I think this idea is a function of our need to “marvel” at our own work / creations

For example –
If you build a fence, paint it, ect… when you are done you can sit back and marvel and the simple and plain “finished work” you have accomplished.
On the other side… if you do back end programing in a data base so that a ticketing system will auto forward email requests to a particular department… your “finished work” is virtual and harder to marvel at.

I think all people, look to be able to find that sense of accomplishment, but in an office / process based / virtual environment that satisfaction can go unrecognized (internally and externally) very easily no matter how much work you are doing.

I think this helped me understand why I like my job. While I spend a portion of my day consumed by my computer monitor updating inventory, checking cases, etc (which for me brings no real sense of accomplishment)… the other portion is spent lifting servers, running “physical” cross connects”, i.e. building the physical body of the internet. For me, this serves both sides of “working hard”.

To your point I can feel hard living without necessarily having to constantly work hard.

Thanks for the Article .. it was a great read
- Tom -

Good work!

So really, to me, it makes a lot of sense to see people trying to get back to their “roots.” Working in a non-technology field, I have to admit I greatly appreciate the ways technology enhances how the teachers are able to reach students, how I can access the records I need online, and how we can use some pretty sophisticated technology to track data and use that to make data-driven decisions when it comes to diagnosing children. For us, it IS more a tool for our consumption, and unfortunately our ability to use that requires the “crop-mobbers” to devote their everyday work to that.

That said, I don’t mean to imply that the rest of us slightly removed from the implementation and support of the technologies are better off, rather that I appreciate the guys on the front lines of this new tech-fight who are taking the biggest hits from the opening salvo.