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by enko 4605 days ago
> A lot of these mundane jobs do need to be done, but a lot of people enjoy stable mundane jobs.

It took me way too long to accept this. I always thought those people just did not know better, or something.

I will never forget the QA department at a previous company and their ~200-step excel-based manual QA procedure. For me, that is basically a nightmare made reality. I tried to talk them into automating it, but they resisted that, almost angrily. They liked stepping through that 200-step spreadsheet.

I cannot understand it, at all, but I now accept it. People are different.

2 comments

It could also be because they thought you were going automate them out of a job. People who aren't in the business of change don't like it as a general rule.
I actually took some pains to assure them I was not trying to do that. I offered to teach them the techniques I would use, which would actually have increased their market value. They just would not have a word of it. About 6 months later we were all laid off when the company folded.

I now hire spreadsheet testers on odesk for $10/hr. Upskill when you have the chance or die.

I think you may be confusing two different types of people. The idea, to me, of making $xxx,xxx while working 40 easy hours a week (manytimes fewer) and spending the rest of my time with money for my hobbies and lifestyle sounds great; I feel like I'm beating the system. Mundane tasks are the price you pay for that. There may also be people want to press that button 200 times, but they're a different group.