3 ms·

>even the lowest employees Why is the janitor considered "the lowest employee" by you?

martyvis 7y ago
In most companies the level is demonstrated by the investment in the employee's career. I would imagine janitors :- * Get the lowest salary * Are often outsourced with lowest priced bidder winning * Don't get on programs like bonuses, training, career advancement * Aren't used in company marketing (Imagine "We have the best cleaned offices")
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
scarejunba 7y ago
Amusing aside: once I was talking to this engineer on the phone and he was talking about driver development and I, in an attempt to relate, remarked that that sounds rather hard and that it's been a while since I wrote low-level software like that. Somehow that came across as insulting what he did as of low skill level. Oops! Awful faux pas. I think I managed to clarify but I've decided to use less ambiguous words next time ("close to the metal", for instance).
- chaosite 7y ago
  This is solved (or exacerbated, depending on your point of view) in non-English speaking environments that nonetheless use English terms of art. In my case, we use "low-level" (in English) to convey the "close to the metal", systems programming idea, and the direct translation of "low-level" to refer to shoddy code.
- qazpot 7y ago
  I think you are unnecessarily censoring yourself. Low-level software in computer circles means that it is closer to the metal and no computer engineer in their right mind will consider low-level software to mean software that require less skill to write.
  - suprfnk 7y ago
    > no computer engineer in their right mind will consider low-level software to mean software that require less skill to write. In my experience, it's generally the opposite. Low level is seen as very hard and arcane.
    - Chris2048 7y ago
      Exactly, and any low-level (assembly/machine) engineer would be unlikely unaware of the high/low-level terminology.
    - Izkata 7y ago
      > > low level does not mean less skill to write > low level is very hard and arcane > the opposite Umm...
- jawilson2 7y ago
  When I first started grad school as a biomedical engineer, I did a rotation in a neurophysiologist lab who was looking at how turtle neurons are able to survive longer without oxygen, hoping along the way to apply it to stroke survival, etc. But, his overall goal was to learn about how the brain stem controls respiration. I described this guy and his lab to my parents as a "basic science" which they took to mean it was simple "easy" science. In reality he has studied the same square millimeter of turtle brain and a few proteins for decades, and knows it better probably than anyone who has ever lived. In these contexts, "basic" and "low-level" means "insane level of detail that no one else wants to bother with."
- stronglikedan 7y ago
  If he was an engineer who didn't know what "low-level software" meant, then he was also a low-level engineer, so you weren't wrong either way.
  - scarejunba 7y ago
    Haha, you know I felt that way too, but I didn't want my pre-existing biases to intrude.

In most companies the level is demonstrated by the investment in the employee's career. I would imagine janitors :- * Get the lowest salary * Are often outsourced with lowest priced bidder winning * Don't get on programs like bonuses, training, career advancement * Aren't used in company marketing (Imagine "We have the best cleaned offices")

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

scarejunba 7y ago

Amusing aside: once I was talking to this engineer on the phone and he was talking about driver development and I, in an attempt to relate, remarked that that sounds rather hard and that it's been a while since I wrote low-level software like that. Somehow that came across as insulting what he did as of low skill level. Oops! Awful faux pas. I think I managed to clarify but I've decided to use less ambiguous words next time ("close to the metal", for instance).

chaosite 7y ago
This is solved (or exacerbated, depending on your point of view) in non-English speaking environments that nonetheless use English terms of art. In my case, we use "low-level" (in English) to convey the "close to the metal", systems programming idea, and the direct translation of "low-level" to refer to shoddy code.
qazpot 7y ago
I think you are unnecessarily censoring yourself. Low-level software in computer circles means that it is closer to the metal and no computer engineer in their right mind will consider low-level software to mean software that require less skill to write.
- suprfnk 7y ago
  > no computer engineer in their right mind will consider low-level software to mean software that require less skill to write. In my experience, it's generally the opposite. Low level is seen as very hard and arcane.
  - Chris2048 7y ago
    Exactly, and any low-level (assembly/machine) engineer would be unlikely unaware of the high/low-level terminology.
  - Izkata 7y ago
    > > low level does not mean less skill to write > low level is very hard and arcane > the opposite Umm...
jawilson2 7y ago
When I first started grad school as a biomedical engineer, I did a rotation in a neurophysiologist lab who was looking at how turtle neurons are able to survive longer without oxygen, hoping along the way to apply it to stroke survival, etc. But, his overall goal was to learn about how the brain stem controls respiration. I described this guy and his lab to my parents as a "basic science" which they took to mean it was simple "easy" science. In reality he has studied the same square millimeter of turtle brain and a few proteins for decades, and knows it better probably than anyone who has ever lived. In these contexts, "basic" and "low-level" means "insane level of detail that no one else wants to bother with."
stronglikedan 7y ago
If he was an engineer who didn't know what "low-level software" meant, then he was also a low-level engineer, so you weren't wrong either way.
- scarejunba 7y ago
  Haha, you know I felt that way too, but I didn't want my pre-existing biases to intrude.