It’s mentioned in the article, but Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber is an excellent book about this and proactively addresses the counterpoints/alternative explanations made in this article. It’s a fascinating read and well worth your time. Pointless work is a plague in our society that has gone ignored for decades
I’ve been reluctant to read it out of the fear it’ll make me even more cynical about my job. I’ve been recommended it a few times.
If it’s any consolation, the book relies heavily on dialogue between the author and people who self describe as having bullshit jobs. There’s a decent amount of time spent on how people cope and find ways to do something meaningful during their bullshit jobs. I work in the medical field, and while I can empathize and draw similarities in my own work environment, my job isn’t necessarily bullshit. I’m not sure what you do or what leads you to think you have a bullshit job, but you will probably find it even more enlightening than I did. And it could encourage you to seek out something you find productive or helpful rather than lead you down a path of cynicism
I’m a new tech worker who recently changed careers partly in hopes of finding a bit more meaning (and pay) in my job. I think you’ve convinced me to read the book based off the testimonials of other bullshitters. It might be a good push since I’m already in a transitory place to find something more meaningful. I have such a deep rooted fear of losing any job and that tends to get me stuck places.
If you’d like, the book was based off an essay he wrote in 2013. And it’s restated in the prologue to serve as the hook, among some further elaboration and a statement of what he hopes to achieve throughout the book. Giving it a read may further pique your interest or let you know if you’re ready to work through an admittedly heavy subject.
In the later chapters he speaks of the different forms of labor that are done by working class individuals. There’s the more traditional “production” form of labor and “caring” labor. Caring labor is often left out of the discourse, even among leftists. It consists of jobs that were previously considered women’s work or “not real work”. Nurses, fight attendants, or daycare staff, for example. And (without giving too much away) the author postulates that, due to automation in manufacturing, trades, and heavy industry, production labor has largely been eroded and may one day be made obsolete. This leaves caring labor as the largest sector of labor in the modern workforce that is still largely done by humans. The ones with less bullshit anyway.
If you’re looking for more meaningful work, it may serve you well to seek out tech focused jobs in those types of industries since that’s your specialty. Depending on your skill set or interests, research and development for more academic or pragmatic purposes may be a field that you find interesting. I’ve recently learned of 80,000 hours a website dedicated to listing jobs that would broadly benefit society, with a large focus on research and industries that will play a large part in combatting climate change. Given my career field, there wasn’t much for me on there but you may find it useful. I wish you the best in your search
Mine is unless something goes wrong. Also, it turns out that AI makes for a terrible scapegoat.
My job isn’t pointless, just boring and mind-numbing. So yay?
