5 ms·

The only solution is to form a guild for software engineers. Control access to the guild through credentials and other means. Provide mentorship and apprentice

The only solution is to form a guild for software engineers. Control access to the guild through credentials and other means. Provide mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities through the guild. Allow the guild to negotiate rates and working conditions with the industry. If actors can do it, why can't we? If you want to level the playing field with tech CEOs, that's the way to do it.

duped 4y ago
Why call it something weird? You're talking about a union.
- qup 4y ago
  screen actors guild Writer's guild of America
  - duped 4y ago
    Both of which are unions
    - ghaff 4y ago
      In addition, both guarantee some minimum pay scale while working (which is mostly not a concern for software developers or engineers more broadly in the US) but do not in any way guarantee work.
- ok_coo 4y ago
  Because a "guild" sounds more appealing to nerds? I wish I was joking but a union sounds like blue-collar work while a guild sounds like something cool from D&D and medieval fantasy.
Gunax 4y ago
You can make one. But i think you'll find most of us are not interested, though.
zackmorris 4y ago
I'm all for unions, but unfortunately there's too much propaganda against them for software developers to muster a majority vote in their favor right now. Rather than debate their pros and cons, I wish that we would do some root-cause analysis and design something better. Maybe something like guilds, working towards UBI. As an analogy: socialism has many benefits. But the major downside is that it usually requires a roughly 6 hour daily commitment from every worker. I think that we subconsciously react to that loss of autonomy, and it comes out as projection. Like: taxes would be so high! We'd never be able to see a doctor! We'd be at risk of dictatorship! And various other distractions. When the truth is, most of us are so marginalized in the US that we can't see how our individual suffering might be alleviated if we focused on shared prosperity. So we make fun of any alternative. I might suggest that a union could only fly if it transcended individual employers. So don't think Starbucks union, think service worker union. If one company does layoffs, the rest of the workers could pull the plug and all choose to move to another company for temporary reduced pay. Or by earning double income by participating in the union, workers would have enough capital to start a new company. Anonymity would also be key. We should have the right to start and stop employment on our terms, picking up odd contracts here and there, without committing to any employer. The burden of managing that risk should fall on the union, not the individual. We might also demand no distinction between remote and office work. Instead, we could work towards telepresence and delegating to robots, like with remote surgery. If that's possible, surely we can answer calls remotely. A few links from searching for "union workers rights": https://www.dol.gov/general/workcenter/unions-101 https://www.dol.gov/general/workcenter/unions-101 https://newsguild.org/union-member-rights-in-the-workplace/ https://newsguild.org/union-member-rights-in-the-workplace/ https://www.dol.gov/agencies/olms/compliance-assistance/publications/union-member-rights-and-officer-responsibilities-under-the-lmrda https://www.dol.gov/agencies/olms/compliance-assistance/publ... What else might be desirable in tech? Assuming that this will all be automated by the end of the decade, what other protections might be needed to safeguard our livelihoods? Even outside of unions, this should be forefront in our minds.
- glitchc 4y ago
  That's why a guild. It transcends any one company. > Anonymity would also be key. We should have the right to start and stop employment on our terms, picking up odd contracts here and there, without committing to any employer. > We might also demand no distinction between remote and office work. Considerations like these are exactly what the guild can tackle on all our behalfs.

duped 4y ago

Why call it something weird? You're talking about a union.

qup 4y ago
screen actors guild Writer's guild of America
- duped 4y ago
  Both of which are unions
  - ghaff 4y ago
    In addition, both guarantee some minimum pay scale while working (which is mostly not a concern for software developers or engineers more broadly in the US) but do not in any way guarantee work.
ok_coo 4y ago
Because a "guild" sounds more appealing to nerds? I wish I was joking but a union sounds like blue-collar work while a guild sounds like something cool from D&D and medieval fantasy.

Gunax 4y ago

You can make one. But i think you'll find most of us are not interested, though.

zackmorris 4y ago

I'm all for unions, but unfortunately there's too much propaganda against them for software developers to muster a majority vote in their favor right now. Rather than debate their pros and cons, I wish that we would do some root-cause analysis and design something better. Maybe something like guilds, working towards UBI. As an analogy: socialism has many benefits. But the major downside is that it usually requires a roughly 6 hour daily commitment from every worker. I think that we subconsciously react to that loss of autonomy, and it comes out as projection. Like: taxes would be so high! We'd never be able to see a doctor! We'd be at risk of dictatorship! And various other distractions. When the truth is, most of us are so marginalized in the US that we can't see how our individual suffering might be alleviated if we focused on shared prosperity. So we make fun of any alternative. I might suggest that a union could only fly if it transcended individual employers. So don't think Starbucks union, think service worker union. If one company does layoffs, the rest of the workers could pull the plug and all choose to move to another company for temporary reduced pay. Or by earning double income by participating in the union, workers would have enough capital to start a new company. Anonymity would also be key. We should have the right to start and stop employment on our terms, picking up odd contracts here and there, without committing to any employer. The burden of managing that risk should fall on the union, not the individual. We might also demand no distinction between remote and office work. Instead, we could work towards telepresence and delegating to robots, like with remote surgery. If that's possible, surely we can answer calls remotely. A few links from searching for "union workers rights": https://www.dol.gov/general/workcenter/unions-101 https://www.dol.gov/general/workcenter/unions-101 https://newsguild.org/union-member-rights-in-the-workplace/ https://newsguild.org/union-member-rights-in-the-workplace/ https://www.dol.gov/agencies/olms/compliance-assistance/publications/union-member-rights-and-officer-responsibilities-under-the-lmrda https://www.dol.gov/agencies/olms/compliance-assistance/publ... What else might be desirable in tech? Assuming that this will all be automated by the end of the decade, what other protections might be needed to safeguard our livelihoods? Even outside of unions, this should be forefront in our minds.

glitchc 4y ago
That's why a guild. It transcends any one company. > Anonymity would also be key. We should have the right to start and stop employment on our terms, picking up odd contracts here and there, without committing to any employer. > We might also demand no distinction between remote and office work. Considerations like these are exactly what the guild can tackle on all our behalfs.