I move files
I draw lines
3 people above the fisherman:
- sales analyst
- automation technician
- software engineer
Fisherman:
- I operate a decentralized, sustainability-focused aquatic-resource acquisition methodology utilizing precision-guided line-and-lure interface systems to facilitate targeted biomass retrieval.
In the OP, all the speech bubbles are answers to “What do you do at your job?” I challenge you to try again with that in mind
“I press buttons”
- “I analyse sales”
- “I automate processes”
- “I create software”
I appease Machine-spirits.
OPs has distilled his job title from ‘political agitation meme technician’ to ‘shitposter’.
Emails and meetings
You just successfully described 95% of modern office jobs
I fix shit
Saying “I catch fish” is as descriptive as the first guy saying “sales analyst”. Second person is a software developer, third guy is a systems architect. So you catch fish? Sure. What kind? On a river? In the ocean? Do you really just press a button that rolls up a big net full of turtles and dolphins as well and you’re destroying the delicate balance of a fragile ecosystem? Are you a fishing guide?
Anyone can describe their job in three words. Understanding it is on you, man.
The whole concept is more akin to whether or not you are working directly with the material fruits of your labor, or if you’re some secondary or tertiary job to the actual work being done.
Basically, their view is that if you are not directly making the product or apart of the physical logistics for that product, then you’re in a bullshit job. I would not say I agree with the philosophy myself, but i kind of get it. ‘I farm Corn’, ‘I Truck frozen food’, and ‘I catch fish’, do exist in a very different realm from ‘I manage a team of QA specialists’, ‘I am an Advertisement Consultant’, and ‘I contribute to my company’s server backend codebase’.
Also, yeah, the 3-word rule of thumb sucks.
The problem, to me, is that not everyone on a boat is catching fish. There are plenty of different roles. It’s just that people outside the industry don’t have a concept of the nuanced differences between roles, so it gets simplified to “I catch fish” even if they aren’t involved in catching fish at all. Most people outside of tech have no idea between the different roles that exist in tech either. It wasn’t too long ago where no matter your role in tech, you’d tell laymen, “I work in IT” as a catchall for any technical role
Thank you for your insight.
The concept is still bullshit. You can describe any job in three words to the same extent that “I catch fish” is informative. That’s all I’m saying.
What does a Astronaut do in 3 words?
Go to space
Vacuum the moon.
So I either have a bullshit job “I design chips for isosychronous low-latency networks” or a real job “I herd electrons”…
Make missiles hit.
Maybe don’t.
You’d think that would help but it probably means they just send more missiles and hit more random things around the target.
Maybe they should leak the tech so that everyone’s missiles can be more accurate and have less collateral damage. Giving missile targeting systems to, say, Al Qaida is ethical, actually? 🤔
I don’t make the targeting systems. I make the carbon fiberhousing for the targeting systems. Deep blue collar job in the bluest collar town you can imagine.
He’s a fertility doc.
I suck dick
Nice to see you here Mr. President.
Ah, it’s nice to meet another fellow customer service rep.
i make websites
Can confirm this works, since fullstack is a real job, but I can’t describe my frontend bullshit in 3 words.
try “I break interfaces”
I write code
(It’s still a bullshit job)
I generate bugs.
Honest.
test
I can’t say.
Found the glowie
I had to Google what that was. Not as exciting, I’m afraid.
Is this really the message we want to send?
Yes, our society makes lots of bullshit jobs. That’s because capitalism can only keep people employed by creating bullshit jobs, and unemployed people are six missed meals away from revolution. That is not the fault of the people who have bullshit jobs.
And no, I won’t accept “this is just a shitposting sub, lighten up” as a response. This is just another form of kicking down, and it isn’t funny. The working class needs solidarity, not this.
Yeah I really don’t like the “blue collar good tech bad” undertone here
When I first saw this (maybe years ago), it was posted on sites to mock this thinking.
Yeah, someone believes it to have made this. But yeah, that person sucks.
Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
Agreed, but I refuse to extend that acceptance to most consultants.










