this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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I agree with this in principle (and I know it's just a meme and I'm taking it too seriously) but how do we still allow for people who take pride in their trade or craft, even if the majority value has been stolen by a megacorp? I work for one of those huge soulless corps. Sometimes, every once in a great while, I enjoy working on something I've built. I'll put in more hours than I have to just because I'm having a good time or whatever. I guess that's still separate from the "being on my grindset" culture of doing that all the time though.
Idk, thinking out loud here.
Can only give you my personal example:
I have a career in software QA, and I got into it because I personally believed in QA and its significance to generating good software for people to use. Hell, I even worked relatively low-paying jobs because it was compensated by job satisfaction.
Then enshittification took hold of absolutely everything, QA started being flushed down the turlet in the interest of cutting costs (and, I suspect, out of management incompetence and lack of perspective), and now it feels as though my passion got stabbed.
I still thoroughly believe in QA as an essential part of software development, I still try to do the best I can not out of dedication to a job, but to my principle-based belief that QA does more good than it does harm when properly performed. But I seldom have the context to be able to do that, instead being stuck with menial shit and/or rushed projects which don't allow for a lot of testing.
Test your stuff, eat the rich.
Be excited about what you produce, not the amount of labor you spend on it
You can be class-aware while taking pride in the work you do.
I'm not disputing that, but the meme kinda is? I guess what I'm getting at is asking where the line is between gross overwork grind culture and taking pride in your work and possibly working a bit more as an investment in that regard. Other people have had some good thoughts here. I think it's just about watching yourself and your motivations for working to ensure you haven't fallen into the trap.
Gross overwork is most probably coming from corporate demands, while prideful work is most probably done in a way that one might view as either hobbyism or business ownership.
Big difference in those two; one being coercive.
"Grind culture" isn't about enjoying work or taking pride in it, but getting your money up via working and saving. It isn't about taking pride in craftsmanship or skilled work, it's willfully diving into exploitation to hopefully escape it.
Having bursts of passion at work is fine, normal, and should be accommodated in a workplace. However we need to be careful to make sure it's not being forced and we need to incentivize coworkers to primarily stick to standard work hours. Avoid the mindset of "well I've done more OT than that, so it can't be that bad".
Emphasis on the sometimes. If you regularly put 80+ hours a week in even doing something you enjoy, eventually you will burn yourself out and there's a good chance you won't enjoy the thing anymore on the other side of that. Not for a long while, at any rate. Burnout is no joke.
Few people realize that a) burn-out has a high probability of recidivism; b) it changes the body, too. You develop a plethora of new nerve endings that fire discomfort and pain and that take years to diminish once you've made it through the acute phase.
You totally, literally become crippled by the system, and some people set themselves up for it willingly, kamikaze-style, thereby raising the bar for all others as well.
While I try not to work overtime, especially anything excessive like 80 hours, I do enjoy parts of my job and I get paid to do it. It's a bonus to me that what I work on isn't actively destroying to world or completely useless.
Have to agree here, I do enjoy my job and it has a real impact on thousands or even millions of people. Doesn't hurt that I get paid well and my boss and team are amazing.
But yeah, I do have the occasional "overtime" (I'm salaried) but it's always compensated by extra time off.
I'm in the same boat. Hell, sometimes I can even get into the groove on something useless. It's more for me though, not for my employer. Wouldn't the "grindset" people say the same though?