this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2023
180 points (97.9% liked)

Asklemmy

44151 readers
1386 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] baascus 267 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is the right answer. Any industry is garbage if they can freely exploit the labor of their workers.

[–] baascus 49 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Absolutely. Look at the solidarity of WGA, SAG, and the Teamsters today. They're standing up to the real 'landed gentry' – corporations trying to strip away job protections and replace workers with generative AI.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And I'm super curious the steps they'll take to force people to consume this garbage. Because now the main competition to their new AI stuff, is all the old stuff with real people. I'd rather watch Cannonball Run 2 for eternity than an AI movie once.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed but my expectations of the general public and what they will put up with is a lot lower tbh.

That said even the general public have boundaries. Hollywood keeps πŸ’©ing out "yet another generic superhero movie" and in the last couple of years they're mostly flopping. Maybe I should have a little more faith πŸ˜…

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm not sure the flagging of viewer numbers for super heroes is indicative of people suddenly having better taste or any understanding of the finer points of cinema production.

They're just burnt out. A glass of water is great if you're thirsty, but if you're in the middle of one of the great lakes... Well, too much of a "good" thing. Not that super hero movies were ever good, but they were entertaining for their time. That time seems to have passed by the general public, and Hollywood can't keep up. Then throw AI becoming a thing to the general public, combined with writers (and now actors) striking and you've got a recipe for drek.

That being said, their collective bargaining is inspiring to a regard, and depressing in others.

Unions and strikes work, from a historical point of view. They were just beaten out of Americans and now it seems only the elite and their porcine protectors have access to unions.

[–] angrymouse 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Or in qualified workers shortage.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

nurses angrily enter the chat

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Yeah labor shortage doesn't do enough...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

They have unions here, that doesn't seem to help either.

I think it's best in the commercial private sector with a labor shortage or unions.

[–] Crackhappy 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 103 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Law Enforcement. They can literally get away with murder and they will be protected by their coworkers and bosses.

[–] MrSlicer 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Believe it or not it's also a terrible job. You see a lot of bad shit. Car wrecks, death, abused kids. And even if you do your job the right way most the people you interact with won't like you.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

most the people you interact with won’t like you.

Yeah... because you're a corrupt and murderous goon that's above the law. What's not to dislike?

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They can literally get away with murder and they will be protected by their coworkers and bosses.

It's not just their bosses and coworkers that protects them - the entire media machine and political establishment protects them as well.

We don't say ACAB for nothing.

[–] coldv 66 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm not sure if this applies in general, but government sectors probably. My brother works in engineering for infrastructure and stuff, and he always brags about how much time off he gets and work life balance etc. Of course not when some environmental disaster happens, then there are lots of shit (sometimes literally) for him to deal with

[–] kite 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That is very, very, very much not the case in general. Your brother works at a unicorn office.

[–] coldv 10 points 1 year ago

Yeah could be. It could probably be also more to do with them having a union.

[–] derf82 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am a civil engineer in local government. Your brother is lucky. While there are some good things (pension, vacation, benefits, paid overtime), we are underpaid, have little flexibility on schedule, and are not permitted to WFH, except in d course for on our own time

[–] ZeroCarbon 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah when I read the question, "construction" is definitely not one of the things that came to my mind. The work is simply too demanding, so many people involved, deadlines, work under the sun, in general I think building is hard work. I can see a structural engineer or consultant having a nice life-balance tho.

[–] Lorela 6 points 1 year ago

Guess it depends on the country.

Right now, UK public sector is absolutely dire. A lot of us are wildly overworked and underpaid. I've honestly considered going back to the private sector because I could be earning about Β£10-15k/pa more, but at least in my specific sector I have guaranteed job security and some (largely false at this point) sense of making a positive contribution to the society I live in.

Job progression isn't easy, especially now because of cuts and recruitment freezes. There's no benefits other than always getting public holidays off. Our pensions were wrecked in 2015 and won't even compensate for it.

[–] ChamrsDeluxe 44 points 1 year ago

Error 404

Employer not found.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

Software engineering and website development.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not sure I agree there, these are jobs where you can be in a company with "crunch culture", crazy deadlines, overtime expected, etc.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Very much an industry of two halves. Some companies absolutely do not care about you and will drive you to do more with less and for longer hours until you burn out, and then replace you with the next poor sucker. Offers will bend over backwards to look after their people and maintain a working environment where everyone gets a say and is happy and able to be at their best. Which one you get can be a total coin flip, and even sat talking to them in a job interview it's sometimes easy to mistake one for the other.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’m treated well as a software engineer, I’m the envy of my friends of family. But I have friends who are treated like crap in software dev too. So I guess it goes both ways.

[–] flakpanzer 4 points 1 year ago

Your friends who are treated like crap, are they in a company where software is the main product, or in a company where software is a support department (and their actually money earner is some other product/service)?

[–] TheGiantKorean 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I work at a place (state government) that has very flexible hours, lets people step out for a few hours to take care of errands, gives you time off with no questions asked, etc. Having said that, I feel very fortunate, as I have heard some horror stories about other places.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Definitely not everywhere. Speaking from experiences

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

not in india. most companies treat you like trash because it's so easy to replace you here with some other poor dude who is ready to take it. good programmers demand a good salary and most orgs dont offer that.. that's why most software developed here is trash.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] benwubbleyou 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don’t think it’s simple enough to lump entire work sectors as good or bad. I would argue that that kind of macro look will gloss over the people you will work for.

The company reputation and turnover is what is really worth looking into. If a company has low turnover and its employees speak highly of their work environment are one’s worth looking into. The only exception to that would be if there was higher turnover but those people leaving move to bigger things or don’t look back on their time poorly.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago

Law enforcement and union busting. There is a lot of overlap but they’re separate enough.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Depends on what you mean by being treated well. The tech industry typically has fantastic office spaces, benefits and pay, but generally speaking they get overworked and under appreciated.

Social work, public health, education and that kind of β€œgood for the world” work (not sure how to lump it all together) typically has bad pay, long hours, and unpleasant work spaces, but a really high degree of appreciation by their coworkers, superiors and clients.

Just some examples I’m familiar with

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

All the social workers I know do way too much work for way too little pay, and often care more and end up bringing their work home mentally.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

By good for the world work, you mean "Noble Professions"?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Zeth0s 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I don't agree on the office spaces in tech. They are good looking for sure, but they still have open space mostly. We need real offices back. Like one maximum 2 people per office. A company that offers that is a good company. I haven't found one yrt that pays decently and offer real offices

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm a software engineer, and I don't experience any of the issues that are commonly complained about in other industries. I get paid well, I get 6% 401k matching, I never have to do overtime, my company frequently pays for social events during work hours (instead of working that day), everyone I work with is easy to get along with. I work from home (I recently started going in one day a week, but it isn't required, and I won't get in trouble or anything if I don't come in), I can take long lunches, I can stop working early if I finish all my work, I get 3 months paid parental leave if I have a baby, I get 5 weeks PTO a year, all my work expenses are paid for. I could go on and on. I literally don't have a single thing to complain about regarding my job. And I felt the same way about my last job until we got bought out by another company. It took me only one application to get a new job when I decided that I didn't like the new company that took over. I even found my first job within a month of graduating college, and that was with one week of that being Christmas/New Years.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Which company is this? I'd love to apply if there is a position there.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Pmmeyourtoaster 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you got your answer. Fuck industry

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The fuck industry? You talking about porn?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

I hear they are treated badly and paid little for amount of work they do.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My mailman says USPS is still a good path; federal job with pension. He likes being a carrier, but says he's trying to get his kids to look at other roles within the Postal Service, like mechanic/technician or logistics or IT.

I do think any federal job that doesn't get dragged into politics too much would be pretty solid.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Politics (provided you reach high office).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Insurance, at least in my experience.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

One where decisions are made within horizontal power structures between the producers and consumers, where workers have a democratic control of their work, and consumers have a say on what needs to be produced, necessarily uniting the producer and consumer relationship.

Where any industry concentrates its power to only the owners of the means of production, no power will flow naturally to the workers, and thus will most likely treat their workers like expendables. Under capitalism, every industry functions like this as the power structure needs to be vertical for the owners of industry to continue their shenanigans.

Basically none today.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There isn’t one. Industry is inherently counter to fairness. The whole point is to get yourself enough advantages to be able to stop competing. Accept that capitalism is inherently incompatible with compassion & empathy.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Check the B Corp certified list. It helps.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My own experience is it can be even worse because then the labor exploitation comes with a side of moral guilt complex. It's not just corporate "we're a family" bs but that plus "we're saving the earth" x1000

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next β€Ί