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As I\u2019ve chronicled, I\u2019ve been looking for a job, in my field for a long time.<\/p>\nAs I\u2019ve chronicled, I\u2019ve been looking for a job, in my field for a long time.<\/p>\n
I read job postings daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This morning, before dawn I was having coffee reading job postings as I do every morning. I apply to those positions for which I\u2019m qualified and comfortable my skills would be well suited.<\/p>\n
Recently, I\u2019ve seen a trend where the job posting is clearly misleading.<\/p>\n
The most obvious is;<\/p>\n
\u201cFully Remote<\/em>\u201d then further into the posting the requirement is that you live in the city the company is in. Further down the long list of requirements is that the company wants the employee to be in the office some number of days per week.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s not a fully remote job, that\u2019s what companies are calling a hybrid position.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the old “bait and switch” and honestly probably creates an overwhelming response of resumes and applicants that the HR department has to filter.<\/p>\n A variation is where while filling out the preprogrammed application the prospective employee is asked if they\u2019re willing to relocate, and what the relocation time frame is.<\/p>\n In other words they might consider you if you\u2019re planning to move to their location on your own dime.<\/p>\n Again, this is a hybrid position at best, more likely, it\u2019s a position in an office.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also been seeing a growing number of positions where the position title or description is completely different from the actual responsibilities delineated other down the page.<\/p>\n For example;<\/p>\n \u201cManual Testing position<\/strong>“<\/p>\n Then further down, \u201cMust create automated testing using (Program de jour) from user stories.”<\/em><\/p>\n Then there are the endless typos or AI generated nonsense sentences \u00a0describing the work to be done, followed by a list of every possible buzzword that\u2019s ever been used in technology.<\/p>\n This made me wonder if I\u2019m the only person who finds HR departments nearly useless.<\/p>\n So I did a web search simply asking, \u201cIs any employee happy with their HR department?”<\/p>\n The results were interesting in that, most of the articles returned were talking about working in<\/i><\/b> an HR department, instead of if employees liked or were happy<\/em> with<\/u> HR.<\/p>\n It reminded me of the results you\u2019d get during COVID if the question you asked was about alternative treatments.<\/p>\n Rephrasing the question didn\u2019t significantly improve the returned results. There was a peppering of >10 year old articles about dissatisfaction with HR but nothing current.<\/p>\n One Forbes article (from 12 years ago) flatly stated, \u201cEmployees will ask for assistance from anyone but their HR department.”<\/p>\n I began wondering if the results were because the search algorithm was overwhelmed by negative articles and decided that it would \u201cImprove\u201d the world by masking reality.<\/p>\n There are people who seem to believe that sweeping the issues under the carpet is better than presenting the truth. The theory goes something like, \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t reinforce the negative because that will compound the issue and cause more people to pile on to the beleaguered party.<\/i>“<\/p>\n You see similar results if you specifically look for images of black folks trashing or looting stores or fast food places. What you get is results of anyone but black folks engaging in these activities.<\/p>\n I know this because on the one hand \u201cX\u201d sometimes presents incident after incident, literally showing black folks fighting each other in Walmarts, Targets, or McDonalds.<\/p>\n But when I try to search for the actual incident to find out what the specifics were, why this happened, or who provoked who, there are few, if any results.<\/p>\n This leads me to wonder, is what I\u2019m seeing on \u201cX\u201d some kind of AI hoax, or is the algorithm suppressing reports of the events?<\/p>\n I suspect the latter.<\/p>\n What this suggests to me is that truth may be entirely subjective. This is not because true is variable, but because either people can\u2019t handle the truth, don\u2019t want the truth, or the powers that be choose to obfuscate or shape the truth for their own ends.<\/p>\n 3 days ago, entering “Senator Van Hollen” brought up article, after article, about his \u201cBrave\u201d fight to bring a ‘mistakenly deported’ man home from El Salvador.<\/p>\n Now that same search parameter displays Senator Van Hollen\u2019s record in the senate and his biography. Adding \u201cEl Salvador\u201d to the search and articles are presented about the Senator\u2019s trip to El Salvador and that he\u2019s defending \u201cDue Process\u201d.<\/p>\n It changed shortly after revelations that Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a standing deportation order, restraining orders against him, from his wife, and that El Salvador counts Garcia among the membership of MS13.<\/p>\n Senator Van Hollen has egg on his face, the public opinion polls regarding the Democrat party and its leadership dropped over the good Senator\u2019s publicity stunt.<\/p>\n Taxpayers are not thrilled that the Senator used their money to demand that we waste more taxpayer money to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States, put him before a judge (spending more taxpayer money) only to have a hearing that will in all likelihood result in Garcia being deported again, (spending yet more taxpayer money).<\/p>\n We could have that hearing in absentia, or via zoom and then decide if Garcia should be returned to the US or remain in his home country.<\/p>\n The good Senator, with the help of the Media is trying to reframe the \u201cTruth\u201d in order to shore up both the Senator\u2019s polling numbers and those of the Democrat party.<\/p>\n There are a few diehard media outlets like MSNBC that still maintain Kilmar Abrego Garcia was “mistakenly deported”. That\u2019s just because their hatred for Trump is so strong that even in the face of a standing deportation order, they must paint the Trump administration as sitting at the right hand of Satan.<\/p>\n I find all of this amusing. It exemplifies the old quote; \u201cThis is how civilization dies, not with a bang\u2026 but with a whimper.”<\/p>\n When all data sources are tainted, facts are obfuscated, people are divided or polarized by falsehoods and misrepresentation, when truth is entirely subjective… Civilization as we\u2019ve known it, is circling the drain.<\/p>\n The weakness of old age and infirmity means that a younger more aggressive and probably more authoritarian civilization will sweep in to fill the vacuum.\u00a0<\/p>\n We have historical examples. Rome, Greece, The Ottoman Empire, and Egypt, all stand as sign posts.<\/p>\n Issac Asimov\u2019s Foundation\u00a0<\/em>touched on these themes. Even though it is science fiction, The opening chapters ring true.<\/p>\n Hari Seldon, through the mathematics of Psychohistory <\/i>told an Empire that it was doomed. Seldon said there was nothing that could stop the fall, but there were actions that could be taken to shorten the darkness between the fall of the current civilization and the rise of the next.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the twilight of the Empire, truth was subjective, people believed what was most comfortable or that which gave them purpose or comfort.<\/p>\n I\u2019m amused because no matter where I look, I see evidence suggesting that history, or the fantasy of Foundation<\/i> is playing out real time.<\/p>\n The \u201cEmpire\u201d known as western civilization is falling. As in Asimov\u2019s tale, it\u2019s rotting from within.<\/p>\n Life is imitating art.<\/p>\n So perhaps it\u2019s time to start thinking about creating the First Foundation. Perhaps it\u2019s time to start preserving all that we\u2019ve learned, and locking it away to protect it from the fall so that when our species is ready to reach for the stars again, science, philosophy, medicine, and a dispassionate record of history can guide our descendants forward quickly, instead of spending 1 or 2 thousand years in barbarism.<\/p>\n This line of crazy thinking has led me to wondering if our ancestors addressed this particular problem and how they attempted to solve it. Is there really a library of knowledge under the left paw of the Sphinx?<\/p>\n How would I solve the problem? Stone monuments attract attention. Various religious groups today will destroy monuments they perceive as antithetical to their beliefs. Our own people remove statues they find heretical.<\/p>\n How would I preserve knowledge? Books and libraries are subject to burning. Stone is more durable, but limited from a spacial perspective. A technological solution could work, but is inherently delicate and prone to malfunctions, power issues, or damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maybe I\u2019ve found a project to fill the rest of my days.<\/p>\n My coffee cup and pot are now empty. Time to get on with the day.<\/p>\n And this is how I get sidetracked all too often.<\/p>\n Have a great day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I\u2019ve chronicled, I\u2019ve been looking for a job, in my field for a long time. I read job postings daily.\u00a0 This morning, before dawn I was having coffee reading job postings as I do every morning. I apply to those positions for which I\u2019m qualified and comfortable my skills would be well suited. Recently, … <\/p>\n