4 ms·

I mean just think of how many tens of thousands of individuals are employed building, designing, and selling the nth re-iteration of a CRM product that already

I mean just think of how many tens of thousands of individuals are employed building, designing, and selling the nth re-iteration of a CRM product that already exists on the market and is virtually indistinguishable from one another

chrisco255 8y ago
The market has a solution for that: competition. Any CRM that fails to distinguish itself will eventually fade out of existence. Those individuals make a choice to work where they are, doing what they do. Let's not pretend they have no agency. And if customers find the CRM product valuable to them, then those thousands of individuals are performing a valuable service for the world. Saving time, improving efficiency, these are all noble things to strive for. It's not a small thing. There's no such thing as a bullshit job.
- bhl 8y ago
  In an ideal economic world, yes, employees would have perfect information about a market and make changes accordingly, being rational agents and all of that yada yada. But for the average worker, that’s just simply not true: the job market is imperfect and labor is often sticky.
- dominotw 8y ago
  1. My company has massive first mover advantage and inertia. All other players have exited the space because all other players were driven out by deep discounts that my company was offering via VC money to capture the market. Now the market is impermeable to any new players. 2. My manager is not really watching out for companies overall profitability. His main goal is to make himself look good and have some BS "accomplishments" on his resume, rise as high as possible in the chain. Eventually this company will go down( for the reasons u mentioned) and my manager will find a new job with his buddies at new place. Repeat.
  - chrisco255 8y ago
    Sure, maybe in the short term BS companies survive...but long term they don't. How many companies are still around that were here 100 years ago? 50 years ago? 25 years ago?
    - dominotw 8y ago
      > How many companies are still around that were here 100 years ago? 50 years ago? 25 years ago? Why did these companies go down if there aren't any bullshit jobs?
      - chrisco255 8y ago
        Because they were valuable at one time and then they faded into un-profitability. See Sears, Roebuck & Co. Companies, industries, and jobs all have lives just like organisms. We don't look at a dead person and claim their life was bullshit, because they died, do we?
        dominotw 8y ago
        > We don't look at a dead person and claim their life was bullshit, because they died, do we? So every company has a fixed lifetime like human beings, because its law of nature. :D
        HNLurker2 8y ago
        Every companies died with the people technology (whale oil lamps died out after new invention).
- notfromhere 8y ago
  the jobs they're doing are profitable, but it's not useful. You're not doing anything meaningful or beneficial on a societal scale by creating an iteration of a CRUD app that already exists
  - chrisco255 8y ago
    Who's the judge of that? The market. The customers. Not you, not me. If they're profitable, then they're providing value to someone.
    - notfromhere 8y ago
      the market is not a good judge of value

chrisco255 8y ago

The market has a solution for that: competition. Any CRM that fails to distinguish itself will eventually fade out of existence. Those individuals make a choice to work where they are, doing what they do. Let's not pretend they have no agency. And if customers find the CRM product valuable to them, then those thousands of individuals are performing a valuable service for the world. Saving time, improving efficiency, these are all noble things to strive for. It's not a small thing. There's no such thing as a bullshit job.

bhl 8y ago
In an ideal economic world, yes, employees would have perfect information about a market and make changes accordingly, being rational agents and all of that yada yada. But for the average worker, that’s just simply not true: the job market is imperfect and labor is often sticky.
dominotw 8y ago
1. My company has massive first mover advantage and inertia. All other players have exited the space because all other players were driven out by deep discounts that my company was offering via VC money to capture the market. Now the market is impermeable to any new players. 2. My manager is not really watching out for companies overall profitability. His main goal is to make himself look good and have some BS "accomplishments" on his resume, rise as high as possible in the chain. Eventually this company will go down( for the reasons u mentioned) and my manager will find a new job with his buddies at new place. Repeat.
- chrisco255 8y ago
  Sure, maybe in the short term BS companies survive...but long term they don't. How many companies are still around that were here 100 years ago? 50 years ago? 25 years ago?
  - dominotw 8y ago
    > How many companies are still around that were here 100 years ago? 50 years ago? 25 years ago? Why did these companies go down if there aren't any bullshit jobs?
    - chrisco255 8y ago
      Because they were valuable at one time and then they faded into un-profitability. See Sears, Roebuck & Co. Companies, industries, and jobs all have lives just like organisms. We don't look at a dead person and claim their life was bullshit, because they died, do we?
      - dominotw 8y ago
        > We don't look at a dead person and claim their life was bullshit, because they died, do we? So every company has a fixed lifetime like human beings, because its law of nature. :D
        HNLurker2 8y ago
        Every companies died with the people technology (whale oil lamps died out after new invention).
notfromhere 8y ago
the jobs they're doing are profitable, but it's not useful. You're not doing anything meaningful or beneficial on a societal scale by creating an iteration of a CRUD app that already exists
- chrisco255 8y ago
  Who's the judge of that? The market. The customers. Not you, not me. If they're profitable, then they're providing value to someone.
  - notfromhere 8y ago
    the market is not a good judge of value