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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: November 19th, 2023

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  • Only about 10% of the working population in the US is in manufacturing, so 20% more people that would want to work in manufacturing is quite a lot. It’s impossible to undo the automation that has happened to date, though. Worse, if more people work in manufacturing, the pressure on wages and the pressure to automate can both increase.

    Even if we stop all imports and make every finished good purchased in the US here, it’s far from enough to bring us back to the historic levels of employment in manufacturing.


  • I’m super unproductive when I work remote. I don’t attend all my meetings, I average about 0.4 MRs per day, and probably only 10 lines of code. I make lazy post-development tickets just to check the box. I sometimes take hours to respond to messages, and I frequently end my day at only 5-7 hours worked.

    Mysteriously, none of those things is a good way to measure productivity for software development, and mandating that everyone look like they’re working hard does not ensure optimal creative problem solving.




  • I’m fortunate to work at a place that offers some leave for paternity, but with the option of being “flexible” about it. I’ve seen most of my coworkers take off for 2-4 weeks (out of 6), then return to work half time or so once things start settling. Two have taken all 6 weeks, one for medical reasons (baby needed follow up), and one purely to spend more time with baby/wife.

    I haven’t needed paternity leave, so I don’t know how much more money you get for returning to work early, but I think I’m inclined towards taking 3 weeks, then coming back to work unless there’s something wrong. There’s a bunch to admire about prioritizing your time bonding over money, and I don’t want to take anything away from that - it’s just not me.