6 ms·
Would you work with micromanaging boss, no salary, and all your work thrown away?
- drios 18y agoheheh very funny!!!
- subwindow 18y agoEquating education with work is kind of silly. I mean, being silly is obviously the point of the post, but there's no need to be so morose about school. Education is incredibly valuable, and receiving it for free is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, millions of people pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for it after they get done with the free stuff. Plus, summer vacation is totally awesome.
- boredguy8 18y agoNot equating education with work misses the bare truth that education _is_ work. And education _is_ valuable, which is why it shouldn't be put in the hands of a group of people that (as a group) fail. Seriously, when was the last time you met someone successful that was good at only one thing? Yet children are put, every day, in the hands of people who know NOTHING outside their domain. Certainly there are a few exceptions: you probably even remember a few from your schooling. But they stick out in part because they're so rare.
- KiwiNige 18y agoMaybe it's a coincidence that the best boss I've ever worked for was home schooled, maybe it's not.
- dkokelley 18y agoIt's funny you mention that. I was home schooled, and now that I'm in college, I find that it's less than I expected (plus I feel much more prepared than I think I would had I gone to a 'traditional' school). Hopefully I'd make a good boss, too. We didn't have very rigid class hours, most material was self-taught (especially in high school), and work and studies were done when practical, when I made time for them, not when an arbitrary structure told me that it was time to study this subject. For example: I found that I'm much more mathematically adept later in the day, so I would do the next day's math lesson the night before. Another interesting thing to note is that I was not micromanaged, as is the case in the article... come to think of it, maybe I'm not as prepared for 'the real world' (corporate) as I thought. :)
- KiwiNige 18y agosounds like your home schooling could never have broken your spirit enough to be ready for 'the real world'
- apexauk 18y agoI'd find it very interesting to find out about anyone else's experiences linking home-schooling and startups (or, what makes for an entrepreneurial mindset..) I was home-schooled till 11, when I entered school in a class a year ahead of my age. that was 12 years ago, now i'm running a startup (our 2nd employee starts next week) I've been thankful to my mum ever since for spending the time with me when I was younger - it definately gave me a head-start with learning and a different perspective from many people. Anyone else have home-schooling experiences they relate to entrepreneurship?
- astine 18y agoI was home-schooled. I was two years ahead as I did it but at the age of thirteen I hit the limit of what my parents could easily teach me and I fell behind pretty bad. I went to school after that.
- dkokelley 18y agoI agree about their being a good correlation between homeschooling and entrepreneurship. It might be that homeschooling encourages independence and initiative, or it might just be that the public school system is designed to produce good employees. I'm the oldest in a family of 6 - all home schooled. My brother and I both have an entrepreneurial streak in us (my brother sold candy at the Jr. High near our house after school to raise money for his X-Box fund. He raised enough to buy it at 11, with no help from parents. He even bought the candy on his own). However my other brother is leaving for the Air Force Academy in a few days - he wants to end up in politics somewhere. To me it seems like the military and political careers are opposite to entrepreneurship. I guess we're not all the same.
- nostrademons 18y agoNo education, either. What, do you not remember school?
- mwerty 18y agoIt's not free.
- downer 18y ago> Equating education with work is kind of silly. Equating education with school is kind of silly. Government (public) school is just about the worst environment for learning. But I'm glad you enjoyed your slavery, comrade.
- raganwald 18y ago"millions of people pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for it after they get done with the free stuff." The fact that many people pay for something does not make it worthwhile for you.
- rms 18y agoFunny, but too lightweight for #1
- gaika 18y agoDo not think so, this is really important and sad. Taming of the wild animals starts at school, and then we wonder why so few are growing up entrepreneurs?
- rms 18y agoIt is much, much easier to vote something up that says a simple profound truth than anything complicated for many different reasons. It is bad when easy to vote things dominate the homepage.
- mynameishere 18y agoI wish we could see who voted on what so I could henceforth have no respect for those people.
- nadim 18y agoNot a bad idea. What if the front page was dynamically generated on a per user basis depending on whose opinion you respected. After typing this I realize it sounds similar to friendfeed. "A dynamic front page of people who you want to listen to" FWIW, I voted up on this article so you can stop listening to me.
- gaika 18y agoHey, you're talking about my startup (btw, I re-posted the story from there) Edit: If you are sick of being downvoted for having a different opinion you should definitely check it out.
- byrneseyeview 18y agoAlso sounds like http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/08/uberfact-ultimate-social-verifier.html http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/08/uberfac...
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- riklomas 18y agoI like the way open-desk seating is regarded as a bad thing, surely it's better than being sat in a cube all day?
- GrandMasterBirt 18y agoHe should have mentioned: "Its an open desk area where talking to other employees is highly discouraged"
- pavelludiq 18y agoAnd lets not forget the physical and psychical terror from your colleagues. And the depression, apathy, and disgust with life. It was fun sometimes but between 7 and 15 years of age, i was pretty miserable in school, and i was bored because i knew everything and didn't find any challenges. But from the bright side i can now live my life with out fear of oppression because i know it and know that you shouldn't be afraid of it. The adult world is also full of bullies and its nice to know that you were trained the hard way for dealing with them.
- tungstenfurnace 18y agoYup. Bullying is one of the worst features of the abysmal society which exists inside schools. Plus the piece doesn't go very far in describing the micromanagement (that would give away the punchline). What kind of boss tries to control what you eat and what clothes you wear? Who demands you raise your hand before you can go to the toilet? More fundamentally, the job wasn't chosen and there was no interview. In other words, it's slavery. We don't see it because we were slaves ourselves for 12 years and therefore we feel it must be right. Otherwise we'd be forced to conclude that lives are being borrowed without permission.
- pavelludiq 18y agoI'm not entirely against school, when i was 14 i changed schools and in my new class there were mostly girls and a few nerds(you get to be there after two exams) so it was pretty good. I actually enjoined and was exited. I started learning literature, philosophy, history and was pretty good at that and it was fun(i sort of did the "philosophical poetic teen who wears only black" thing for a while) Well after i got in to programing it got really boring, so thats my problem now, if i want to go to college i have to study chemistry,biology, and a lot of other stuff which i might be interested in, but are not anywhere near my favorite disciplines. So i would describe it more like a waste of time after you get near enough to graduation. And i do think kids should be forced in schools, they just have to have some choice and control after a certain age.For me it was 14, but that differs so its impossible to please everybody.
- alaskamiller 18y agoLike when I was 10 years old, I now sit in my designated area eagerly staring at the clock until it's time to go.
- bayareaguy 18y ago$0 salary and no equity (you’re supposed to be compensated in experience) - The experience is worth more than the market salary would pay for the work. In many cases it leads to preferential social treatment and occasionally the social connections you make on the job will turn out very valuable later. no benefits other than vacation and sick time: no insurance, for example - However, depending on the quality of the employer, you may get access to people and facilities of considerable value. no possibility of promotion or raise, ever - It's more like the opposite: strong likelihood of automatic promotion regardless of merit. no job description: just do what you’re told - Not unlike a startup, where your job description is meaningless. You do what needs to be done. micromanaging boss asks about project status every hour - That depends on the boss and how well you've accomplished past projects. strict hours, starting at 8:30AM sharp - True but you often leave early. if you’re late even a few minutes, your boss send you to her boss. rigid workweek, but then you’re expected to work from home a ton. open-desk seating, not even a cube, with a hard chair - Those things vary considerably between employers. the work is boring and demeaning, like adding digits and copying text - That's not true. Often the employer will expect you to demonstrate your creativity. Furthermore much of the boring work can be done in groups and you often get plenty of breaks where you're free to use your time as you wish. all your useless work gets thrown away - As it should be. The useful stuff will be saved. Depending on your employer and family situation you may get rewarded for good work in ways that far exceed the market value. if you want to use a computer, you can buy one or just scribble on paper - Again not so. In fact many employers provide computers even in situations when they may not be necessary for the work. no supplies room, either - That depends on the employer. my daughter can’t drive, so commute was complicated - Generally speaking these kinds of employers are often close to home and many provide transportation. Also carpooling is frequent in this line of work. can’t even put the job on your resume until you work there for a decade - This is backwards: it's good to put on your resume along with specific accomplishments up until you've been there for a decade at which time it's value is reduced.
- derefr 18y agoGenerally speaking these kinds of employers are often close to home - not true. People take the distance of these employers into account when choosing where to live, instead of the other way around. You'll find the relatives of employees may be dragged around easily by the whims of the employer's industry (and their government Boards.)
- edw519 18y agoThat's nothing. Look at the job I took: lifetime exclusive contract, you can't work anywhere else, not even moonlighting $0 salary and no equity (you’re supposed to be compensated in satisfaction) no benefits other than being told that "everything here is a benefit" no possibility of promotion or raise, ever no job description: just do what you’re told no office of your own, in fact, nothing of your own, ever again all work ever done for any other employer must be forgotten forever; it's useless here everything you do is wrong everything the boss does is right if you want to work on any personal projects, you have to make it appear that it's really for the boss micromanaging boss complains about everything every 7 minutes strict hours: 24/7, always on call lovely seating, but only for company the work is boring and demeaning, like taking out the garbage and cutting the grass all your comfortable clothes get thrown away you have to drive, even though the boss tells you where to go you have to wear an employment symbol everywhere so that other prospective employers know you're already employed you can only go to hacker news when the boss is out...oh wait, hold on, Hi Hon, you're home! I'm in here, on the internet, on diamonds.com...<alt-tab> (bye)
- sealedidentity 18y agothis isn't hacker news, it shouldn't even be here.
- ph0rque 18y agoI believe the author is arguing against instructionism, and for constructionism.
- dmoney 18y ago> But millions of other seven-year-olds accepted identical offers. Well played.
- GrandMasterBirt 18y agoHows about my new job: $0 salary. In fact you spend money to work. Its a privilege. You can't quit. You can't act on your frustrations or the government might intervene. You have to deal with a lot of shit. Its always noisy. You need to get a second job. Usually the second job is a vacation from your first job. The only time you can go on vacation is when you get someone to take over for you at your expense. There are no sick days, if you are sick you have to come up with creative ways to do the job and not get anyone at work sick. Also you have to work. Sometimes you get the job. Sometimes the job is given to you, you can't reject. The government ensures that you take the job whether you like it or not. You might be offered the position multiple times. See previous point. There is an eventual payoff... But it is not guaranteed. The only real up side is looking for the job is REALLY fun.
- icky 18y ago> The only real up side is looking for the job is REALLY fun. ... and you get compensated in experience. ;)
- maurycy 18y agoNot that funny if you realize that schools are institutions for indoctrination and for imposing obedience.
- eyudkowsky 18y agoNo.
- Harkins 18y agoI hear lots of seven-year-olds are accepting exciting opportunities to work now in the garment industry.
- condor 18y agothat is a pretty ridiculous offer . . . that's why I enrolled my 7 year old in business school, and now that she has an mba the six-figure offers are rolling in . . . with equity of course.