“Nothing reveals more clearly the degree to which employed professionals are alienated from their subjects than does the sharply contrasting behavior of the hobbyists or “buffs” in their fields. When hobbyists encounter one another at a social gathering, before long you will find them talking eagerly about the content of their subject of common interest, showing an excitement, enthusiasm, wonder and curiosity that is reminiscent of beginning professional students. This rarely happens when professionals talk casually with their colleagues. Unlike the amateurs, the professionals don’t talk much about the work itself: they often appear detached from their subject, as if they don’t derive much satisfaction from it. Yes, they “talk shop,” but their focus is so far from the content of the work itself that you would have a hard time if you had to guess what kind of “shop” they work in. A commercial bank? A junior high school? A government agency? A university department? Casual conversation among professionals tends to focus on the actions and personalities of employers and powerful figures within their fields—the standard gossip topics of the powerless. Their gossip is by no means idle, however, for the politics are central to their work as professionals.”
Source: Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives
“Bob Jervis, the original author of Turbo C, gave a tech talk recently in which he pointed out that even just the set of features the audience had asked for was a lifetime of work.
This phrasing resonated deeply with me. It was similar to my realization about 18 months back that I only have a small finite number of 5-year projects left, and I have to start choosing them very carefully. After writing my own "production interpreter", I realized that the work remaining was unbounded. I mean it. Unbounded.”
“Build up her own life--how? How to build a life with no one, rooted to nothing but a house full of an old man's things? Desiree began devoting weekday mornings to scouring the internet for jobs. She learned what she had no interest in--hospitality, teaching, medicine--but what she might apply herself to remained as much a mystery as before Nolan died.”
Source: The Wilderness
“Indeed, the most difficult part about becoming a professional is adopting the professional attitude and learning to be comfortable adhering to the given ideological framework, which some students find quite alien. When students fail to complete professional training programs, they almost always do so because they have problems adjusting their attitude, not because they are unable to learn the technical tricks of the trade. That is, people who drop out of school usually do so not because they lack the ability to go farther, but because they are consciously or unconsciously unwilling to become the type of person the system demands. The greater the adjustment an individual has to make to behave in the expected way, the less likely it is that that individual will do so.”
Source: Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives
“Collars come with leashes.”
Source: Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping
“If you are a professional, coming to understand the political nature of what you do, as part of an honest reassessment of what it really means to be a professional, can be liberating. It can help you recover your long-forgotten social goals and begin to pursue them immediately, giving your life greater meaning and eliminating a major source of stress. It can help you become a savvy player in the workplace and reclaim some lost autonomy. And, ironically, it can help you command greater respect from management and receive greater recognition and reward, without necessarily working harder.”
Source: Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives
“I am Sunai,” he said. “I am holy fire. And if I have to burn the world to cleanse it, so help me, I will.”
Source: This Savage Song
“AI is not just software—it’s infrastructure, people, and responsibility.”
Source: A Smaller Generation, A Greater Responsibility: America's Strength in an Age of AI, Infrastructure, and Workforce Change
“Work that is congruent with personal principles is a source of energy. Work that sacrifices personal principles drains personal energy.”
Source: The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value
“Among the unexpected features of AI has been a lot of thinking about what a "job" is (versus a task). In an ideal world, we'd all end up working less & earning more money--yet somehow I have my doubts we'll structure things that way.”