#Tech workers

[kropotkindersurprise]

July 8, 2024 - Thousands of Samsung workers have declared an indefinite strike in South Korea, demanding better pay and benefits. [video]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Tech workers spent a whole generation conceiving of themselves as entrepreneurs who bargained, nerd-to-nerd, with other entrepreneurs who needed workers as much as workers needed paychecks.

These workers allowed themselves to be convinced that being “extremely hardcore” — that is, working body- and mind-ruining hours (without overtime pay) was a badge of honor.

They let themselves believe that their bosses gave them gourmet cafeteria food, “on-campus” fitness centers and daycare because they were valued workers — and not because this created the conditions where workers could be induced to put in longer hours without additional pay.

They conceived of themselves as ascetic monks, a priesthood that labored every hour God sent to bring digitization to the world. Meanwhile, their bosses’ wealth soared, even as their own working conditions deteriorated.

Tech workers may be prone to the same rationalization and self-deception as the rest of us, but (like the rest of us), they aren’t fools. Anything that can’t go on forever will eventually stop.

As conditions and prospects worsened, tech workers’ identities as workers emerged from a generation-long coma. They penned manifestos, walked off the job, and formed unions.

-The proletarianization of tech workers: If there is hope, it is in the proles

[osakanone]

Techworkers in 2028, when the government tries to take away their essential medications (HRT, SSRIs, ADHD meds, etc):

The poetic similitude, that the neural net computer he smashes is based on the CM1, the godfather of all modern GPUs fuelling neural network bullshit today.

Code has never been more fragile than it is today. The potential for genuine political action through it is beyond imagination.

When the government takes away their essential medications, I cannot see how else this will go.

As the great matron saint of computing, Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein once said:

1998 was a typo.

[thoughtportal]

you ARE a worker

[kookiesdayum]

I want to learn AWS from scratch, but I'm not familiar with it and unsure where to start. Can anyone recommend good resources for beginners? Looking for structured courses, tutorials, or hands-on labs that can help me build a strong foundation.

If you know any resources then plz let me know.

Thanks 🍬

[nando161mando]

tech worker interviews are really about trying to give the impression that you have the kind of autism that's profitable to exploit

[moomatahiko]

🛠️ life update 🛠️

hi friends - I got laid off this morning.

I’m a software engineer by trade, but I’ve also been dreaming for a long time about building something of my own — especially as a neurodivergent, trans nonbinary person navigating the tech world. so while I’m job searching and doing a bit of soul-searching too, I’m going to be streaming more regularly and inviting folks across platforms to hang out, co-work, chat, and keep each other company.

I’m based in LA and I’m hoping to build a space that’s cozy, queer, and welcoming to others who might be in transition, figuring things out, or just looking for a little ADHD body doubling while they work. even if it’s small, a little community of lofi study buddies would mean a lot right now.

if you want to follow my stream, join in, or just say hi — I’d love that. 💻🌈🧠

Thank you and I hope to meet you soon!

[queen-mabs-revenge]

The rise of neoliberalism as a dominant political paradigm in the 1970s and the emergence of platform capitalism in the 21st century resulted in new areas of employment and a decrease in the relative numbers of workers employed in traditional working-class jobs. Data work, that is, the labor that goes into producing data for so-called “intelligent” systems, not only brings with it unprecedented forms of exploitation but, crucially, possibilities for organization and resistance in globally networked economies. 

The Data Workers’ Inquiry is a community-based research project in which data workers join us as community researchers to lead their own inquiry in their respective workplaces. The community researchers guide the direction of the research, such that it is oriented towards their needs and goals of building workplace power but supported by formally trained qualitative researchers.

We adapt Marx’s 1880 Workers’ Inquiry to the phenomenon of data workers who are both essential for contemporary AI applications yet precariously employed—if at all—and politically dispersed.

[nuadox]

Study: Smaller cities like Salt Lake City are emerging as vibrant job markets for US tech workers

- By Nuadox Crew -

The Wall Street Journal, in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics, evaluated approximately 380 U.S. metro areas and found that Salt Lake City had the hottest job market in the country in 2023.

Silicon Valley is widely recognized as the top global tech hub, representing innovation and research in the international tech space.

However, smaller tech hubs are emerging. Salt Lake City, dubbed "Silicon Slopes," is the hottest job market, driven by job opportunities, wage growth, affordable living, and quality of life.

Austin, Texas, also ranks highly, benefiting from favorable tax laws and incentives.

Other rising cities include Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Richmond, Kansas City, and Raleigh, each attracting tech workers and experiencing strong economic growth.

Read more at Interesting Engineering

--

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[mostlysignssomeportents]

Remember when tech workers dreamed of working for a big company for a few years, before striking out on their own to start their own company that would knock that tech giant over?

Then that dream shrank to: work for a giant for a few years, quit, do a fake startup, get acqui-hired by your old employer, as a complicated way of getting a bonus and a promotion.

Then the dream shrank further: work for a tech giant for your whole life, get free kombucha and massages on Wednesdays.

And now, the dream is over. All that’s left is: work for a tech giant until they fire your ass, like those 12,000 Googlers who got fired six months after a stock buyback that would have paid their salaries for the next 27 years.

We deserve better than this. We can get it.

-The proletarianization of tech workers: If there is hope, it is in the proles

[osakanone]

Tech workers in 2028, when RFK tries to take away HRT, SSRIs, ADHD, Ozempic, etc:

The fragility in tech created by move-fast-break-stuff is gonna be how we get any leverage when the political fireworks really start going off.

Big Tech can't "fix" this or make it go away: its baked into the culture.

Change would demand changing the culture, and it would neccesitate due-dilligence, review, transparency and understanding none of which are profitable or concealable.

All it takes is one COBOL boomer to retire, or one person to change a few lines of code.

The bottleneck is not workforce capacity: Its contextural vacuum and code discovery.

We've got them by the balls, whether they realize it or not.

[kropotkindersurprise]

October 2, 2024 - Over 1,000 Samsung workers in Chennai, India, have been on strike for four weeks, making it India’s biggest strike in recent years. The protests have disrupted production at the factory, which employs 1800 people and contributed a fifth of Samsung’s $12 billion revenue in India last year.

The striking workers are demanding recognition of their union, CITU, and a wage increase. The average salary for the Samsung workers is currently about $300 a month. [video]

[thestoriesofimmigration]

The U.S. Has Lost Thousands of Tech Workers to Canada — Here’s Why

As of last month, the Canadian government says more than 6,000 U.S. H-1B visa holders had arrived in Canada so far this year. That’s after massive layoffs left high-skilled foreign H-1B holders in limbo.

“The highly educated foreign national is really at the mercy of the U.S. employers,” said Annie Beaudoin, a former Canadian immigration officer.

The H-1B program targets highly educated and specialized foreign workers in fields such as tech and health care. Big tech companies like Amazon , Google , Microsoft , Meta and Apple all sponsor thousands of applicants each year.

The visa has become increasingly competitive since its creation in 1990. For 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received 758,994 eligible applications, but only 188,400 were selected for the final drawing to get an H-1B visa.

“It is very stressful,” said Harnoor Singh, a software engineer at Microsoft and H-1B visa holder from India. “It took me three times to get accepted in the lottery.”

Layoffs hit the tech industry early this year, with Microsoft letting go of 10,000 employees in January and Amazon cutting 18,000 jobs around the same time. The labor market shake-up meant that H-1B visa holders who were laid off had up to 60 days to find a new sponsor, transfer visa status or face deportation.

Frederick Anokye is from Ghana and was a real-time defect analysis engineer at Micron . He’s one of the unlucky H-1B holders hit by the layoffs.

“I’m still looking for jobs in the U.S.,” said Anokye. “It’s not easy. Even certain companies are still laying off.”

On July 16, Canada capitalized on the situation.

It launched a pilot program for up to 10,000 U.S. H-1B visa holders to apply for a three-year open work permit in Canada. The applications reached capacity the next day and, as of October, the Canadian government says more than 6,000 work permits have been issued as U.S. foreign H-1B holders arrive at its border.

“This is unprecedented,” said licensed immigration consultant Kubeir Kamal of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. “Never heard of any similar program in the past.”

Shivastuti Koul, an H-1B holder from India who was laid off from Microsoft, jumped on the opportunity.

“My main reason was to have a sense of security,” said Koul. “I wanted to make sure that if nothing pans out, I can get a Canadian work permit and apply for positions in Canada before my grace period expires. I can just move.”

The program is a part of Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy, a larger multiyear plan to recruit the world’s top tech talent. A CBRE study found that Canada’s tech market has grown 15.7% since 2020, outpacing the U.S., which grew 11.4%. The study also shows that Canada now has 1.1 million tech workers, and Toronto and Vancouver ranked among the top 10 tech cities in the U.S. and Canada.

“Currently it is my plan to try to move to Canada if I’m not able to find anything here within the U.S. as soon as possible,” said Anokye. “Canada is also a great country, especially for immigrants.”

Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller wasn’t available for an interview, but a spokesperson said in a statement that, “The immense interest in Canada’s new H1-B application stream is a strong indication of just how competitive Canada is on the global stage. When it comes to attracting international talent, we remain a top destination.”

Source: CNBC

[n0thingiscool]

I wonder if good and ethical developers get canned something quick in the tech world. They seem to be scarce.

[nando161mando]

'A cesspool': Laid-off California tech workers are sick to death of LinkedIn

https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/linkedin-laid-off-california-workers-19607067.php

[reasonsforhope]

Federal regulators on Tuesday [April 23, 2024] enacted a nationwide ban on new noncompete agreements, which keep millions of Americans — from minimum-wage earners to CEOs — from switching jobs within their industries.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 to approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days [So, the ban starts in early September, 2024!]. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes are not enforceable.

[That's right: if you're currently under a noncompete agreement, it's completely invalid as of September 2024! You're free!!]

The antitrust and consumer protection agency heard from thousands of people who said they had been harmed by noncompetes, illustrating how the agreements are "robbing people of their economic liberty," FTC Chair Lina Khan said. 

The FTC commissioners voted along party lines, with its two Republicans arguing the agency lacked the jurisdiction to enact the rule and that such moves should be made in Congress...

Why it matters

The new rule could impact tens of millions of workers, said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. 

"For nonunion workers, the only leverage they have is their ability to quit their job," Shierholz told CBS MoneyWatch. "Noncompetes don't just stop you from taking a job — they stop you from starting your own business."

Since proposing the new rule, the FTC has received more than 26,000 public comments on the regulations. The final rule adopted "would generally prevent most employers from using noncompete clauses," the FTC said in a statement.

The agency's action comes more than two years after President Biden directed the agency to "curtail the unfair use" of noncompetes, under which employees effectively sign away future work opportunities in their industry as a condition of keeping their current job. The president's executive order urged the FTC to target such labor restrictions and others that improperly constrain employees from seeking work.

"The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy," Khan said in a statement making the case for axing noncompetes. "Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand."

Real-life consequences

In laying out its rationale for banishing noncompetes from the labor landscape, the FTC offered real-life examples of how the agreements can hurt workers.

In one case, a single father earned about $11 an hour as a security guard for a Florida firm, but resigned a few weeks after taking the job when his child care fell through. Months later, he took a job as a security guard at a bank, making nearly $15 an hour. But the bank terminated his employment after receiving a letter from the man's prior employer stating he had signed a two-year noncompete.

In another example, a factory manager at a textile company saw his paycheck dry up after the 2008 financial crisis. A rival textile company offered him a better job and a big raise, but his noncompete blocked him from taking it, according to the FTC. A subsequent legal battle took three years, wiping out his savings. 

-via CBS Moneywatch, April 24, 2024

--

Note:

A lot of people think that noncompete agreements are only a white-collar issue, but they absolutely affect blue-collar workers too, as you can see from the security guard anecdote.

In fact, one in six food and service workers are bound by noncompete agreements. That's right - one in six food workers can't leave Burger King to work for Wendy's [hypothetical example], in the name of "trade secrets." (x, x, x)

Noncompete agreements also restrict workers in industries from tech and video games to neighborhood yoga studios. "The White House estimates that tens of millions of workers are subject to noncompete agreements, even in states like California where they're banned." (x, x, x)

The FTC estimates that the ban will lead to "the creation of 8,500 new businesses annually, an average annual pay increase of $524 for workers, lower health care costs, and as many as 29,000 more patents each year for the next decade." (x)

Clearer explanation of noncompete agreements below the cut.

Noncompete agreements can restrict workers from leaving for a better job or starting their own business.

Noncompetes often effectively coerce workers into staying in jobs they want to leave, and even force them to leave a profession or relocate.

Noncompetes can prevent workers from accepting higher-paying jobs, and even curtail the pay of workers not subject to them directly.

Of the more than 26,000 comments received by the FTC, more than 25,000 supported banning noncompetes.