
Making things work - rglovejoy
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/books/review/Fukuyama-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
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jnorthrop
What I get out of this review is that the author has come to an understanding
that it feels good to work with your hands. And I agree. I like working with
my hands too. I've renovated my house, built a chicken coop and shed. I've
built a stone patio and change the oil in my car. These things can be
difficult and time consuming but very rewarding, and you certainly develop a
respect for the skills it takes to do these things professionally.

However, I would never choose to do these things as a full-time career. I like
being a "knowledge worker" and manager and all of the challenges that it
entails. I also enjoy the freedom it gives me to choose to do manual labor
when I want to. I'm friends with a house painter, general contractor and two
fisherman. The painter and fishermen have VERY demanding jobs and worry (now
that they are in their 40's) about how long they can continue.

These types of articles and books surface from time to time and they always
seem to romanticize blue collar work. In my opinion blue collar work makes a
great hobby but in real life it is hard and physically demanding work. I'll
happily keep my desk-jockey status.

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jswinghammer
This is a very interesting article. I've seen a few families I know push kids
into college who were clearly better suited for blue collar work. That just
frustrates the kids and the parents who don't understand why their kid just
doesn't fit into the college mold. I'm hoping to encourage my children to take
whatever path makes sense for them and not force them to be anything that
doesn't work for them. I hope that the US starts producing things again and
thus blue collar labor is valued more so that kids who aren't really meant for
college always have a respected, valued place in society.

~~~
maukdaddy
What the US needs is a really good vocational-level school system. We have a
huge gap between universities and trade schools. If we were to formalize
vocational/trade schools it would bring much more legitimacy to those careers.

~~~
jperras
Being a resident of Québec, Canada, I find that the CEGEP (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEGEP> ) system employed here is something that
other provinces and perhaps even the United States should take a closer look
at.

The wiki page can describe the benefits of such a system in much more detail
than I can, but I can offer one salient piece of information: the system
works, and it works quite well.

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jameskpolk
Timely article, after I (a mechanically disinclined person) just replaced the
thermostat on my '93 Camry -- a simple job for most, but hard for me. And a
very interesting read.

>The fact of the matter is that most forms of real knowledge, including self-
knowledge, come from the effort to struggle with and master the brute reality
of material objects — loosening a bolt without stripping its threads, or
backing a semi rig into a loading dock. All these activities, if done well,
require knowledge both about the world as it is and about yourself, and your
own limitations.

I think that most programmers can agree that mastering programming is much of
the same -- struggling with and finally mastering the known - and unknown -
limitations of the tools we are using. In that regard, we are doing exactly
what the mechanic does.

You could rightly argue that the knowledge the mechanic gets can be _applied_
in far more places -- bolts hold the world together, and understanding how to
properly loosen one can come in handy. That tricky LDAP bug I solved yesterday
doesn't apply to many other places.

The article goes on to discuss the process of rebuilding an engine -- an
intricate, hands on task. But the description also points to the mental
problem solving that takes place. The mechanic must have a mental model of an
engine, so that seeing a small distortion or a slight bend raises an alarm of
future problems. Programmers use those same mental models on a daily basis.

My father always says that you don't pay a mechanic to fix your car. You pay a
mechanic for their knowledge - their ability to recognize odd operating
conditions, their ability to know the internal processes and figure out where
the system is failing. That's a _good_ mechanic, and that sounds like a good
programmer to me.

I'm not trying to claim that all programmers could be good mechanics, or that
the opposite is true -- I almost needed a good mechanic to replace my
thermostat, and that's about as simple as it gets! I just think that much more
overlap exists between these fields than we might believe.

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donaq
_They can’t be learned simply by following rules, as a computer does; they
require intuitive knowledge that comes from long experience and repeated
encounters with difficulty and failure._

It's hard to try to refute this without sounding like I'm just defending my
tribe, but I have to call bullshit on this one. The person who thinks that
working with computers doesn't require intuition derived from repeated
failures has had very limited experience with computers.

~~~
scott_s
I think you misinterpreted the sentence. I understand it to mean: _These tasks
can't be automated by a computer using an algorithm; the tasks require
intuitive knowledge that comes from long experience and repeated encounters
with difficulty and failure._

~~~
donaq
On second read, I think you're right. My bad.

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rgoddard
The part that matters is not if the job is a blue collar job, or white collar
job, but if the type of work is a good fit for you. Neither type of work is
inherently more valuable, they just have a different set of trade offs that
need to be considered.

Although I do appreciate the author's attempt to raise the perceived
worthiness of blue collar jobs to an equal level as white collar jobs.

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tjmc
This extract was posted last week. Well worth a read...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html>

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edw519
This supports the observation that the 4 scariest words any homeowner can
hear, "You have a problem," are much worse coming from your plumber than from
your computer repair person.

~~~
run4yourlives
Actually, I'd take hearing them from a plumber over any other tradesman! (Like
a roofer, mason, or god forbid electrician.) :-)

