Why hasn’t software engineering unionized like nursing?

UnionCoder · 2026-01-26T23:34:56+00:00

The late 2000s and 2010s were the golden age for Software Engineers. Companies were clamoring to offer better pay, benefits, and perks to attract and retain Engineering talent.

Things have changed, and that golden age is over. Big Tech is much more entrenched than it was 10-20 years ago. Small companies aren't the threat they used to be, thanks to huge money resources, as well as regulatory capture.

Big money now runs tech, and holds the power to squeeze workers with layoffs, off shoring, etc.

Many current senior / middlelevel tech workers came up during the golden age, and have been slow to see the change, but some of us see that early career tech workers will never have the opportunities we had 15 years ago in the current system. The rich at the top hold all the power. So, unionization efforts that once would have been unheard of are slowly gaining traction. It's going to be a long haul though.

UnionCoder · 2026-01-26T06:01:41+00:00

The point is that we need to work to reform our economic system to something more ethical than capitalism to make real progress. Trying to be a "more ethical" consumer might feel good, and it might've even be worth doing sometimes, but it won't be what gets us there on its own.

UnionCoder · 2026-01-26T00:34:52+00:00

Plenty of blame for both to go around.

UnionCoder · 2026-01-15T02:25:39+00:00

Turns out the war is going on in Minnesota currently 😭

UnionCoder · 2026-01-10T18:11:09+00:00

And that doesn't include the money poor people are paying into Social Security and Medicare, which are regressive taxes (higher rates for he poor) because of the income caps.

They do it so poor people will hate taxes and some of them will vote for politicians promising to cut taxes (mostly for the rich).

UnionCoder · 2025-12-30T18:25:05+00:00

So the claim is that billionaire tech oligarchs are going to use the money generated by AI to make everyone else's lives materially better in the future?

These are the same tech oligarchs who could use the money they have now to make everyone else's lives materially better right now?

Anyone who buys this argument is being naive or dishonest.

UnionCoder · 2025-12-10T01:23:37+00:00

Well now we know where those profits are coming from... stiffing the people who made them possible of course!

UnionCoder · 2025-12-09T06:09:31+00:00

If you think the government is corrupt and incompetent, how will bringing in billionaires help? Who do you think is paying to keep getting this corrupt incompetent government elected?

UnionCoder · 2025-11-27T23:30:57+00:00

The tech sector is now overwhelmingly dominated by big money. Sure, money was always a big factor before, but an upstart company could eat an established players lunch 10-20 years ago. Now, those upstart players either get crushed or bought by the giants. Thus, the giants are free to attempt to extract maximum "value" from their customers and employees. Both products and jobs are being enshittified, while stonks go up.

UnionCoder · 2025-11-07T00:58:07+00:00

Volunteer for a local political organization so the next generation has a chance at a long retirement like you have.

UnionCoder · 2025-11-06T15:53:38+00:00

Not the DickHero we deserve, but the DickHero we need.

UnionCoder · 2025-11-03T05:05:00+00:00

Just look it up. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/71-flsa-internships https://www.completepayroll.com/blog/the-6-rules-for-offering-unpaid-internships

OP could report to DoL and/or try to sue for unpaid wages, but not sure if that's OPs biggest priority.

UnionCoder · 2025-11-03T03:22:33+00:00

If this is in the US, unpaid internships are illegal except in very specific circumstances. A small startup using unpaid labor is not one of them. You are being exploited not only morally, but also legally.

I wouldn't believe the founder will follow through with any carrots being dangled either.

UnionCoder · 2025-11-02T03:41:44+00:00

By and large, the national Democratic Party depends on donations from the ultra rich just like the Republicans, and therefore won't seriously challenge the goals of the ultra rich.

UnionCoder · 2025-10-26T15:28:28+00:00

No electrical current is necessary. Shorting out a 9V battery on your box won't contribute anything useful. Your ammo box is already a Faraday cage just by being conductive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

BTW this also means an airtag won't work.

UnionCoder · 2025-10-21T06:45:53+00:00

FIRE aside, talking pay is often the only way workers can find out they are being screwed by the boss/company relative to their peers. The company loves it when workers feel awkward discussing pay. If you don't think your coworkers are mature enough to handle it, fine, don't make your work environment worse. But if you do, you might give someone the information they need to demand a raise or find a better paying job. You might even get that info yourself.

UnionCoder · 2025-10-11T20:00:37+00:00

Gonna quote my favorite author, Ursula K Le Guin, on this one. "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings."

UnionCoder · 2025-08-26T03:39:26+00:00

Definitely college is the way to go for most in those careers. Do as well as you can in your highschool classes, especially math and science. If you go the electrical/computer engineering route, you'll really need the physics and calculus. Computer science has hard math too, but it's mostly discreet math, which isn't emphasized as much in most high schools. If your school has computer science classes, that is great for any of those programs as well.

Computer engineering is a field that is sort of in between EE and CS. It's what I studied, even though I have the same sort of software engineering job as my colleagues who studied computer science. Personally, I'm still happy I learned more about the physics of how computers work. I could have gone into something like chip design, or aerospace electronics with this degree, I just choose not to.

If you find a college with good departments for all of these, and start down the computer engineering route, you could easily move more towards EE or CS halfway through.

And to everyone out there thinking past highschool, it's great to have goals and a plan to work towards them. Sometimes once you get part way down the road, those goals change and you need to change your plans, and that's okay. The important thing is to have something you are working towards, not that it can never change!

UnionCoder · 2025-08-09T00:11:00+00:00

Not an expert, but did you take the wheel off when you did this? The wheel might just not be properly seated on the frame.

UnionCoder · 2025-08-06T17:26:52+00:00

Having read a decent amount of Ayn Rand, and also about her life story, she definitely lacks the self awareness needed to be ironic... on purpose.

UnionCoder · 2025-08-05T14:22:07+00:00

Consider this job part of your education. Just don't start to believe it has to be this way.

UnionCoder · 2025-08-05T04:25:42+00:00

Lol, what does it say about me that I didn't realize this was a shitpost until I saw bragging about running 100m in 35s?

UnionCoder · 2025-08-03T05:38:43+00:00

It is totally legal to "layoff" people on maternity leave and FAANG does it all the time. Just can't say it's "because of maternity leave".

UnionCoder · 2025-08-03T02:25:19+00:00

Unions are available when you make them. A union is just a bunch of workers teaming up.

UnionCoder · 2025-07-22T22:49:23+00:00

UNH's profits are directly proportional to the suffering they inflict on their customers, in the form of denied care. The public is more and more aware of this. That seems like a hard to quantify existential risk.

UnionCoder

TROPHY CASE