10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job

[Russell Kanning]

ultra

[eques]

10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job

I'm paraphrasing this and commenting on it as I go through.  I'll probably also post this on my newly-created blog. 

1. Income for dummies, or trading your time for money.

I've come back to this, and now that I can think about it at a time other than 3:00 in the morning, I can see that I've always seen this as somewhat absurd.

I quit my last programming job about a year ago.  There are aspects of programming that I enjoy, but I haven't ever been able to enjoy programming when I have to do for a job.  I most enjoy it when I am doing it for myself!  This relates directly to value.  To me, it doesn't matter how long it takes to do the work, because I find it valuable.  Likewise, if it isn't valuable to me, it simply becomes difficult for me to complete the task.

That was the major disconnect between my work and my job--I got a "talking to" a number of times because I had difficulty staying in the office for 8.5-9 hours straight every day.  One of the things that bothered me was that if I produced the value for which I was being paid in six hours, why should it matter if I am around the remaining two?  The question was not asked, because I was told why I should be there--it had to do with morale.  What about my morale?

Now, I understand--in that situation, I am working for somebody else, not myself, and I don't get to set the rules if I am going to accept their money.  However, for me, programming isn't a steady, left-foot-right-foot progession.  I get bursts of inspiration where I produce gobs and gobs of code, separated by relatively long periods of stagnation where I can barely stand to look at the computer.  In those periods of time, I direct my attention to other things that interest me--how awesome would it be if I was paid for the value I produced instead of the time I spent on it?

I have also had this problem at other jobs--I had a job when I was 17 where I would be in my father's office but have nothing to do.  If I have nothing to do, I would just as well not go to the office at all.  I would complain about this, and people would say, "What do you care?  You're getting paid to sit around!"  Yeah, but I'm getting paid to be a slave--I don't have the freedom to do whatever I want--if I have nothing to do, I have to do *nothing* except sit there.  This was something I felt but wasn't able to express.  I was essentially being forced to do nothing while I wanted to do something!  Well, now I'll be able to do something and get paid for its value to others!

My first step is going to be to clean up my personal website and convert it into a blogging-style site with targeted ads.  The current organization is fairly hierarchical, so it should convert into a keyword-style blog fairly easily.  All I really have to do is invest the time in transferring the content from one area to the other.

My website (located on my own server) will likely serve as a portal for multiple types of income--personal content, opinion, and perhaps programming as well.

2. Limited experience, or getting a job to gain experience.

This has always sounded kind of funny to me.  I mean, I have always had technical leanings... I like to play with computers, and I like to try new things with them.  I do these things on my own time, and it would be silly to say that I don't have experience with them.  However, when it comes to a resume or a job application where they ask you to detail your experience, they limit your experience to on-the-job experience.  If you're experienced in working with computers, but you haven't done it while working as somebody else's lackey, for some reason, it doesn't count.  Well, of course it counts--to you, and to anybody you might lend your services to, as they receive the value of your experience!  But I've always gotten the impression that the full meaning of the term "experience" simply is not what the average employer is looking for.

3. Lifelong domestication, or having to "sing for your supper."

I think my paraphrase says it all, really.

4. Too many mouths to feed, or you never actually enjoy the fruits of your labor.

This is something that has resonated with me for a very long time.  As I mentioned earlier, what difference does it make if I am working for six hours or for eight per day?  According to my employer, it's my time that they're paying for.  However, when I receive "compensation" for my time, it goes through the wringer of taxation and I get about half of what they said they'd give me.  Pretty nasty trick.

5. Way too risky, or there never was such a thing as "job security."

It is pretty clear today that being employed by somebody else is a fundamentally insecure proposition.  There are absolutely no guarantees that the person that needed you yesterday will need you today.  In some industries, such as manufacturing, the need for labor has dropped precipitously.  Technology is getting the job done faster, safer, and cheaper than human labor.  Technology keeps on increasing, and technology will continue to displace human labor.

The other side of the coin, however, is that the energy that was put into those earlier tasks can now be directed into other pursuits.  Your time is no longer needed as a simple automaton--you are now free to exercise your mind.

It is observed, of course, that few people feel this way.

6. Having an evil bovine master, or "people are capricious."

I really can't do any better than "evil bovine master."  It's really quite good. 

7. Begging for money.

I've always been leery about asking for a raise.  It feels like I'm committing some sort of taboo by daring to approach the Holder of the Money to ask for a larger slice of the pie.  At that point, it doesn't matter what my achievements were--they could pick any mistake--no matter how insignificant or easily resolved--and use that to deny my request.

Either that, or they just tell me that they do not have the budget.

8. An inbred social life.

I can certainly identifiy with this.  I've always felt uncomfortable with co-workers becoming "friends" somehow... maybe it's because the workplace is inherently a competitive environment, and becoming too friendly with others can be dangerous if you let down your guard.

9. Loss of freedom.

I only worked in one place with an employee handbook.  I can't remember too many infarctions on my part, but I do remember being asked once to not wear shorts anymore... apparently, we were having problems with the air conditioning, and it had gotten warm fairly early in the year.  We were "allowed" to wear shorts to the office in order to put up with the heat.

Well, they ended up fixing the air conditioning, but I continued to wear shorts.  It was still hot outside!  Well, the controller (nice title, eh?) came up to me and told me that I shouldn't be wearing shorts.  She allowed it because we were having cooling problems, but now that it's resolved, I really shouldn't be wearing shorts anymore.

I almost wish I had just taken my shorts off in front of her and let her deal with my briefs.

Of course, that course of action likely would have gotten me fired, but at least I would have had some satisfaction regarding that ridiculous rule.

I would also like to point out that this "loss of freedom" starts way before you ever set foot in an employer's office.  We are socialized in our school environments to be well-behaved little cogs, and this continues from the earliest years through high school and college to the workplace.  And we are well-behaved, for the most part... we're just incredibly miserable.

10. Becoming a coward.

I can definitely identify with this one.  All through my life, I've been beaten down, and when I've cried out about the injustice of it, I was told to just ignore it, move on, and not stand up for myself.  The best was when I was being teased by the other kids at school, and, in discussing this with my father, was told that I was being beaten up on the playground because I was "beating them" in the classroom.  I don't really know how true that was, but I received absolutely no guidance as to how to get them to stop teasing me or, at least, become stronger myself so that it didn't bother me.  The answer I received was, "There is something wrong with you, so of course they're going to pick on you."

That was a very long time ago.  Over the past year, I've been plucking up the courage to do something about my life, and I have been making changes.  Sure, there were good parts as well as bad parts to some of my decisions, but one thing that stands out through it all is that those decisions were mine, and I made them as a result of my independent will--not because somebody else coerced me into it.

[PinoX7]

10. Becoming a coward.

I can definitely identify with this one.  All through my life, I've been beaten down, and when I've cried out about the injustice of it, I was told to just ignore it, move on, and not stand up for myself.  The best was when I was being teased by the other kids at school, and, in discussing this with my father, was told that I was being beaten up on the playground because I was "beating them" in the classroom.  I don't really know how true that was, but I received absolutely no guidance as to how to get them to stop teasing me or, at least, become stronger myself so that it didn't bother me.  The answer I received was, "There is something wrong with you, so of course they're going to pick on you."

That was a very long time ago.  Over the past year, I've been plucking up the courage to do something about my life, and I have been making changes.  Sure, there were good parts as well as bad parts to some of my decisions, but one thing that stands out through it all is that those decisions were mine, and I made them as a result of my independent will--not because somebody else coerced me into it.
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Well I think its not being a coward when it comes to calling somebody 'boss' or if its military, calling them 'sir/maam' I think its more in terms of Respect and Discipline, mostly somebody who has been working longer at a job than you earns some form of respect. And the reason for dicipline is that its more productive. So i can pretty much see both sides of the argument