Nobody I know likes these goofy software shifters. It's a feature that's confusing and that nobody asked for. The PRNDL was fine. Just give me a lever. Please.
> I wholeheartedly agree with most of what you have written - however this part is suss because the opponent of the democratic party does this same thing and during the campaign often to their face ("I would not even be here if I didn't need your votes" kind of things...).
Yes! I agree. It's a problem. This is the ticket --
> "the other side" is just better at politics
combined with
> that could not give two shits about "working class
It is radically un-hard at this point. People _still_ quote 'deplorables'[0] to me, after nearly ten years. Combine that kind of attitude from the left with right-wing's ability to use rhetoric to make folks feel as though they're welcomed by the republican party in spite of democratic messaging, and you've got your magic. The left is doing half of the work for them, ironically.
We've got a penchant in the states for viewing the whole of the 'working class' as these 'right-wing, nutcase deplorables'. A gang of under- or un-educated people just waiting to be radicalized. We look down on these people and disregard their concerns ( see the article's dignity of work re: removing jobs vs creating lower prices ). When you do that, you alienate people. When the other party has a knack for alienating people, all you need to do is open the net.
Extra: so, so much sentiment around economic effects in this article. I don't mean to downplay them at all, but this article misses something very central that I've heard from people who have become 'fed up' with the democratic party over time is -- in summary -- that they don't want to be talked down to. It has become a habit of the left to paint a portrait of people who oppose their viewpoints as dumb, uneducated, etc., and then being shocked when they don't get votes.
The article brushes against this for a twinkling moment in its 'dignity of work' segment, but I don't see a portion where it addresses this directly. This is a huge deal. You cannot insult people and expect them to vote for you. It's like going to a bar to try and find a date with your only strategy being negging[0]. When it's part of your messaging that the opposition is opposing you simply because it's dumb, it also plants an inherent superiority complex in your supporters, which only serves to exacerbate the problem.
Again -- the economic points are important here, too. I am not downplaying them at all. This is just something that a ton of articles and sources about this problem in particular seem to miss.
I keep hearing about this, too. It's not one or two people, it's very, very many who I've seen and heard expressing this over time. It's not a problem that is getting any better -- in fact, it would appear to be getting worse.
I have some opinions, here, based on the people I've met and worked with over time. All with a grain of salt, of course, because I'm just one guy with one career, and of course my views don't represent a vast and diverse industry :)
It sounds like you need a couple of people, because you have a couple of problems. The programmer who
1. Understands machine learning and data science, and can action-ably put code in place that utilizes all of the data you're collecting
2. Understands the value of testing and will fix broken windows as he goes ( your "things break constantly" problem )
3. Can write high-quality code
4. Can move at startup speed while doing all of the above
5. Can spin up at your workplace in time to make an impact around your nearest deadlines of... two or three months from now
surely exists!
But they sound very expensive.
Why:
In my experience, data scientists and machine learning folk are very scientist. Especially at the master+ level, they can make a huge impact on their area of expertise for sure! The drawback -- _usually_, and I will say I'm painting broad strokes here based on a lot of the people I've met and worked with -- is that they're not used to building production software and keeping up with demands of testing and high code quality.
On the other hand, enterprise developers are very good at the high code quality and testing part, but generally don't have the scientific depth to jump in on machine learning / data science projects. Again, broad strokes.
If you want someone who can do both, they usually have a _ton_ of years of experience, because! It takes a ton of years to learn how to do these things well.
So that person probably exists, they're probably quite expensive, though.
If you do wind up with more than one person and you cannot hire them at the same time, you will sacrifice in one aspect for gain in the other. If you hire one person, you run the risk of dragging them through the dirt, because you're going to be stretching their talent thin. I've noticed that the type of person with the level of experience to do the jobs you want don't like to move fast and run themselves ragged.
Even worse -- giving a thorough estimate, having the other party decline and reply with a different, significantly shorter estimate, and then turning their new estimate into your new deadline. Woof!
I've worked a fair bit in both environments. Maybe I've somehow missed out on 'the mean', but that's my experience. I've met the eclectic goofballs in tech too, but they're far from the norm.
This is the same in blue collar environments. They have more of the levity that I'm seeking regardless.
> And let's face it the kind of people who want to dedicate their life to staring at a screen make for a strange crowd.
Maybe this is it? I'm not fully convinced. I have worked with tech dorks that had a sense of humor, and that didn't bring contentious things to the working environment. Is it a lack of wit? I don't know. The more I think about it, the more confused I get, honestly.
> It's mostly people who think the world must be a certain sanitized way and if you tell them the reality is otherwise they must suppress you to preserve their world view which they see as being the ritcheous one.
With regards to camaraderie and banter, I don't even want to talk about world views. I genuinely don't think they matter too much in that context. Really what I'm sick of is just a lack of any attempt to make a connection whatsoever. I don't need to align with a person politically or socially to build a connection and have good workplace banter. There's just such a fundamental unwillingness to do so, in my experience. That's what bugs me.
And I know the difference. I've been in both blue collar and white collar environments. Blue collar people look to build the connection and bond together almost immediately, just about every time. There's a period of 'feeling each other out' when you start on a new job or with a new coworker so that they can suss out _how to connect with you_. That's right: it's such a first-class citizen to their working relationships that there's an entire art form to initiating it.
Contrasting with the white collar environment... it's almost non-existent, unless you work with people who, ironically, come from blue collar environments. I think it's really sad, and I think we could benefit from being a little looser. I don't think that means we need to drag any contentious topics in, nor do I think it means that we need to drag ourselves into un-professionalism. There's just something to be said for being able to be goofy and chat with coworkers that seems to be lost on the white collar environment.
Harmony is the strength and support of all institutions. Banter and camaraderie build that harmony.
It's even worse. The educated tech industry workers don't actually make any banter, so any time their prejudices slip through, it's just their actual opinions instead of banter. It's a very bizarre opposite to the supposedly 'uneducated' blue collar way of doing things, which brings levity as a first-class citizen, and communicates boundaries well.
You don't even need to be inappropriate to have workplace banter. Nobody ever said that a light environment has to be built on jokes that bust chops. In fact, busting chops kind of blows. There's plenty of room for clowning around outside of that, and plenty of ways to build camaraderie, too. You don't have to bring racism or sexism to the table to have a good time, and you don't have to have a good time at someone else's expense.
Man, I'm really sick of the robotic culture of tech. It's such a stuffy bummer. We should be making more skeleton jokes and showing each other macaroni art pictures.
Anyway, incredible that this can exist. I can't imagine how complicated the forces between them are. For them to be able to reach some kind of balance -- even if it's not permanent -- is really neat!