Comment on The proletarianization of tech workers

• _number8_@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  same reason why being an athlete sucks – even though you’re making insane sums, the guys at the top are making far more than that, without putting their body on the line in any way whatsoever, indefinitely [whereas most players retire in their 30s, if they’re lucky enough to have that long of a career]

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• Zeth0s@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Google engineers have capital. Enough to start their start up if needed. They simply decide that living as googler is easier and more convenient

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  • darq@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    As long as their livelihood is dependent on labouring, they're working class. You should show some solidarity, rather than trying to divide the working class.

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    • Zeth0s@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Even bourgeois class work. Even aristocrats… CEOs work.

      Working is not what identity proletariat.

      I show solidarity, I have former colleagues working at google. They have all my solidarity, but they are not proletariat.

      An average google engineer have more capital than most CEOs around the world.

      They need to unionize, but they are not proletariat. My company is unionized, and we are not proletariat. There are unionized people owning multiple porsches. They are not proletariat. They simply find easier to live out of a good salary instead of the stress of having their own company

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      • darq@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I didn't say they didn't work. I said is their livelihood dependant on labouring.

        I don't know what you gain out of gatekeeping the working class. The whole invention of the middle class has been a tool by the owning class to separate the working class.

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      • MikuNPC@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Working at Google is not what it used to be 20 years ago. Not only would an average CEO be better off but there are plenty of other tech companies better to work at as well. Google engineers are salary workers not much different than any other

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  • huginn@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I had spent 6 years fastidiously saving to have 20k in investments when I got hired by Google.

    I was laid off in the wave 9 months later.

    So no: I didn’t (and don’t) have enough money to just start my own company.

    It’s workers of the world unite not workers of the world only allow people who match your purity test. If you’re not with us, you’re part of the problem.

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    • SCB@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I spent 6 years saving $20,000 in investments

      He said without a trace of irony.

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      • Stumblinbear@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Oh man, guy saved 3k a year, so rich /s

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      • huginn@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        6 years saving 20k is legitimately the “skip lattes and cancel Netflix” levels of saving.

        It’s $270 a month extra.

        Only saving $270 a month in NYC means 1 month of layoffs wipes out 6 months of saving in rent alone.

        If you don’t see the violence inherent in that system then you’re fucking blind.

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• nodsocket@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Even the CEO is working class by that definition.

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  • Not_mikey@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    They are petit bourgeoisie, they work for a living but their interests are aligned with capital as they’re hired by the owners to extract as much surplus labor as they can and will often get bonuses tied to how well they do that, they’re the overseer.

    Software developers work and contribute to the company, they are the ones whose surplus labor is being extracted. They may get a larger chunk of the value they create but they don’t get all of it. They are still in class conflict with the owners to get all the value they create. They’re house slaves, treated better but still fundamentally against the owner.

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    • nodsocket@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Would you say that the only people who are not proletariat are those who are “financially independent” in the sense that they don’t need to work for an income?

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      • Not_mikey@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        No, I’d say that “financially independent” really means your dependent on capitalism, and that dependency will lead you to defend capitalism from any challenges. That is the bourgeois position and puts you against the proletariat. Their are other classes though besides proletariat and bourgeoisie with different relations to capital. Petite bourgeoisie are neither bourgeoisie nor proletariat but there interests align with the bourgeoisie/capital and against the proletariat, but they are not completely dependent on capitalism so they won’t defend it as zealously. There is also the independent worker class who work for themselves outside a corporate structure, eg. An independent farmer, whose interests don’t align with either the bourgeoisie or proletariat.

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  • Bye@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Some. But at firms of even modest size, though, a CEO receives ownership of capital, not just salary, as compensation.

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    • nodsocket@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      So do plenty of mid level engineers at Google.

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  • Shadywack@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Difference in stock options as compensation for executives vs managers or the entire middle management layer is beyond insane. Like exponentially more.

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