garbage collectors have a strong union, do they not?
Yes they do, and their strikes are highly effective for obvious reasons, and no mayor trying to win an election wants that egg on their face.
Or banana peel.
Java’s is out of a job forever because of Oracle
Java’s still a managed environment, and in either case, Rust shows it’s not strictly necessary anyways. Wouldn’t mind some software engineer unions, though.
Depends on location. Some places really screw those guys. It’s a shitty job and should be something people can live comfortably on.
It’s honestly not that shitty of a job (see my earlier comment https://programming.dev/comment/8949488 )
Source: did it as student job for 3 years.
They lift heavy stuff and run around all day, they gotta be strong af
Running is not as extreme as you think, a lot of it is just carrying on the momentum of the truck after you jump off, other tham that it’s mostly just brisk walking.
The heavy stuff depends, regulations typically impose a limit on weight but a lot of people don’t follow it. You learn to use proper lifting form quite quickly though or you’ll get a hernia
Src: did it for 3years as student job
By that third year, were you in peak physical condition? 🤔
Funny story actually. After year 1 I was in peak condition, year 2 was normal, year 3 I gained weight. Year 1 I worked slowest and year 3 fastest. I just became way more efficient :p
Sometimes depends on area. The guys at the facility usually don’t.
They’re not collectors though.
“You study well and you will end up sitting in the office”
People sitting in the office cubicle: i hate this job.
Do people like jobs? Today I was thinking that being a blacksmith could be cool. But I guess I was born to deploy k8s clusters.
I feel like being a blacksmith in 2024 is probably the same if not more lucrative than back when people rode horses, wore armor and swung swords around considering you’ll mostly be making replica anime and video games pieces for rich nerds.
And if you get enough clout you might get some edgy reality show on History channel or something now hahaha.
Actually probably true, the issue is just getting started and building a reputation at first
It’s cool but you’ll fuck your lungs
Is wearing a mask with a proper filter, not an option?
I imagine it’ll help a lot, but if you’re in and around a smithy for years you’ll still end up breathing a lot more bad stuff than the average breather
I like my work my job however I am on the fence about.
If you have a job that society needs, that pays well, that you are good at and you also love doing it, you have accomplished life.
Please note that it is totally fine to achieve those four criteria from different regular activities.
I develop billing systems. If you’ve received a bill from e.g. your ISP, I might have been a part of making that system work. I get paid about the same as a doctor, but I spend about 85% of my work time gossiping / posting memes with my coworkers and watching youtube. I’d say I’m OK at my job, on many occasions I’m probably the first person in the world to solve (but also encounter) that particular problem.
I was a gifted child, but I ended up in this job because I’m lazy and a procrastinator. Never finished college, stopped caring when I started getting paid.
Are you happy about what you are doing during your job? Problemsolving, gossiping and everything else.
Well I think I’m on the right career path, but maybe not with the right employer. I’m also trying to finish my degree and move more into designing new systems rather than fixing problems in existing ones.
but I spend about 85% of my work time gossiping / posting memes with my coworkers and watching youtube.
Probably not very good at your job then??
The gossip / memes is more significant for the business than you might think. It’s information sharing between teams and corporate levels that’s very hard to achieve by some predefined weekly sync meetings, townhalls etc.
85% of his time though?
I spend about 85% of my work time gossiping / posting memes with my coworkers and watching youtube.
That sounds like it would get boring as shit in no time.
I like my job, but it’s still a job.
I like cooking, but I’d never want to be a chef. One might like tending to their own little garden, but being a farmer is a completely different thing. You might like making your own little game, but working at a gaming company is not the same thing.
A job is a job, at the end of the day. Sometimes I think it could be better to keep the things you like doing as a hobby, rather than your job, as you might enjoy doing them more in the end.
My job is a little cool but idk how long it will last
Would I rather be on the beach with the family or on a cruise? Absolutely.
Reality is I need to work to feed my family. I have a job I’m good at and I find the work fulfilling. That makes it tolerable and I don’t find going to work everyday an absolute drag.
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I like my job.
Do people like jobs?
It happens. Rarely, though.
Aaand typically get most of the day off
Gonna put it out there, I’m starting to suspect big garbage has been waging a propaganda war to push us away from the ultimate job
You do need to start work at like 4am though. That’s a deal killer for me.
I am an engineer who deals a lot with the waste sector. Garbage, recycling, and feces.
I strongly encourage everyone who is looking for a change or doesn’t know what they want to do to at least consider this stuff. Recession-proof, job security, decent pay, very few and small busy seasons, long vacation time, some really cool people to work with.
There are obvious cons. I don’t enjoy site visits. I deal with a lot of unqualified clients. Fuck Parsons and Jacobs so very hard.
You get most of the day off after having worked a full day + still need a full and thorough shower + have low energy because it’s a physically demanding job
Src: did it for 3 years as student job
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I recently discussed this with my doctor. The amount of disgusting shit you have to see and work on is insane.
Woah! You got to discuss with your doctor?!
I‘m not sure if that is a serious question. I see my doctor every two weeks for hyposensitization so we get to chat a couple sentences every time. This was the question I came up with.
Haha I’m sorry my playful tone didn’t quite come through here. I was playing up astonishment that you got to actually talk with your doctor about things, because often the experience seems to be that they see you for 30 seconds about why you’re there, maybe write a scrip, and you’re out the door. (I’ve seen some good ones that really make an effort to care though.)
I agree. Thats accurate. Playful tone tends to go over my head (autistic). But thank you very much for elaborating. It was quite obvious in hindsight.
It’s amusing, the foolishness of people who crap on “lesser jobs.” These are the same fools who then throw a fit when everyone listens to them, and nobody sees the point in taking their trash, or serving them their daily ultragrandelatte / whoppermac burger / whatever else.
It’s all propaganda to drive down and excuse low wages.
About overrated cool/sexy jobs:
That’s how I feel about infosec. I still often think “That’d be so awesome, knowing computer sorcery and being a cyber ninja, and knowing my stuff was solid because I could verify it myself. Maybe stopping bad guys from turning vulnerable machines into terrorist-funding cryptominers, exposing spyware…”
But the main earning opportunities seem to be based around checking boxes to secure evil corpos and being on call 24/7 because the ShiJinPing bot swarm got riled up again.
Nah I’m good. I’d rather just learn it as a hobby.
Once computers got all suit-and-tie everything got a lot less interesting.
It’s a shame the “eyes” countries are so gulag-happy. Meaningful hacktivism would sound so rewarding. Bet those folks are all in suits and ties now too. :(
It’s a complex subject. Have to break it down to smaller pieces.
Being a doctor is glorified because there are huge benefits attached. Especially when you think about the benefits for the people around them, such as family and friends. Not to mention the fact that sounding smart can make others feel inadequate in a doctor’s presence. Knowing you are a doctor means that you know how difficult it was to reach it. However, as you mentioned, it is not as beneficial for the individual. Instead, it is beneficial for society, friends, immediate family, and the rich people. Rich people are more emotionally invested to save their ass than leaving an area that got more dirty, bad food, poor service, or painless transaction. With a doctor, he is the only one who you can rely on to save your ass. So no shitting on those jobs makes no sense, but it does make more sense why some are not getting anyone talking shit about. It’s a different extreme, one where there is a lack of shitting on a doctor vs. other jobs.
Doctor can’t get to the hospital to save anyone if there’s a month worth of trash in the streets.
Yes, but people forget about this often and still have social stigma against thrash men. Good luck saving lives by moving the thrash to a giant pile called the landfill(or thrash dump). Can’t save lives without engineers building the tools. Can’t save lives without funding. Can’t save lives without everyone involved. Yet it’s doctors that get idolized as if it’s the perfect and only right path in life.
Didn’t we just do a whole pandemic where a bunch of folks were overflowing with rage for doctors and healthcare workers?
The loud few idoits fucking over the quiet majority.
Yeah my mom told me as a kid that if I quit school I would have to dig ditches for a living. Those guys are union with high pay and good job security because we always need proper drainage just like we always need garbage to go away.
Boomers didn’t describe work to us properly because they wanted to brag to their friends about how we “went to college” and like “are a doctor” or “gonna be the next Bill Gates” or something
Garbage collector was a dream job to me as a kid. Ended up as a software developer.
Depending on the software, you still get to think about garbage collection!
Yep, because most often you get to create the garbage that gets collected afterwards.
Same thing really
Nah, software developer is more about garbage production than garbage collection.
GIGO exists for that reason.
Same but firefighter
Thanks for doing what you do.
I literally write code to track when you shit and what commercial to show you for you to stay longer in the toilet
Never too late. I’m in IT, I’m also a volunteer firefighter since about three years.
The garbage collector around my house doesn’t get out of the truck to get the trash it’s all hydraulic arm. Sounds pretty chill to me.
Just snort a bunch of drugs every weekend and you won’t smell a thing too
All I need is a pet, and allergies do that for me. Cheaper than drugs!
The ones at my parents are so lazy they’ll write a note saying that 3ft apart ain’t enough, get out of their truck and put that note on the can, then get back in and leave
With how little is in their cans it’s more work to write the fucking Note than to nudge the can another 2 inches so your lazy ass doesn’t have to aim the arm AT ALL rather than a little bit
I’ve done trash collection in other scenarios by hand so I’m not just shitting on these guys for their job, too
The garbage collector has to get up early, go out in most weather, and deal with things we’d rather not deal with, and lift heavy stuff into dangerous machinery all day.
That being said, when I had a similar amount of hard labor to do I got in the best shape of my life.
With the trucks that have the hydraulic arms, this isn’t really true anymore outside of major cities with street parking. I remember growing up you could also just out big bulky items out on trash day (mattresses, toilets, tubs, etc) and they’d take it. Now, at least in my town, you have to schedule bulk pickup, there are limits on how often you can do it (I think my town is no more than like 2 times a month or quarter), and there are restrictions on what can be left for bulk.
Even with the hydraulic arm trucks, they weigh the bin as they pick it up, and will put it back down and leave if its over the weight threshold (meaning you’re throwing away something in your bin you shouldn’t be, and would need to schedule bulk for it).
Oh, the times, they are a-changin’.
Edit: When I lived in Baltimore, it was the old school style system of two guys on the back of the truck running to the curb, grabbing the bin, throwing it in the back, returning it, and hopping back on. Outside of that, I’ve only seen the hydraulic arm ones in suburbia for the last 15+ years.
Use languages with manual memory managment
Wut
It’s a programming joke. If you declare variables or set a value to a space in the storage, this space is blocked even after the programme is done using that variable. So to write a programme with efficient use of storage, you have to free the storage space after you are using it.
Many programming languages use a routine called “garbage collector” to free unused storage space.
So, if you don’t want to be a garbage collector, you have to assign storage space manually.
That is a deliciously deep cut. Thank you for explaining it to me.
garbage collecting is seen as dirty and undesirable by society, so for them to want to do it, you have to pay more
in my country they are badly paid anyway though so fuck it lol
Did it as a student job for 3 years. I was paid roughly 50% more than with all other student jobs.
Honestly collecting garbage is not even that bad. I got paid to do fitness all day, spending time outside while chatting with my coworker. The people sorting the trash, that was who we felt bad for. They had all the downsides of the job with none of the benefits.
Sorting trash…goodness… THAT’S a job nobody would mind automating I’m sure.
Especially with how the populace views the trash bin as the “Magic it’s-out-of-my-life box” and throws all sorts of dangerous things in there!
Me, a facilities worker for a fast food chain, earning less than them all and still getting mystery trash juices on my hands.
Work hard, kids.
Working hard rarely gets you anything except more work
That’s why I documented everything that they requested and flat out refused to work on anything that doesn’t have a ticket.
Dismantle the system that pays you based on someone else’s interpretation of worth, kids. Remember, all those cashiers were essential during a massive pandemic.
I agree, but this phrasing implies that the alternative is paying you based on your own interpretation of worth. Poor depressed people.
We changed the system and now I’m still poor
You want us to give you a raise?
No I don’t deserve it
the alternative is paying you based on your own interpretation of worth.
I mean, if that interpretation is rational that’s basically freelancing. Which can be great if you’re skilled and respect yourself!
Mmmm, mystery juice. My favorite! slurp
Tastes like death :D
In the previous generation white collar jobs paid more than blue collar ones. That is why… But the world is changing.
Aren’t white-collar jobs less likely to be unionized?
yes, but they also paid much more until recently
And it’s about fucking time.
Where do garbage collectors make more than teachers?
It’s a decent union public sector job and pays decently, but so is teaching and that requires more education.
Well for starters if both went on full strike as of tomorrow. Society would collapse from the massive amount of garbage first.
But mostly because Teaching is both a “women’s job” and secondly, it is a “passion” job. Everything that is someone’s passion always pays less because people will accept lower wages for their “passion”.
Also Garbage Collectors aren’t public sector in many places.
Well for starters if both went on full strike as of tomorrow. Society would collapse from the massive amount of garbage first.
…and the trash bins wouldn’t get hauled away either! :(
So what you’re saying is, teachers are actually the stupid ones for wasting time and money at higher education to work longer hours, have to work overtime at home for no pay, often have to buy their students supplies, and get about the same wage as a garbage collector?
No wonder the majority of my instructors were idiots, it’s a predisposition!
No, I’m saying teachers make considerably more than garbage collectors as in most places. I know they get next to nothing in deep red states but that’s not the norm.
Also garbage collection is probably hard on your back and not suitable to do for a whole career, and is probably pretty boring, though some people like a boring job
Well I certainly wouldn’t want my job to have unexpected and interesting events if I was a garbage collector.
As long as you use proper lifting form it’s not that hard on your back. Without it you won’t last long though.
Also here in belgium all garbage collectors I know earn more than the teachers I know.
A brief search shows in the US the median salary for a teacher is at least 60k, while the median for garbage collector is around 40 to 50, they might make more than teachers in some places but that doesn’t seem typical.
Well, don’t let your memes be dreams, go out there and make it happen.
Don’t they die earlier than average of painful cancers though?
Citation needed
from simple garbage? nahh
Fun fact: the main reason garbage collection is unhealthy is because you spend all day in the fumes of public roads & the truck you’re hanging behind.
Source: was garbage collector for 3 years as student job & we got a small hourly bonus for it.
wasn’t aware, thx
