I just quit a $90k a year job due to stress, burnout, and the fact that the company was a total con and I could no longer shill their crappy AI product. I'll be back on the job hunt in the new year and I'm not particularly looking forward to it. I'm actually contemplating taking something lower paid so the process is quicker and I have less to lose when it's shit and I burn out again.
Work Reform
A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
I’ve been trying to switch careers and get into software development. I look at a lot of postings and I see $40,000 “entry level” jobs that require 2-3 years experience and a degree.
It makes me angry.
Finding a job is literally a job right now. If the post reads like ai then give them an AI cover letter, don't waste your time if they're not. If it's a succinct human written posting, give an honest and professional written cover letter. The years of experience are a filter, ignore them. Focus on if you understand the problem the team is trying to solve. Or if you can learn it in a reasonable time. (Less than six months)
Here's a good video. If anyone has an open source mirror of the YouTube link I'll post that here too.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=iC-PMJ8B4Z0
Also an article https://archive.fo/Asqae
Good luck. I hope you're able to take a break and connect with loved ones right now.
You know what we do with cover letters?
Throw them in the trash.
You work in HR hiring software devs or working with recruiters?
I work with recruiters to hire engineers.
So not the standard HR dept someone would find on LinkedIn or Indeed or any of the other job boards.
Thanks for the input.
To be fair, the recruiter usually throws it away for me first.
I do also handle a number of directly incoming resumes.
Should i work a soul crushing job and starve? Or not work a soul crushing job and starve? Such a hard choice!
When cost of living goes up every year by 3-5%, you can't accept dirt wages.. it's starting to feel like maybe we got a raw deal with this infinite boom bust cycle capitalism has created for the pleebs.
starting to feel?
Pacific is a puddle of water then eh?
Just a small swamp cooler
We got raw dogged TBH
Wont accept or can’t?
Aren't being offered.
Fortune is out here painting narratives. It’s okay, keep going, we’ll keep striking.
Where are these jobs you speak of which such a salary
The trades: carpentry, plumbing, roofing, etc. Plus side, it doesn’t require a degree.
Basically, jobs that destroy your body, so you can't work past 55 anyway.
As if sitting at a desk all day doesn't destroy your body.
I'll pick a physically active job any day of the week. If you choose not to wear your gloves, knee pads, ear defenders, goggles etc. it's on you.
As if sitting at a desk all day doesn't destroy your body.
It does. Which is why a standing desk is better, if you're at a screen all day.
And if you can get a standing desk with a treadmill, then it's peak health.
There are so many ways to make a desk job less terrible.
Where I live, two of the three trades you listed require completion of 4-year apprenticeships, including a minimum of 6 weeks of in-school technical training per year. It's much cheaper to train as an apprentice than it is to pay other post-secondary tuitions, and you earn an income most of the time you're an apprentice, but the reality is a lot more complicated.
And it's also very easy to be employed in most trades and not make that much. It depends on which trade you're in, how much punishment you can take, and whether you're in a union job or not.
Like every other field, you won't make a living wage until you are at the top. Apprenticeships aren't possible unless you can finance it yourself these days.
In a just world we would redistribute the excess wealth of the rich and would never allow this kind of wealth inequality to break our economies
In reality nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives.
Not necessarily the top, but skilled labor demands a price. Years of experience helps you determine what to quote and the fastest most efficient turn around of a job. It's like the $10,000 chalk X
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/
Ugh ignore the end of that article where it completely misses the point and disregards the skill and effort of having to work customer service or fast food.
The amount of emotional labor it takes to deal with the public and feed them is actual labor and the very reason anyone gets paid in that industry. Also the end of that article is a direct refutation of the analogy. Knowing how to do the labor is just as important as doing the labor. They're linked.
Better save and be prepared to retire early.
Trade work, office type jobs in big cities with an established career, police, and Onlyfans.
Most only fans creators aren't even able to pull min wage. It's a side gig for all but the top percent or two.
An iteration of the survey taken in July found that 4.4% of respondents expect to lose their jobs in the near future. To put that into context, the only other time it’s ever hit 4% was when the pandemic struck in March 2020.
That's pretty stark.
But despite fears they may be jobless soon, today’s job seekers won’t accept less than $81,147—up by almost $20,000 since March 2020. This figure is the average reservation wage of workers, which is the lowest wage at which respondents would be willing to accept a new job.
I guess people polled are doing better than I'd expect. I thought a lot of people have to accept a fair amount lower than this. How many fast food workers are making this much? Maybe in California (where cost of living is also much higher), but I doubt it in Alabama.
I thought a lot of people have to accept a fair amount lower than this.
I mean, they could accept lower, but then they'd be homeless and starving but still employed, so they can't get any benefits.
Not really a choice they'd willingly want to make.
California fast food workers are getting $20+ / hour but there's no fucking way the average worker is getting 29+ hours a week. They'd be owed benefits.
I am too poor to work boss