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If the job is indeed necessary to bulk produce a household necessity like soap, then that’s not what is defined as a “bullshit job” by Graeber. Producing soap,

If the job is indeed necessary to bulk produce a household necessity like soap, then that’s not what is defined as a “bullshit job” by Graeber. Producing soap, no matter how boring, is not a bullshit job. He’s talking about jobs that literally do nothing useful for anyone, could be removed with no consequences, not even to the company paying them. These jobs exist, and I’ve seen it.

anm89 6y ago
This is total nonsense. Are you suggesting that there are companies out there, who are making money but do literally nothing? Or are you suggesting that within companies that do something, there are people who are paid staff but who have no job description? That doesn't make any sense. Every company claims it does something and claims that every employee has some role. The bullshit jobs part is when people perceive that it doesn't actually matter, not when they literally do nothing and have no job description. I challenge you to present an example of a bullshit job, given your own criteria, that doesn't also meet mine. I assure you can't because it essentially tautologically cannot exist.
- PascLeRasc 6y ago
  Hedge fund.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- igammarays 6y ago
  I once worked as a software engineer at a YC startup which claimed to provide some kind of an “enhanced credit report” for landlords to check their prospective tenants. Millions of people had used their software. When I checked their codebase I found out that they literally just pulled an existing Equifax report, repackaged it in a slightly different format, and made up some completely bullshit numbers out of thin air (some were literally random numbers that could not be reproduced even with the same inputs). This startup received several rounds of funding in the millions of $ and had over a dozen software engineers.
  - anm89 6y ago
    What does this have to do with bullshit jobs? If the company exists solely to repackage credit scores via marketing and some ui work, and everyone on pay role is doing something related to those tasks than none of them have bullshit jobs. They may have jobs that you don't like or understand the need for but that's not what a bullshit job is.

anm89 6y ago

This is total nonsense. Are you suggesting that there are companies out there, who are making money but do literally nothing? Or are you suggesting that within companies that do something, there are people who are paid staff but who have no job description? That doesn't make any sense. Every company claims it does something and claims that every employee has some role. The bullshit jobs part is when people perceive that it doesn't actually matter, not when they literally do nothing and have no job description. I challenge you to present an example of a bullshit job, given your own criteria, that doesn't also meet mine. I assure you can't because it essentially tautologically cannot exist.

PascLeRasc 6y ago
Hedge fund.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
igammarays 6y ago
I once worked as a software engineer at a YC startup which claimed to provide some kind of an “enhanced credit report” for landlords to check their prospective tenants. Millions of people had used their software. When I checked their codebase I found out that they literally just pulled an existing Equifax report, repackaged it in a slightly different format, and made up some completely bullshit numbers out of thin air (some were literally random numbers that could not be reproduced even with the same inputs). This startup received several rounds of funding in the millions of $ and had over a dozen software engineers.
- anm89 6y ago
  What does this have to do with bullshit jobs? If the company exists solely to repackage credit scores via marketing and some ui work, and everyone on pay role is doing something related to those tasks than none of them have bullshit jobs. They may have jobs that you don't like or understand the need for but that's not what a bullshit job is.