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I don't think many white collar jobs have as much of that stress as you'd think. There are definitely some high stress jobs because of their effects on other pe
by vsareto 7y ago
I don't think many white collar jobs have as much of that stress as you'd think. There are definitely some high stress jobs because of their effects on other people (doctors, lawyers, etc), but there are also some incredibly low stress white collar jobs that nearly put people into catatonic boredom. Getting a job that can be automated, but your boss doesn't realize it can be automated, is a good example. Automating some of these jobs can require as little effort as learning Python for 2-3 months and hacking together some scripts. Blue collar workers likely have a higher attention floor - due to safety reasons around large machines usually. Some white collar jobs can be slept through.
- pythonaut_16 7y agoSo your advice for low stress white collar work is... find one that you can automate easily so you don't have to do it?
- pingyong 7y agoThe problem is then you still have to go there and pretend to work - sitting in front of a screen for 8 hours while doing nothing probably sucks the life right out of you.
- pc86 7y agoYou certainly wouldn't be the first one to do it!
- Tarsul 7y agoI mean my job is a little bit like that. I have automated a lot of annoying stuff with VBA (but have yet to start with python, it's on my todo list). However, it's impossible to automate everything - so in the end a worker is necessary (but not the hours that were planned). I would assume it's the same for many white collar jobs. [since I'm paid by the hour the automatization is not really worth it monetarily by itself, but that's another discussion] Another aspect regarding agency and happiness: I've noticed that I have some (kind of stupid/gameified) sense of accomplishment when I sort my mails, write down the current status of a project or something similarly "boring" but important stuff for ease of mind (similar to doing a todo-list to become organized). Just knowing (and accomplishing) that everything is in order is quite satisfying.
- vsareto 7y agoThat’s the business proposition for lots of businesses, I don’t see why it’s invalid if an employee can figure it out.
- tonyedgecombe 7y agoI'd find that incredibly stressful. I need to have some sense of accomplishment and meaning in my work. In fact I'd guess most people in that sort of situation wouldn't be allowed to download Python and automate away their jobs, these roles rarely have any autonomy.