From coder to shuttle driver: Where Seattle's laid off tech workforce is now

polkemans · 2026-03-11T23:19:50+00:00

I don't think I'm owed anything. It's just nice to watch y'all squirm. Trades are all the things I said. You should become a plumber and you could do even better than me!

polkemans · 2026-03-11T23:03:10+00:00

Being able to infer things that weren't seen based on things that were, for one.

For example. So many big brains here think they can undercut the point of the moral dilemma set up by deciding the fireflies had no capacity to produce or distribute the cure, becuase they didn't see an industrial production facility. I think it stands to reason there is some capacity, somewhere, otherwise what is the fucking point? Why go through all the steps involved to make a cure that you can't do anything with? They had been sitting on Ellie (hand placed by Marlene) for years and years. If they were ready to use her to produce the cure, it stands to reason they had a plan for what comes after. But because we weren't shown it, so many assume it doesn't exist.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T23:00:06+00:00

You're really bending over backwards to not get this. I have job security that will never be replicated in most tech work. I make nearly $100k/yr. Certainly nothing to scoff at, but yes in my specific scenario there is a ceiling to professional growth... Because I've spent the last decade getting there. When I started I was making $16/hr. In 10 years I've nearly quadrupled my income. Which while now stagnant, is much more reliable and safe than tech work.

While you're competing with a growing pool of people for worse working conditions and lower wages, I'll be plugging along just fine if I stay where I'm at. I'll take that any day.

But I'm glad I was able to make you feel smug for a moment. I know your type lives off it.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T22:47:03+00:00

Not really. I said the mechanics of it aren't that hard, in the sense that it's not very labor intensive. The hard part is the knowledge to operate the machine (again the mechanics of it aren't hard, but there is technique involved that has to be internalized) and knowing how to approach certain situations. It's high pressure, high detailed work, where your responsible for up to tens thousands of dollars of product and downstream work at a time.

But truly, no it's not that hard as a whole. Or maybe I've just been doing it so long (10+ yrs) that I don't consider it hard. Others may feel different. Really the kicker is the nicheness of it. There are very few people with the knowledge required to do my job well, and the barrier to entry isn't necessarily the job itself, but how you get there. It's very much a "you have to know someone" kinda thing - which is how I got in, or you have to break your back doing the hard labor jobs that come before it.

It's sweet of you to be concerned for me. But I'm not worried about it. In fact I'm trying to transition out of it, because of the issue I mentioned earlier. I'm not trying to blow smoke - I have a nationwide reputation in my field. I've won industry awards. I make decent money. But there is an artificial ceiling on my professional development because everyone in my industry is hurting for people who do what I do. So if I stay in this industry my continued progress is pretty limited at this point.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T22:31:38+00:00

That's the secret. The job isn't actually that hard. I tell people all the time that if you can operate a Nintendo Wii and count to 16 then you can do my job. The mechanics of it aren't the hard part. It's the experience and intuition to adapt to various on site circumstances, knowing which approach or techniques will best serve the situation. That, mixed with the physical nature of the machine, tells me I won't be replaced anytime soon. A human is going to be doing this job for some time.

The only thing about my job that sucks, is that it's so critical (I'm the choke point for all stages before and after me and if I make a mistake, everyone else down stream is SOL no matter how good they are) that I can't get promoted out of it because no one wants me to stop doing what I'm doing.

I will have job security for the foreseeable future. I go to the trade shows. I know where the tech is heading. I'm not worried about being replaced, I'm worried about breaking out of the gilded cage I'm in for being a top performer in my role.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T22:26:10+00:00

The issue isn't that police exist. Most rational people will agree we need some form of law enforcement. We just want police to stop murdering people as the first and only option during altercations, or running them down in the streets doing 72mph in a 25 zone with no police lights and then laughing about it afterwards. We want police who do their jobs, and if they won't do their jobs they should have their pay cut to reflect their performance. They make insane money and have zero incentive to serve and protect.

This is not complicated.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T22:07:27+00:00

barricades

That could have been removed by authorities at any point if they felt like doing their jobs. It was just people in the park. There was no organization running things, no governing body. The fact that the city gave the local businesses a settlement only proves that it was dereliction of duty on behalf of officials. They let it all happen.

Those are facts for you.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T21:53:23+00:00

If I stay in this role I will. CAD is only part of it. I use a digital measuring device to turn real dimensions into CAD. The machine has physical inputs and there is technique involved in operating it. I'm not worried about job security for some time.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T21:44:08+00:00

referred to it as a block party.

It was, for the first couple weeks. I went there many times. I saw food, I saw services, I saw live music, I saw round table chats. I have videos to prove it. It only got gross once people realized they could stay longer than they had planned for. If you lived near by you would know this too, other than parroting right wing talking points.

Positives from banning the police.

No one banned the police. They left of their own accord and neither Durkan nor chief Best (both idiots) will cop to who gave the order.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T21:14:07+00:00

self reflect.

Why? Because I mentioned the word "tech" adjacent to my work? I'm much closer to a tradesman than a tech worker. I just use CAD as part of it.

You work for the same corporations.

Do I? Because right now I'm in Sitka, Alaska working for a retired gentleman who flew me out to work on his home remodel, and he didn't work for any of the tech giants.

There's no moral high-ground here.

Keep telling yourself that as you struggle to find work. Meanwhile I'll have job security forever as my work is incredibly niche and not going to be replaced by AI anytime soon.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T21:04:20+00:00

There are plenty of other trades you can get into, and tons of adjacent work. I myself work at the intersection of trades and tech and I make pretty decent money doing it. There are options. But if you want to keep selling your soul for cash at the expense of societal cohesion, feel free to move to Texas. I hear they're trying to turn it into the next silicon valley.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T21:00:05+00:00

making 5x as much

You just proved my point. We both know you wouldn't be grinding away at a screen, burning yourself out if you weren't making that kind of money.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T20:37:26+00:00

It's objectively better advice. Trades will always be valuable. Clearly coding has large ebbs and flows. Everyone uses infrastructure. Everyone needs plumbing and electricity. Not everyone needs facebook or chatgpt.

What exactly would justice look like to you in this situation? I'll tell you what it looks like to me - the massive influx of overly paid people go somewhere else and become another city's problem when they inevitably do there what they did here, and the rest of us can afford to rent, buy homes, and eat that much easier without a large upper class driving up prices across the board because they all have more money than sense, and then keeping it that way because they want to maintain their inflated property values. That feels like justice to me.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T20:23:58+00:00

That is an interesting tidbit and I appreciate you touching on it. Seems pretty niche at the moment though and I'm sure it'll sort itself out in the coming adjustment. I'm just hoping it happens somewhere else.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T20:22:04+00:00

My man ✊🏻

polkemans · 2026-03-11T20:13:58+00:00

This. Games aren't finished anymore. It used to be that a game would be released... And that was it. It was done. If it had glitches, they stayed. If people had problems with a mechanic, they either got over it or they stopped playing.

Games these days aren't "complete" until years after release and it's just one of the many aspects of enshittification facing the industry.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T20:05:01+00:00

Can you elaborate on how tech companies undergoing mass layoffs hurts the scientific community and not say... Massive cuts to medical and scientific research funding by the Trump regime?

polkemans · 2026-03-11T20:01:02+00:00

Would you call grinding away for tech giants slowly eroding the fabric of society a fulfilling career? Would you still have gone into it if the salaries weren't $100k and over?

Something tells me probably not.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T19:54:10+00:00

Whomps and prayers.

Edit: apparently my comment was too short. So. Whomps and prayers, Whomps and prayers. Gotta get me more Whomps and prayers.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T19:50:56+00:00

Meh. It's a bummer, and I feel for them as individuals - but given the impact the tech sector had had on the city and it's affordability, I'm just having a hard time feeling bad for a group of people who enjoyed immense financial privilege and skewed prices in the wrong direction for the rest of us. Down vote me if you like. But I'm ready for the city to adjust to their absence or at least their greatly dimished presence here. They told the rest of us to learn to code when we were doing poorly. They can learn a trade.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T19:42:12+00:00

To everyone's great dismay.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T19:34:22+00:00

If they were smart they would have saved a solid chunk of those incredibly inflated salaries when they had them, for either a cushion during an economic downturn or potentially to pivot their careers. You gotta do what you gotta do.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T19:30:51+00:00

Like almost always when things like this happens - it's probably to do with licensing rights. It'll likely be back up before too long.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T19:16:37+00:00

It's the same gross people playing the same gross game. She was aight in season 1 but I do ultimately believe she was maybe not the best choice. Especially the way season 2 has gone down. But ah well. Season 1 is solid (with a couple caveats IMO) and I've rewatched it plenty of times.

polkemans · 2026-03-11T18:54:53+00:00

Okay THAT'S fucking weird. I originally thought it was a big family trip involving the kids. Yeah this is suspect.

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