Created: November 2, 2021 11:19 PM
Originally Published On July 18th, 2020 https://medium.com/p/a33f3b81a2a/
A dive into the nature of the modern tech worker
Aimed squarely at the young middle-class millenials, this quote is more commonly associated with bullshit than incite. We all know millennials like to complain — Often — I know because I’m one of them. But we do seem to complain about the same things time and time again: wages and work. But after my last conversation on the topic with my peers a wave of exhaustion over the whole thing came over me. Am I missing something? Am I just wrong, and the whole system is “going to shit”? Where does this billionaire get off telling people to simply “do what you love” as if being able to keep the lights on has nothing to do with it?
“If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
With much love, Your Friendly Neighborhood Tech Billionaire
We are heading into an economic depression, but Coronavirus-19 is mostly to blame for starting it, not tech. But that doesn’t change the fact that the modern employee is more depressed and disengaged than ever. That’s what really concerns me, that people are hating having a job in one of the most prosperous industries ever. If the young tech millenial is paid better, has non-repetitive work, and on average better housing, then where does all this descent come from?
Having worked closely with a variety of tech workers in our demographic, they all will differ in personalities, ambition, motivation, skin color, and sometimes gender, with all the differences in the world, I’ve only met two: the player and the employee. The difference between the two is where the answer lies.
The Birth of the Middle-Class
Henry Ford had a somewhat unusual upbringing, he began by playing with old watches, taking them apart he would try to reassemble the parts to make the watch work again. Soon the watch became the steam engine, then electricity, and finally the game changer: the gas engine. Producing more than anyone else at an unbeatable price, his cars powered by the gas engine quickly rose to fame for quality and innovative materials. In 1910 Ford the Temple of this mission finished construction: the Highland Park Ford Plant and by 1913, this factory was dedicated to producing the legendary Model T at an unprecedented rate to meet demand.
This demand created a new type of worker, the employee. Soon it was common knowledge that a well-paying job in the booming automobile industry was the cream of the crop for laborers. Each person working in those factories was what would become the employee. Having more money than many, but not more than the top, the modern employee composed a new economic class known as the middle-class. Before this point in history, this many people with this type of spending power had not existed and would cause a massive boom for the world at large.
Although we have certain imagery associated with a worker in manufacturing, it doesn’t seem all that different from the tech worker today. While some complained about the monotony of the work, the would ultimately concede that their wages made all the difference. Even though being a player may seem more attractive, being an employee isn’t bad, especially when you’re Employee Number One. But something is coming for the employee and it’s name is big tech.
Big Tech: “ The Industrial Boom? Hold My Beer.”
To show you what is coming, I need to tell you about James. He began in the 90s, playing with computers, by the late 90s was hired as an early employee at a successful tech company in Silicon Valley. By his mid-thirties he’s on top of the world, with a loving spouse, a good house in the Valley, a larger impact on human life than most, he represents everything the modern employee is promised. Yet, he is unhappy, unfulfilled, and quitting his job.
Ok, I thought, here’s a guy who made it big in the tech industry and is now taking his early retirement, just another day under the golden sun. **It took half a dozen coffee cups and a couple hours chatting with him later, for me to be proven completely wrong:
You know, there’s a disturbing upward trend of tech workers seeking therapy, citing chronic depression and Anxiety all coming from working in tech. I can’t help think that I had something to do with that.
He wasn’t quitting because he wanted to retire, he was quitting out of guilt. Reflecting on the the workers at the fancy new: Ap- Err “Highland” Park, nearly a hundred years ago, did they also feel this way after the shine of their paychecks wore off? Although James, your average employee, was just like Ford or any of the 20th century manufacturing employees. He was a player but had turned into an employee after a long career at a very successful company.
So what’s the difference between Henry Ford (the player) and James (the employee)? It’s not the difference between believing in the Billionaire’s favorite quote and while it’s easy to say:
When you’re the boss, you’re living the good life so why complain?
It’s none of these things — It’s the reason why we work which gives us fulfillment. Jame’s north star that compelled him to to “fight another day” was flooded with guilt to the point where if he could quit, then he would. The reason why so many non-James’s™️ complain is because they can’t. There’s an easy way to figure it out where you are on the gradient of work. Just ask yourself this question: “If you had enough money to retire, would you?” If the answer is yes, you can bet you’re well into the employee spectrum where the only thing stopping you from walking out the door and into freedom is a retirement fund.
Now, Employee, Meet Your Maker.
We know what drives the unhappiness, so how do we solve it? If everyone is unhappy in their work, it’ll only lead to worse products over-time which leads to fewer sales which leads to the non-James™️ out of a job anyways. As the saying goes: you need only to look into the past to determine your future. So that’s where we’ll start.
Auto-manufacturer are in fewer demand today than they were in the early 20th century, yet everyone is driving cars. How is that possible? More demand equals more jobs, right? Every day, the automobile industry welcomes more automata and fewer humans operating them. The present school of thought is that highly complex tasks, software engineering meeting that bar, is immune to automation. But it’ll be the first target with jobs like “Software Test Eng” the first on the downsizing block.
Employees are the highest cost for any company. When stakeholders have fewer customers, like in the 1930s economic depression, they’re first on the chopping block. While employees don’t have a direct connection to the customer, don’t scale, and don’t “provide shareholder value.” On the other hand, the player is continuously shipping to the customer and, if they can articulate the concern of the customer to they will become irreplaceable. Which is why Billionaires talk about loving your work instead of finding the best work. Instead of their quote though, I propose a better message:
Do something you’re good at and enjoy daily.
With eighteen fewer characters, it’s even cost effective to say.
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