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You've discovered the strategy of: Come up with a way to get people laid off so you can monetize a portion of their salaries for yourself. The cynical me says

You've discovered the strategy of: Come up with a way to get people laid off so you can monetize a portion of their salaries for yourself. The cynical me says they weren't smart enough to automate away their own work (so they could be assigned more, different work), so eff 'em, right? That is, until someone else automates away your job. The business me says, you found and fixed an inefficiency, so capitalize on it. While you're at it why not add in extra shadow surveillance "features", and you've got yourself a unicorn. Get that VC money! The "boss" me says, uhh... you did this work on "your own time" (as if there is such a thing) but with proprietary knowledge of my systems, "open source data" notwithstanding. So, yeahhh that work belongs to me, and I'll monetize it for myself thank you very much. That work product is not yours. Get the eff back to work already. The "Overemployed" me says, hey, with this automation, maybe I can "work" two jobs simultaneously and pull double salary for no net increase in work. Get that easy money! At least until my employers discover the ruse and they both fire me!

dgfitz 4y ago
The cynic in ME says: establish an LLC, find a front man/woman to sell it back to your current company, and rake.
- dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago
  Ignoring whether it's a good idea, this is not trivial these days - both parties need to really trust each other given the number of ways things can go wrong.
  - dgfitz 4y ago
    Agreed, but you can say that about 2 cars passing each other at a 4-way stop. Sometimes you just need to take a calculated risk and see where it goes.
mattnewton 4y ago
> The cynical me says they weren't smart enough to automate away their own work (so they could be assigned more, different work), so eff 'em, right? That is, until someone else automates away your job. Sort of besides the point but I wish someone _would_ automate my job so I can find even more interesting things to work on; I’m trying and I haven’t figured out how to yet. Yes, this is obviously only a position someone can feel if they are blessed with either lots of ability or economic security, but could we change that? I know the problem is the resulting economic hit and not the having of a job or not, and I wish we had more of a safety net and support for people shuffling to better economic activities rather than being stuck in a local maxima with potentially disastrous switching costs. Things like UBI, public option healthcare, free state sponsored college degrees, and government sponsored vocational training have a decent record, and I wonder how we can scale them up past things like the GI bill.
- HWR_14 4y ago
  > but I wish someone _would_ automate my job so I can find even more interesting things to work on What makes you think you would work on "more interesting things" as opposed to "nothing". That is, why would your employer keep you on as opposed to firing you.
  - mattnewton 4y ago
    They might fire me yes and I would find another job (or try my hand at consulting or making my own business). But, to me, that would’ve been preferable to doing busy make-work, or worse lobbying to keep the inefficiencies that provide me the busywork I use to justify a salary. Once something becomes automate-able, I think it should be. I have never seen software people at the big co FAANG companies I’ve worked at get let go because their core job was automated, only reassigned out of dead end roles that never would have gotten them promoted. I understand this position is only possible to hold alongside all those privileges.
    - DiggyJohnson 4y ago
      But why do you not see or feel that if you’re capable of doing more interesting work than your current role that you don’t need wait for automation to make you redundant to switch roles.
      - mattnewton 4y ago
        Because my work isn’t fully automate-able yet; if I became aware of a method to do so I would do it.
    - HWR_14 4y ago
      > They might fire me yes and I would find another job (or try my hand at consulting or making my own business). > But, to me, that would’ve been preferable to doing busy make-work Good news. You can totally stop doing busy make-work and find another job, start consulting or start a business right now! You don't have to wait to be fired. Yes, if you work at a large software shop, they may reassign you. Or maybe not. Apparently even FAANG is trimming workforce.
egypturnash 4y ago
Cynical me says maybe some of them were smart enough to automate away their own work and are slacking off like crazy. Presenting your automation solution to the bosses is marking you as a class enemy because now they will be expected to do a lot more for the same pay.
dasil003 4y ago
This is fantastic description of incentives and why technology is neither good nor bad, but provides leverage that can be used in dystopian ways when different forms of power grow unchecked.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

dgfitz 4y ago

The cynic in ME says: establish an LLC, find a front man/woman to sell it back to your current company, and rake.

dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago
Ignoring whether it's a good idea, this is not trivial these days - both parties need to really trust each other given the number of ways things can go wrong.
- dgfitz 4y ago
  Agreed, but you can say that about 2 cars passing each other at a 4-way stop. Sometimes you just need to take a calculated risk and see where it goes.

mattnewton 4y ago

> The cynical me says they weren't smart enough to automate away their own work (so they could be assigned more, different work), so eff 'em, right? That is, until someone else automates away your job. Sort of besides the point but I wish someone _would_ automate my job so I can find even more interesting things to work on; I’m trying and I haven’t figured out how to yet. Yes, this is obviously only a position someone can feel if they are blessed with either lots of ability or economic security, but could we change that? I know the problem is the resulting economic hit and not the having of a job or not, and I wish we had more of a safety net and support for people shuffling to better economic activities rather than being stuck in a local maxima with potentially disastrous switching costs. Things like UBI, public option healthcare, free state sponsored college degrees, and government sponsored vocational training have a decent record, and I wonder how we can scale them up past things like the GI bill.

HWR_14 4y ago
> but I wish someone _would_ automate my job so I can find even more interesting things to work on What makes you think you would work on "more interesting things" as opposed to "nothing". That is, why would your employer keep you on as opposed to firing you.
- mattnewton 4y ago
  They might fire me yes and I would find another job (or try my hand at consulting or making my own business). But, to me, that would’ve been preferable to doing busy make-work, or worse lobbying to keep the inefficiencies that provide me the busywork I use to justify a salary. Once something becomes automate-able, I think it should be. I have never seen software people at the big co FAANG companies I’ve worked at get let go because their core job was automated, only reassigned out of dead end roles that never would have gotten them promoted. I understand this position is only possible to hold alongside all those privileges.
  - DiggyJohnson 4y ago
    But why do you not see or feel that if you’re capable of doing more interesting work than your current role that you don’t need wait for automation to make you redundant to switch roles.
    - mattnewton 4y ago
      Because my work isn’t fully automate-able yet; if I became aware of a method to do so I would do it.
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    > They might fire me yes and I would find another job (or try my hand at consulting or making my own business). > But, to me, that would’ve been preferable to doing busy make-work Good news. You can totally stop doing busy make-work and find another job, start consulting or start a business right now! You don't have to wait to be fired. Yes, if you work at a large software shop, they may reassign you. Or maybe not. Apparently even FAANG is trimming workforce.

egypturnash 4y ago

Cynical me says maybe some of them were smart enough to automate away their own work and are slacking off like crazy. Presenting your automation solution to the bosses is marking you as a class enemy because now they will be expected to do a lot more for the same pay.

dasil003 4y ago

This is fantastic description of incentives and why technology is neither good nor bad, but provides leverage that can be used in dystopian ways when different forms of power grow unchecked.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]