Science fiction novelist, journalist and technology activist Cory Doctorow @pluralistic speech at the 2025 Ursula Franklin Lecture. >

https://vimeo.com/1059798497

#enshitification #monopsonies #twiddling #LockedUsers #LockedSellers #GAFAM #lecture #AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination#speech #SurveillanceCapitalism #interoperability #competition #regulation #WorkersPower #BigData #sellers #users #TechnoFeudalism #employment #ratings #Uberisation #queries #JediBlue #profiling #enshitified #internet #abuse #DataBrokers #AntitrustLaw #TechLayoffs #RegulatoryCaptures #TechnologicalAbuse #privacy #value #GiantPileOfShit #TechnicalMechanism #rankings #unions #digitalisation #nursing #speech #lecture #video #coporatocracy #monopoly

"we are not able to provide additional feedback or information"

How you are *not able to* provide feedback on a candidate that you decided to reject? There are two possibilities:

1. You are just selecting randomly and therefore there is no feedback you can give
2. You *chose to* not explain your criteria.

Choosing to not give feedback and not being able to give feedback are significantly different things. Don't frame it like you have no choice.

Apparently Automattic are laying off around one in six of their workforce. And I'm one of the unlucky ones.

Anybody remote hiring for a UK-based full-stack web developer (in a world that doesn't seem to believe that full-stack developers exist anymore) with 25+ years professional experience, specialising in PHP, Ruby, JS, HTML, CSS, devops, and about 50% of CMSes you've ever heard of (and probably some you haven't)... with a flair for security, accessibility, standards-compliance, performance, and DexEx?

CV at: https://danq.me/cv/index.html

#note #work #automattic #job #memorable #employment

Via: https://danq.me/2025/04/02/redundant/

Important new tool: the Impact Map—a new interactive platform developed under the Impact Project to help visualize how #federal #employment, #funding, and #policy #decisions affect [US] communities.” https://theimpactproject.org/the-impact-map/

#USPol

Questions and an idea for my #USAnian friends...

Your ~~feral~~ federal government is currently being commandeered by an executive that believes that it can rewrite the U.S. constitution via executive orders. One of the primary techniques they are using is usurping the congress's "power of the purse", by either refusing to spend congressionally-allocated funds, or by spending those funds on things other than congress allocated them for.

If the executive branch thinks it's fine to ignore your constitution and screw taxpayers with tax dollars, then...

1) Most of the feds' tax income comes from income tax and various #employment taxes.

2) Employers collect these taxes and remit them to the government.

3) Q: exactly *who* do they remit them to? Based on history, I would think this would be a state agency, who would keep the state/municipal portion and remit the rest to the federal government. Is this correct?

4) "Blue" states are, in general, net payers of tax dollars vs. federal services received.

5) "Red" states are, in general, the opposite - they receive more in federal services / support than they remit in taxes.

So, depending on the answer to (3), my #idea is: why don't blue states stop remitting funds to the federal #government? Don't steal it, just hold it in trust until the feds can be made to follow the law correctly.

I would think this would hurt the feds, a *lot*.

The Workplace Justice Program is here to help workers in Nova Scotia understand their rights & fight to make their workplaces better. Our goal is to teach workers about the laws that protect them, give them tools to solve problems as they come up, & support them in fighting for changes to improve the law for everyone. First... "Know Your Rights At Work". Please post and share widely, in Halifax.
#work #nspoli #rights #employment #HalifaxNS #halifax

'The federal government will ban non-compete clauses for most employees, including hairdressers, construction workers and childcare centre staff, according to changes announced in the budget that could help households boost their income.

The policy, designed to come into effect from 2027, would apply to workers earning less than the high-income threshold, currently $175,000 a year.

More than 3 million workers are covered by such clauses, according to the government.' https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/25/australia-federal-budget-2025-non-compete-clauses-banned-details #auspol #auslaw #IP #employment #competition

I interviewed a candidate recently where everyone on the panel is convinced the person was reading the output of an LLM in real time. It seems likely that they had the audio piped to some kind of system that heard the questions and wrote plausible replies. Of course none of us KNOW this to be true, we just strongly suspect it.

They would say things like "we implemented a privacy protocol" and I would say "I'm in security, but privacy really isn't my area. Can you explain a bit what a 'privacy protocol' is?" You know the thing they JUST said in the immediately prior sentence? And the candidate was stumped. They hemmed and hawwed and delayed with phrases like "mmm, let me think of just the right way to answer that..."

It is totally trivial to detect and defeat someone interviewing this way. All you have to do is ask follow-up questions. "That's interesting, what did you do next?" or "Tell me how you decided that was the right thing to do?" LLMs don't tell coherent stories. They're just making stuff up. All you have to do is ask for details. The details won't tell a consistent story. They told me about a situation that was a "suspected data breach" but it turned out to be a false alarm. I asked "what gave you confidence that it was not a data breach?" and they really struggled to answer that.

The other thing that was laughable was their approach to the code and design exercise. Given a problem description, they were able to—almost instantly—verbally outline the right solution. And when asked questions like "what's the computational complexity?" they could provide the right answer (e.g., "O(n)" or "O(log n)"). And then you ask a really simple follow-up question like "so what's the outermost for() loop going to look like?" and they can't answer. There is no for() loop in their head.

They didn't want to be obvious in their copy/pasting of code from an LLM, so they typed. But since they didn't understand actual Python syntax, they used the wrong quote marks (e.g., ` instead of ') and they didn't take care with indentation.

I'm told this is a problem in lots of roles at lots of companies. Heaven help us all.
#employment #interview #jobinterviews #jobhunt

Remember, they expect you to…

1. Work in a physical office.
2. Endure longer hours.
3. Receive less compensation.
4. Get laid off on a whim, whether necessary or not.
5. If number four happens, eat a negative termination letter in spite of good performance reviews.

And this is why all of us in technology are fed up with technology *companies*.

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/tech-titans-get-tough-on-workers-6339508/

Toronto is hiring for tons of jobs right now and many pay over $100,000
For many, the idea of finding a job in Toronto often leads to opportunities within the City itself. After all, with perks like job stability, attractive pay, and the prestige of having the City on your resume, it's a highly sought-after option for job seekers. Whether you're a new graduate look...
#jobs #employment #citygovernment #careers #Toronto
https://www.blogto.com/city/2025/03/toronto-hiring-tons-jobs-pay-over-100k/

Wandering thoughts led me to a question:

Is there any published/peer-reviewed research that shows a wider prevalence of neurodiversity in specific fields of work/trades, versus the population at large?

Or not, as the case may be...

Sub-living wage jobs should be illegal.

All jobs should come in fixed blocks of either 20 hours or 40 hours per week, chosen by the employee.

Cities, Counties, and States should send a bill each month to every corporation for ever dime of means-tested benefits and services provided to their employees (w/out naming them, of course).

Article: https://sherwood.news/personal-finance/multiple-jobholder-rates-are-the-highest-theyve-been-since-the-great/

This is the best article I've read to date about the tech job market. There's more research and actual reporting here than in the WSJ, NYT, etc.

https://www.dailydot.com/culture/desperation-job-forums-2025/

Layoffs in the U.S. soar to 172,017 in February, the highest since 2020, as DOGE slashes federal staff.

CNBC reports: "The report comes amid heightened concern about the state of the labor market and the economy in general as Trump’s plans for tariffs, slashing the size of government, and mass deportations and stringent immigration restrictions take shape."

https://flip.it/MaIsd7

'Almost half of neurodivergent adults hide their neurodiversity when looking for a job, according to new research' www.stylist.co.uk/life/careers... #neurodivergent #Workplace #Employment #Neurodiversity

Almost half of neurodivergent ...

any chance the hivemind can recommend a pro bono or low-cost employment lawyer who can provide some expert advice on negotiating a better severance package after a layoff? my severance sucks and i believe i have some negotiating power

There is little doubt that even with its ever weakening ‘pledges’ on employment law, certain factions in the English establishment feel deeply threatened by proposals to treat workers fairly and propetly.

I learnt a new use of the world ‘regressive’ today’

http://archive.today/2025.03.04-220829/https://www.thetimes.com/comment/the-times-view/article/labour-employment-rights-bill-s29sv9q28