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Comment by apwell23 | Hacker News Reader

how many of those were bullshit jobs

How many of us can reasonably say our job isn't bullshit.

I make AAA video games, my industry does not add anything to society.

I used to make eCommerce websites, what does that add to society? Easier access to consumerism? Most of the eCommerce sites were selling "bullshit goods" like toys, kitsch gifts or pranks.

Very few among us do something substantial that actually improves or saves lives.

Fewer still will be reading this comment.

Clearly a lot of the old Twitter employees had bullshit jobs.

Old Twitter employees managed to make media on my my timeline take less than 60 seconds to load. New Twitter, not so much.

Maybe not the ad sales department, though.

And eBay would also fall into similar because from an engineering side, there's been no real changes for years (not that any product changes are needed).

This isn't true. There have been many changes on the selling side, but they're mostly market-specific, e.g., cards.

And decoupling from PayPal a few years back looked like it forced a ton of re-engineering on the backend.

Also, FWIW, I've accessed eBay multiple times per day since 2004 and I can't remember downtime.

Entertainment has always been a part of society, even if the philosophers deemed it low on the totem pole.

The real bullshit jobs are the jobs that are doing things that don’t need to be done even given the products - like people filing compliance reports for useless metrics.

> I make AAA video games, my industry does not add anything to society.

The culture of society is what we live for! Many games are art and bring joy and purpose to many people. It's tough having a job abstracted away from the people you affect, but you can bring a lot of joy to many people after a stressful day.

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.” — Vonnegut

I mean would only people working the most crucial jobs be better for some reason? That would mean something like over 50% unemployment - possibly much higher. Most of modern economy is unnecessary bullshit if you want to go down that rabbit hole. ER nurse? Keep. Gelato factory? Shut it down

Bullshit jobs are jobs that contribute not even an economic value: https://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/

A good game developer provides entertainment at least. Contrasted to Twitter who under Dorsey&co shipped NFTs and 1 redesign in 10+ years. They had thousands of engineers sitting doing nothing. Imagine firing 90% of a school staff or 90% of a McDonalds staff.

Not to say that moving forward with development constantly is worthwhile either. Zuckaberg spent billions on a Metaverse which is somehow objectively much worse and buggier than VRChat.

"I make AAA video games, my industry does not add anything to society."

How can you say that with a straight face? You literally create art for the enjoyment and pleasure of people, literally the point of life after food, shelter, exercise and employment needs have been fulfilled.

tens of millions of us work in pharma, constructions, aviation, infrastructure, logistics, healthcare, transportation and contribute to society. Just because half of SF is just siphoning VC money doesn't mean most of society isnt

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