most of the employers (i.e. hospitals). So you get sluggish wage growth and chronical overwork / shortages as the management companies optimize for financials by delivering just enough service.

paradoxparalax 8y ago

"light will go red and a machine operator will come an poke it for a bit until it works again" This was exactly what I remember, and literally the guy will take a tool that is not a hammer, a screw-wrench, and hit the shit out of the machine like it was a hammer, and then loose some screw, and then bang-bang again, and then tighten some other screw... Even the young, like 26 y.o. guy , from faraway Sichuan Province thats works doing this will receive a respectul title... ... and will be called a "Gong" (engineer) For example, if the guy's name is Zhao, he will be called with respect even by the bilionaire owner of the factory with the name and title: "Zhao Gong". Some old Eletric/industrial design like 66 years old are making good bucks still kicking, no one is at Key West drinking margheritas...