Some quotes from the article:

There is something very strange about having this very intimate view into someone’s life. It feels odd to see someone’s daily drive, but it’s also an important part of correcting and refining the program.

We review about five and a half to six hours of footage per day. It can be very hard to focus. You can get in this kind of fog when you’re just watching clip after clip and it can be difficult to keep yourself sane.

Anytime you’re not clicking around in the software program, it tracks you as if you aren’t working and it basically sets off an alarm to your superiors.

These jobs sound very dystopian to me, and a bit psychopathic as well. All the movies I watched growing up about dystopian societies is reflected in what this guy says about his job.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    These jobs sound very dystopian to me,

    Absolutely, this too from the article:

    “Why didn’t you make any changes to the software program for 15 minutes?” You could basically get fired for spending too long in the bathroom.

    This is absolutely a hell hole of a job, they 100% need a union.
    Also this actively undermines quality in what they do, a requirement to make changes, may make people make changes that aren’t needed, and even possibly changes that can be detrimental to the function.

    • dinckel@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      That definitely sounds like an Elon thing to say. The same dude, who demanded people print out a week worth of their commits on paper.

      These people have just about zero idea about how the engineering process works, and it shows.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        I’m lucky enough that both of the shareholders of my company are software engineers; one has transitioned to sales and project management, the other is still an engineer, he’s also the CTO.

        Was discussing office chairs with our team lead/office supplies person (it’s a really small company, some people have multiple roles) and when I mentioned that my chair gets really creaky when leaning back but otherwise it works so it really just needs some lubrication, she asked why I would even lean so far back in my chair and the CTO told her “There’s two sitting positions for programming. The writing position and the thinking position”

        TL;DR: Takes an engineer to know how engineering works. Turns out that you have to spend a lot of time just thinking

      • Murvel@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        These people have just about zero idea about how the engineering process works, and it shows.

        Well, now that’s obviously not true. They wouldn’t have drivable cars if they had no idea how to engineer one…

        • Voyajer@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          He’s referring to Elon himself, and I presume whomever else instantiated their productivity metrics.

          • Murvel@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            Ok, so another of Elons companies sends rockets to space, so again, they clearly now engineering…

            • TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org
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              4 months ago

              The engineers who work for him know engineering. Elon fancies himself an engineer, but he comes across as someone who knows about as much about aerospace as any kid after a few rounds of Kerbal Space Program. I’ve listened to his technical interviews on the Raptor engine and other stuff, he just spews pseudointellectual boilerplate you can get from any generic sci/space YouTuber.

              • Murvel@lemm.ee
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                4 months ago

                I’m not talking about Elon engineering fricking rockets by himself, I’m talking about the dude in the comment thinking that Elons companies doesn’t have an engineering culture that can deliver, which is plain just not true.

                I mean hate on the man, I don’t give a damn but don’t be dishonest is all I’m saying

              • Murvel@lemm.ee
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                4 months ago

                No? He claimed they have ‘zero ideas of how to engineer’ I disagree. I don’t even know what gives me the energy to go against the incessant Elon hate cirkle jerk, but it is so tiresome

            • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
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              4 months ago

              If it helps i can explain how lemmy thinks,

              Elon does nothing at his companies and is lazy and stupid, also Elon is intricately responsible for everything which happens at his companies and so everything they do is bad.

              They will believe any ‘Elon bad’ story because they’re desperate to, largely because he said some bad things on Twitter and is bad at memes. They will also assume any Elon related thing is bad because to them reality is a team sport and if someone has differing political opinions they must be not only ontological evil but stupid and bad in every way.

        • Venat0r@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I once paid an electrician to do some electrical work in my house, therefor I am an electrician, otherwise, how would I have working power in my house?

          • Murvel@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            Would you claim the company he worked for has zero understanding of how to do electrical work?

            • Venat0r@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              I would claim you have near zero understanding of how to comprehend anything that you’re reading…

              • Murvel@lemm.ee
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                4 months ago

                Maybe, but I’m more thinking you’re too dumb to understand an analogy.

    • Plopp@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Also this actively undermines quality in what they do, a requirement to make changes, may make people make changes that aren’t needed, and even possibly changes that can be detrimental to the function.

      Indeed, but not only that. Having employees that have as their only task to spend that much time on such a mind numbing task is pretty much in itself a guarantee for poor quality work. Such work should be divided up among people who do other things as well, so that they can break the video watching up in smaller pieces to be able to remain focused and do a better job.

    • snooggums@midwest.social
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      4 months ago

      Any change just for the sake of change will be detrimental to the functionality. Constant change means there is never a point in time where the overall functionality can be reviewed for stability.