Tyrone Slothropslothrop@chaos.social
Dec 24, 2025, 1:17 PM@dequbed @hazelweakly a lot of people in tech would do well to realize that they’re essentially plumbers and bricklayers, working for a few rich landlords.
Replies
nadjadequbed@mastodon.chaosfield.atDec 24, 2025, 1:34 PM@slothrop @hazelweakly and both parts of that. Tech people are *just* plumbers and bricklayers. They help build infrastructure but they're no better than a bricklayer building a bridge.
Kat SKatS@chaosfem.twDec 24, 2025, 2:01 PM@dequbed @slothrop @hazelweakly ...which leads to looking back at the bridges you've built, and hoping they've been used more by good people to do good things, than by any other kind. But also being afraid to look.
derptroncrazyeddie@mastodon.socialDec 24, 2025, 3:47 PM@dequbed @slothrop @hazelweakly We are engineers and scientists.
Fuck the haters. ;)
Ain't nothing wrong with being a plumber. The equivalent in IT would probably be the network administrators. Similar levels of education and certification requirements. The plumber is probably more regulated by law, but the expectations are similar.
I really don't understand the human obsession with labeling wide groups of other humans and then group hating on them. It's weird. We're just people.
Alexnap@social.coopDec 24, 2025, 11:05 PM@crazyeddie @dequbed @slothrop @hazelweakly
They're not saying there is something wrong with being a plumber or a bricklayer. Those are both artisanal professions that build infrastructure, whereas the average software engineer is trained to view themselves more as a capitalist. Of course, we aren't. We are also members of a largely artisanal profession.
Dec 25, 2025, 12:08 PM@nap @crazyeddie @dequbed @slothrop @hazelweakly i did a double take at "*just* plumbers" as well. (Pretty sure not intended negatively in this case, but could be more positively worded, I think)
Given the right incentives, both plumbers and software engineers can do some very useful stuff, and solve some hairy problems. Also, I met some of the best and most compassionate communicators among craftspeople. Let's celebrate that and let go of the stereotypes!
Dec 26, 2025, 10:19 PMPlumbers and bricklayers do essential work. The problem with managing sociotechnical systems through the tech/engineering lens is that the ultimate societal goals tend to get lost as the job becomes less and less prioritised by politics and social issues, but more and more by technical optimisations of the system.
So tech ppl need to either start condidering the ethics of choices they make, and involve sociopolitical stakeholders more.