Ask HN: Why doesn't Dilbert quit?
35 comments
The thing I've come to realise recently is that most people in IT are resigned to the fact that they work for money and live life outside work. Even the thought of starting a company never enters their minds. I quit recently to start up a company and almost everyone from my old employer that found out I was leaving asked me what employer I was moving to. On hearing my news most said something like "wow that's really brave!". I kept saying is it? The reality is it would have made more sense to them if I'd said I was taking a career break to travel the world for six months. I kept saying but this way my cost are much lower and I have a (hopefully good) chance of making real money, compared to the traveller that comes back - all be it having had a lot of great experiences - broke and looking for work again.
most people in IT are resigned to the fact that they work for money and live life outside work
For me, it was PG's essay that overwrote this idea, which I had been raised with -
http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html
In defense of the amazing people who raised me with the work/pay assumption, they lived most of their lives in the Soviet Union, where there weren't many options aside from working for money handed down from a higher power.
For me, it was PG's essay that overwrote this idea, which I had been raised with -
http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html
In defense of the amazing people who raised me with the work/pay assumption, they lived most of their lives in the Soviet Union, where there weren't many options aside from working for money handed down from a higher power.
most people in IT are resigned to the fact that they work for money and live life outside work
It's definitely not just in IT.
For the sake of argument, one could say that life/work separation is good, and that people who start startups are workaholics missing out on all of the interesting things in life.
It's definitely not just in IT.
For the sake of argument, one could say that life/work separation is good, and that people who start startups are workaholics missing out on all of the interesting things in life.
Yeah - was the same for me.
When I quit, everyone asked where I'm going. When I said "I haven't worked it out yet" (as I was shaping a startup) people just couldn't process it... Half assumed I just didn't want to say.
For a lot of people I just said "I'm going travelling", because it was something they could process.
When I quit, everyone asked where I'm going. When I said "I haven't worked it out yet" (as I was shaping a startup) people just couldn't process it... Half assumed I just didn't want to say.
For a lot of people I just said "I'm going travelling", because it was something they could process.
If Dilbert started his own company, then Dilbert would become the pointy-haired boss, or the VC that controlled his fate would be the pointy-haired boss. And the underlings would become Dilbert. Nothing would really change.
Dilbert (the comic strip) isn't really about any particular character. It's about patterns of relationships in all hierarchical human organizations. No escape is possible for Dilbert (the character) because his tribulations are all the result of emergent phenomena. The comic has distilled those conflicts down to their essence, so they're visible anywhere. Call it the Dilbert Pattern.
Dilbert (the comic strip) isn't really about any particular character. It's about patterns of relationships in all hierarchical human organizations. No escape is possible for Dilbert (the character) because his tribulations are all the result of emergent phenomena. The comic has distilled those conflicts down to their essence, so they're visible anywhere. Call it the Dilbert Pattern.
That's pretty much what happened http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-07-12/
He's not ruthless and uncaring enough to be a leader. A well aimed rock from Dogbert knocked out his moral compass allowing him to ascend effortlessly to high level management.
He's not ruthless and uncaring enough to be a leader. A well aimed rock from Dogbert knocked out his moral compass allowing him to ascend effortlessly to high level management.
Here's John Hess, creator of the classic TV soap opera Love of Life (1951-1980) and later a writer for MASH:
"The basic notion of writing a soap opera is all so-and-so has to say is such-and-such and the story is over, but they don't ever say it because then you would have nothing to write about it. 'Why doesn't Beany go to his father and tell him he took the book?'
"Well, because then you've shot about a month's worth of scripts. The great secret was how to attenuate and retain interest. How did I? You approach the same set of circumstances from different directions. If you have a couple talking about divorcing one day, the next day, you have another couple talking about the first couple's divorce."
(From The Box: An Oral History of Television 1920-1961 by Jeff Kisseloff. One of my favorite books.)
"The basic notion of writing a soap opera is all so-and-so has to say is such-and-such and the story is over, but they don't ever say it because then you would have nothing to write about it. 'Why doesn't Beany go to his father and tell him he took the book?'
"Well, because then you've shot about a month's worth of scripts. The great secret was how to attenuate and retain interest. How did I? You approach the same set of circumstances from different directions. If you have a couple talking about divorcing one day, the next day, you have another couple talking about the first couple's divorce."
(From The Box: An Oral History of Television 1920-1961 by Jeff Kisseloff. One of my favorite books.)
Because he shags Alice every day around lunch time in an unused conference room, and he found a loophole in the billing subroutine for their e-commerce site that allows him to route $1.00 from every transaction to his personal account.
> allows him to route $1.00 from every transaction to his personal account.
From the crippled children?
No, that's the jar. I'm talking about the tray, the pennies for everybody.
From the crippled children?
No, that's the jar. I'm talking about the tray, the pennies for everybody.
Dilbert doesn't quit because almost all of the mini-storylines contributed are from real workers (to Scott Adams) and he acts as silent mouthpiece for us anonymous workers
Yes, and while I could tell him quite a few tales about dysfunctional startups, there just aren't as many such stories in the world. The number of employee hours spent working for dysfunctional startups is necessarily limited, because such companies evaporate faster than the morning dew.
I also wouldn't be surprised if, to paraphrase Tolstoy, broken startups tend to be all alike, while each pointy-haired boss in the depths of an enormous company hierarchy is broken in his own way. There's a lot of ripe dramatic possibilities in the artificial environment of a BigCo; that's why so many dramas (and even musicals!) have been set in offices.
But for all I know the "Dilbert-does-a-startup" storyline has actually happened several times. I wouldn't expect such a storyline to last much more than a week. There's only so much humor you can get out of a company that's plummeting toward the ground, trying to learn to fly by delegating an intern to flap his arms.
I also wouldn't be surprised if, to paraphrase Tolstoy, broken startups tend to be all alike, while each pointy-haired boss in the depths of an enormous company hierarchy is broken in his own way. There's a lot of ripe dramatic possibilities in the artificial environment of a BigCo; that's why so many dramas (and even musicals!) have been set in offices.
But for all I know the "Dilbert-does-a-startup" storyline has actually happened several times. I wouldn't expect such a storyline to last much more than a week. There's only so much humor you can get out of a company that's plummeting toward the ground, trying to learn to fly by delegating an intern to flap his arms.
Because secretly he likes feeling smarter than his co-workers, and he dreads the responsibility of accomplishing something real.
For the same reason that so very few people start businesses - the FUD of the unknown.
Predictability is a great comforter for many risk-averse types, a category to which the great majority of engineer-types I have known belong.
Predictability is a great comforter for many risk-averse types, a category to which the great majority of engineer-types I have known belong.
because it'll be exactly the same no matter where he goes. Except at the new company he'd be the new guy, and will lose all his seniority perks.
I'd have to agree with you there. No matter where he goes it's basically going to be the same.
If you look at the work place as it exists in the US, or many other countries for that matter, there is a fairly defined and constant relationship between the company and the employee. There are those companies that try to break the mold and have a different relationship, but for the most part it's fairly constant across companies and industries.
As company size increases the number of people in management also tends to increase and the upper management tends to become more and more removed from the people who are actually working with the customers and writing the code or doing the real work. The people making the big decisions know less about the situation than the guy on the front lines hence the large number of problems that arise that are satirized in the Dilbert comics.
If you look at the work place as it exists in the US, or many other countries for that matter, there is a fairly defined and constant relationship between the company and the employee. There are those companies that try to break the mold and have a different relationship, but for the most part it's fairly constant across companies and industries.
As company size increases the number of people in management also tends to increase and the upper management tends to become more and more removed from the people who are actually working with the customers and writing the code or doing the real work. The people making the big decisions know less about the situation than the guy on the front lines hence the large number of problems that arise that are satirized in the Dilbert comics.
Do you work here?
First, remember that he is an engineer, not a computer programmer. There isn't much demand for engineers in this once great nation. For him to move to another enterprise, he'd probably have to emigrate to Elbonia.
Second, many engineers, while incredibly bright, are not the types to know how to successfully run their own businesses. Dilbert has never been portrayed as business savvy. Nor has he been portrayed as the type who could sell his ideas well enough to partner with someone who is.
Third, comment one nailed it perfectly, the comic wouldn't be funny.
Second, many engineers, while incredibly bright, are not the types to know how to successfully run their own businesses. Dilbert has never been portrayed as business savvy. Nor has he been portrayed as the type who could sell his ideas well enough to partner with someone who is.
Third, comment one nailed it perfectly, the comic wouldn't be funny.
Because he's not like the rest of us who make up less then 1% of the IT industry.
See Achewood calling out Dilbert:
http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=07312008
http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=07312008
I don't pity Dilbert - he whines constantly yet makes no effort improve things. He is very cynical, and has no interest in improving his lot of those around him, so he gets what he deserves.
I wonder if that is part of Scott Adams intent - people pity him, yet he is not really worthy of pity (which most people wouldn't realise).
I wonder if that is part of Scott Adams intent - people pity him, yet he is not really worthy of pity (which most people wouldn't realise).
Stockholm Syndrome
Reminds me of that old adage:
"It's never as bad as you think, and it's never as good as you think."
"It's never as bad as you think, and it's never as good as you think."
he is a co-dependent. obviously
He's working through some things right now.
Because its Dilbert. Not ycombinator.
Because he loves bitching about how fucked up everybody else is.
he needs to pay the bills
Because Dilbert lives in The Worse of All Possible Worlds, where there are no other jobs to be had. He's trapped.
Why doesn't Dilbet quit, move to another enterprise or embark on his own start-up?
Why do I have to watch him everyday, being humiliated, teased and frustrated?
Why doesn't he quit?
I pitty him!