High Fidelity seem to be ramping up their communications this month and they have posted a video on YouTube to inform people of their Worklist. I’ll embed the video at the end of the post, it’s not a long video.
High Fidelity is currently in the Alpha stage and is an open platform covered by an Apache 2.0 licence. This means the code can be downloaded from GitHub, forked etc. Now you could just look at the code and play around with it or you can go via the Worklist route and look at which issues have been posted. Now if you’re a developer and fancy doing some of this work, you can bid on the work and get paid when it’s complete.
Now you may be wondering what they mean by getting paid, are they talking about virtual money? Well from a cursory glance at the jobs done page it looks as if they’re paying people in US dollars, not virtual money.
The High Fidelity team will work with people who bid on work, so you’re not going to be left out on a limb.
The High Fidelity jobs page also offers people the opportunity of full time work, but I imagine this is for people who can actually get to the High Fidelity HQ on a daily basis, they are currently advertising a position for a Lead 3D Graphics Engineer. Amongst the professional qualities they are seeking candidates with the following qualities :
- Comfortable as both perpetrator and victim of rigorous code reviews.
- Good at explaining, good at thinking out loud, hard to frustrate, and fun to work with.
They are also advertising a contract position for a Raconteur. The advert for this position opens with :
High Fidelity seeks a master storyteller with a broad command of social media tools to engage customers and recruits.
The mind boggles. However I would imagine most people will be interested in the opportunities on Worklist and it really won’t hurt those with coding experience to take a look and see what opportunities are available.
The video below explains a little more about that.
You got a hand it to Philip R, he is aces at getting people to give him something (that he can make mega-millions on) for nothing.
So people bid on work. Hey? Meanwhile they have no job security, no benefits, no recourse to actually get a salary that reflects the worth of their skills.
Come on and get smart programmers! Norma Rae is a bell tolling for you!
They do employ people full time, this is just a way for people to earn extra money, it’s not a full time position and it’s not an unusual way of doing business, sites like Fiverr do this sort of thing.
It is a devaluation of the skills they and their families invested a lot of money into gaining. If you and the rest of the community, the techs themselves, can’t see it then don’t cry when jobs are nowhere to be found.
What I’m saying is that you have to value yourself, your time and your skills. Because you and your fellows in the same industry will be the only people who will do it. The higher ups are only looking to gouge and keep the rewards to themselves.
That value surely comes with the bid, or to put it another way, a quote. Quotations are often sought and provided for people who want work done, many tradesmen will provide people with a quotation for the cost of a job.
The building trade is awash with people and business who provide quotes for work.
The people underselling themselves argument seems to be used widely in the digital market, I’ve seen people pointing out that Second Life content creators undersell themselves, or that they devalue the work of others but I’m yet to see a deep analysis to prove this is the case.
The reasons why tradesman can lowball is because construction is overrun with Illegal Aliens. Now construction workers can not command the rates that they are entitled to due to their knowledge and experience.
The same is occurring in tech industry. The industry is bringing in numerous work visas (potential aliens) to low ball OUR workers who trained hard and spent good money for their skills.
If you can’t see this, then you profit off it or you are incredibly naive.
It’s not about tradesmen lowballing, it’s about putting a value on your work. The globalisation horse bolted long ago, you can’t shut the stable door now. Smashing the Spinning Jenny isn’t an option.
Second Life content creators make bank via this digitally connected world, that’s where we’re at and it’s only going to grow.
The illegal workers argument is a complete red herring because the authorities should be earning their tax dollars (and in my case pounds) to protect workers rights. Those who employ illegal workers or who actively undermine workers rights are the enemy of the working man or woman.
“The globalisation horse bolted long ago, you can’t shut the stable door now.”
That is such a poor answer. The door can be shut. The protocols were in place to protect the civil and working rights of workers in every country. This was actively destroyed by the Chicago Business school gang who championed Free Trade. Free Trade is by no means a new concept…you can read about it AND read the many protests against it in newspapers such as the NY Times circa the 1800’s.
Businesses think they can act as their own free floating countries and exploit the resources of real countries and its people. That has to stop. But of course, we need to stop the bribery of government officials first.
Second Life creators are winners of the “winner takes all” dichotomy that the Tech business set up. Lanier wrote about it in his last book. There are no new industries on the internet and nascent VR because the platforms are controlled by large mega-business. Just because you had a lucky success with a do it yourself crafting blog or making virtual underwear doesn’t mean that this will lead to a new industry of the same. Its a once in a time deal only. Hardly anything you can gainfully employee a great many citizens.
Illegal Workers are not a red herring. They are a consistent tactic used by business to destroy workers wages and rights. All of us workers used to act together as a bloc to combat business power. But they have used concepts as libertarianism to destroy that union. Tech workers can blame themselves in part for their current,deplorable state.
It’s not a poor answer, the globalisation horse has very much bolted and the digital revolution has firmed it up.
First of all we saw movement of goods, that started many centuries ago. People and skills came much later. In Europe we’ve had free movement of people for some time in certain countries. The number of countries involved has ballooned since the 70’s and many now see this as unwieldy but politicians do not have the political will to do anything about it.
Now that we’re digitally connected you don’t even need to move the people. Globalisation is here to stay. Whether that leads to a Dystopian nightmare straight out of a Philip K Dick story remains to be seen.
Libertarianism has its roots on the left wing, although those who advocate libertarianism from the right never seem to acknowledge this.
The curse of modern society is greed. Greed used to be considered immoral but the greedy have managed to bury that. Tackling greed is the road to redemption.
The dystopian nightmare is already here. Do you think what you read in the news is real? Our whole current situation now in the world is due to caving to religious fundamentalists (Christian and Jewish) to create everlasting war against Muslims. Then the whole oil industry is terrified about Russian because they are an oil power. That is why they are beating the war drums for Russia. But that is a mistake. That will bring nuclear war.
Take all the crap about VR. Not ONE “news” story about VR mentions Second Life. The one and the only successful VR in existence. Do you think that is by mistake? Do you think when they do write about it, they never fail to mention insane sex stories is a mistake?
Globalization can be stopped. The reinstitution of the glass steagall act along with bringing back tariffs are all that is needed. Believe me, all the “american” companies being tariffed like foreigners would bring them running back.
a thought
who has done more to alleviate actual poverty in the world. Western governments or western multinationals?
if not sure of the answer then look at Bangladesh. Look at the images from the 1960s
the reponse to them images from western governments was Aid. Charity. Every year millions faced starvation. The western governments’ response to this unimaginable human crisis year after year was food. Aid. Charity. Is the same response offered today in Africa whenever is a same unimaginable human crisis
why give food. Aid. Charity?? Is plain answer. No western politician is ever going to export jobs from their own country to these other countries who desperately need them if these massive unimaginable crisis’ are to end
Is Bangladesh the epitome of the workers paradise? No. The conditions sux. But what suxs more ?? Bangladesh today or in 1960s?
Countries like Bangladesh have a long way to go still to catch up to western standards. But they are getting there. Same like India, Mexico, etc. It took over 200 years for western countries to develop proper health and safety work places and practices. Countries like India and Mexico in way less time. Asia is doing it even faster
if the western politicos didnt export those jobs then who did?
as the jobs move from the 1st world to the 3rd world how many people in the 1st world actually starve to death? None
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is this idea. The Last African
one day this century the Last African wont die from starvation, famine or disease. He or she be slaving over a sewing machine making clothes for everybody else. Including for Bangladeshese who dont make them anymore bc they be making better/higher value stuff. Like cars and computers
When the time of the Last African comes, how many people will starve to death in the Americas, or Europe or Asia? None
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tarrifs not the answer for humanity. Not if the day of the Last African is to ever come
tariffs not the answer for the 1st world either. The answer for the 1st world isn’t to try to hang on to 3rd world jobs. Is to use all the benefits that a 1st world society offers and create new 1st world jobs.
is the whole point of a 1st world education. To create. To make. To make a better society. To make a better life. Slaving over a sewing machine is not a better life for a 1st world citizen to want or even desire
is dislocation for sure in the 1st world countries as the jobs get exported. But who died of starvation bc they couldn’t get a job in USA or Europe?
“as the jobs move from the 1st world to the 3rd world how many people in the 1st world actually starve to death? None”
There are people starving in the United States that is directly due to manufacturing being moved to Mexico, China, India etc. Detroit as a major city has died. St. Louis as a major city is now dying. All across the US are former manufacturing powerhouse cities and towns dying, being inundated with crime and poverty.
Just because you don’t see it on your affluent little part of the world, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. And this is all being done on purpose.
“tariffs not the answer for the 1st world either. The answer for the 1st world isn’t to try to hang on to 3rd world jobs. Is to use all the benefits that a 1st world society offers and create new 1st world jobs.”
READ all the past newspapers before they were overtaken by Chicago School gangsters. Read the papers from the 1800s up until WWII. ALL of them support tariffs. ALL. This is how society protects its industries. I find it a crime that I can go into a supermarket and see butter from France costing less than butter from Vermont. ITS A CRIME!
Manufacturing is POWER! It is first world. It was created in and coddled by societies that had strong tariffs and strict immigration policies. China is now a world power because of the factories and they can create. The US creates nothing now, except debt and selling off precious resources to foreigners.
yes. whole cities and regions dislocate, fall apart, empty out. When the work to sustain the local population dries up. Is true this. Has always been true
while the Last African remains then the race to the bottom continues. When the last African is able to sustain themselves then there is no one else anywhere who will do it for less
people further up the societal chain wont do the last job for slave/pittance wages. The people at the very bottom in more affluent societies wont do it either. Their expectations of themselves become higher. The expectation is a product of their education, their perceived status in the society, and their understanding of the world
given a choice between pittance and doing nothing they go for doing nothing. Nothing meaning they drop out of the work for pittance system. Being able to drop out of the pittance system and still survive is bc of the welfare systems in 1st world societies
in 3rd world societies they dont have welfare. Is not from choice or ideology this. Is bc they dont have enough money to sustain it society-wide
welfare and health and education systems follow the money. When jobs come to 3rd world societies then the locals get money. From which they pay taxes. No money. No taxes. It follows: No taxes. No welfare systems. No health systems. No education systems
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if do want to address the problem of the 1st world then is the inequality of wealth distribution in those societies. Fettering the flow/movement (tariffs) dont stop the accumulation of wealth. It just channels it differently geographically
to solve this you have to address who owns the means of producing that wealth. Or at least address what can be done. or not done. with the surplus wealth generated