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I've started to realize of late that a vast majority of tech is "making things and services that maximize the amount of money taken out of customer wallets" and
by observationist 9mo ago
I've started to realize of late that a vast majority of tech is "making things and services that maximize the amount of money taken out of customer wallets" and not "making cool technology that works". They have just as much pride and put just as much care and craft into squeezing money out of consumers as developers and engineers put into their projects.
This creates a market where quality and craftsmanship and customer service reduce competitiveness and eat into profits. We've empowered and optimized a market for the enshittifiers, and they're damn good at what they do.
- xvector 9mo agoTech hiring has shifted dramatically. It used to be people genuinely interested in, and passionate about technology. Top companies used to filter for this as well. Now it's just anyone that wants a big paycheck. And the culture shift is reflected in the products.
- observationist 9mo agoIt's shifted because you can outsource and race to the bottom, and abuse H1B and other programs to ensure you suppress US wages, and you fatten up the ranks of middle managers to make people leave every 3-4 years, stagnating wage growth, ensuring you get a constant stream of fresh, energized, underpaid workers, some of which can't complain or advocate for higher wages, and all participate in a culture of competitiveness and bean counting. Nobody builds relationships or sticks around long enough for policies and perks that are used to sell the package in the first place. There are all sorts of dark patterns that are taught to MBAs as "best practice". Throw in McKinsey et al, third party CYA vendors, and you have a rancid stew of bare minimum, low effort, "technically legal" policy and practices designed to screw everyone out of as much money as possible in order to make number go up. Companies that compete in the number go up game end up beating every other company that think they're in the something-as-a-service game, or the best quality product game. We don't have to live like this. We can make them stop with reasonable regulations. That'd require term limits and nuking the dark money PACs and all the other corrupt bullshit, though, so who knows. Maybe we're all screwed, and "getting yours" is the best and only move left.
- MarkusWandel 9mo agoBut can you put the AI written code genie back in the bottle? Once that starts dominating app development, things will get even worse.
- nottorp 9mo ago> and abuse H1B and other programs to ensure you suppress US wages Heh. Most HNers that seem to have little moral restraints when it comes to making money in their posts seem to be in the US. Do you even notice how many "solo saas founder" and "faang employee" types defend the right of those large companies that you're complaining about to increase their profits ad infinitum? Or how many consider "free to play" IAP fests as regular honest video games? Hint: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46729368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46729368 Is that the fault of outsourcing and H1-Bs?