• just_change_it@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So to you what is the difference between a job that requires years of experience to become fully capable vs a job you can pick up and learn within a couple of minutes/hours/days?

    You gonna pay your plumber the same as a fry cook?

    A nuclear safety engineer as much as a cashier?

    Cardiac Surgery M.D. the same as a box packer at an amazon distribution center?

    Teacher the same as a universal basic income recipient?

    Your fry order being wrong means nothing, the business owner pays for it to be replaced.

    The cashier may scan an item twice or miss scanning an item but the nuclear safety engineer stopped that worker who was careless from dying due to radiation exposure.

    The cardiac surgery M.D. gave your mom a new heart letting her live another 25 years but with a simple mistake instead she dies on the operating table and the insurance they pay for covers the inevitable malpractice lawsuit. The amazon box packer packs the wrong item so the recipient at worst asks for a replacement, and the business owner replaces the item if it’s a private seller or provides a refund - or amazon ships a brand new one at their expense.

    The teacher helped you understand basic concepts of mathematics, geometry, physics, biological processes… the UBI recipient rents their flat in Strasbourg at no cost.

    When your definition of skilled labor is basic cognition ability then apparently no labor requires advanced knowledge of concepts that are difficult to understand and the risk undertaken has no tangible value. It’s fine if the cardiac surgeon shows up drunk or high because the fry cook could without anyone losing their life, right? After all, their labor isn’t valuable- anybody can do it because it’s just skilled labor on par with packing boxes.

    People are paid based on outcomes of their role and the amount of competition there is in that labor segment. Nurses right now, especially the ones that deal with the real messy cases are an excellent example of great pay and benefits due to a shortage of workers in markets where there is demand (e.g. population centers where nurses are needed.)

    Software developers can make 250k++ - why isn’t everyone just doing that? it’s nearly free to learn (need internet and a basic computer) and building a portfolio just requires learning a skill and practicing it. You don’t even need to leave the house. Packing boxes is way harder on your body. Cooking fries or dealing with customers is way messier and no one wants to really do those gigs… so why not just dev? isn’t it an easy “skilled labor”?

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      That last paragraph is miles away from the truth. Developers are not coders and you need a lot of fundamental knowledge in things like math, logic, design, etc., a degree, very strong grasp of a lot of technical skills, and plenty of practical experience to be worth six figures, much less 250k. Well paid coders are quickly being replaced by either AI, offshore resources, or a combination of both and at the best of times they made half of what you suggested.

      If you were able to grind your way into 250k with only a GED and skills you taught yourself off the Internet, consider yourself a unicorn and also an artifact of the past that is basically impossible to replicate now.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        A buddy of mine just cracked six figures. He has a degree in development. His degree literally says “programmer analyst”.

        Even after all that, he didn’t hit six figures until many years into his career.

        • just_change_it@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          programmer analyst

          This is more of QA / testing than programming. What title did he start with, how many job changes and what is the current title?

          I know TONS of people who went to school for CS but couldn’t cut it because they didn’t sit down and continue learning and building a portfolio to really be the shining star to land the job they wanted. If you count them the average cs major probably gets paid like 40k or some shit. It’s easy to not make it over the bar because you have ADHD, can’t keep enough things in your head, don’t have the work ethic etc.

          Also i’m talking US salaries, not other nations. Not working for non profits, schools, startups etc that are low wages.

          • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            You misunderstand. That’s what his degree says.

            He’s been a developer since starting his career. He has no intention of moving to QA.

            He’s spent a lot of time between colleges and universities and holds several diplomas for programming, and even spent time teaching during his degree. He has deep knowledge of programming fundamentals, logic, even dabbled in AI and compiler design, making his own compiler at one point as a project for school.

            He’s spent the better part of a decade acquiring the knowledge he has. He’s been a senior developer at several companies, and when he broke six figures, it wasn’t a raise he asked for, nor one he had to change jobs to get. He’s also not the type of person who changes jobs for a raise. He’s had four different employers over the past 5-10 years…

            He’s a very smart person and very logical. I feel very privileged to be his friend since highschool.

          • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, no.

            It’s a title solely meant to pay less for software engineers, and usually dedicated towards IT folk working with vended products.

            I know this because I got a 30k bump when my org remapped people’s titles based on their work, and they really didn’t want to keep losing software engineers.

      • just_change_it@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Software developers can make 250k++

        That’s what I said, it’s possible. It’s not everyone. It’s not show up first day after your coding bootcamp with 0 self study and 0 effort outside of an education program. It’s a few years of learning bleeding edge skills.

        There have been machine learning roles paying over 150k for someone with 2 years of experience programming and “an interest in machine learning” all this year because of the AI craze. 150k is way beyond low income by all measures and is very realistic for the typical dev after 2-3 roles and fiveish years of experience. every year that goes by someone with practical experience designing and implementing ML projects in business is going to be worth their weight in gold, so long as businesses are willing to pay.

        You don’t need a degree for dev. My brother doesn’t have one, he’s doing just fine. He took a boot camp but put WAY more effort in on his own time than a simple course. He did manual labor before the boot camp and made less than a third of what he is paid now. He’s looking at roles that pay well above 100k after less than two years of experience.

        Saying that programming roles are being placed by AI or offshore labor is the biggest red flag that exposes that you do not know how things actually work in CS. I will say that going offshore is a thing many businesses decide to do but it bites them in the ass in this kind of position.

    • unfreeradical@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The claim was that different kinds of labor require different skills.

      Do you have any substantive argument to the contrary?

    • uis@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You gonna pay your plumber the same as a fry cook?

      Without first I don’t get water, without second I don’t get food. Yeah.