Paul Graham: Hiring is Obsolete

jazznjava writes "Paul Graham has a new essay covering what the influences of declining operating costs will have on startup companies, and the undervaluation of undergraduates."

Specialization.

[rice_burners_suck]

In my opinion, companies shouldn't have to hire anymore. The hiring and firing process creates a lot of overhead costs that most companies should avoid.

We know from the study of basic economics that specialization creates synergies between global organizations and that by leveraging innovative technologies, content providers streamline compelling enterprise solutions. Therefore, there should be one big huge company that always employs everybody in the labor force, and those employees would be rented on an hourly basis to other companies for their use. This would have the following advantages: First, this big huge company would have its payroll system totally dialed in, so that it would happen with minimal overhead. Secondly, everybody would have benefits. Third, you could never get fired. Fourth, when a company decides not to "use" you anymore, the big huge company will automatically place you in a job by the next day. This would maximize the amount of employment throughout the country, reduce the amount corporations are spending on the hiring and firing process, reduce litigation, and give everyone a good, stable job.

I think that's what Graham means when he says that hiring is obsolete.

Senior wanting work.

[nitrocloud]

I find there is much a problem in underestimation of high school education and reluctance to hire students.

Re:Outsourcing...

[CrazyJim1]

Try offering your programming talents at minimum wage, you won't get hired. Post Carnegie Mellon Degree, I've found the best way to make money is selling MMOG items on ebay for 2-3$/hr.

Re:Paul's recurring theme...

[pmazer]

I cannot understand why anyone on this site does not like what he has to say.

I don't think many people on this site like to admit that others know more than them.

Choice quote

[timeOday]

"In fact, if Bill [Gates] had finished college and gone to work for another company as we're suggesting, he might well have gone to work for Apple. And while that would probably have been better for all of us, it wouldn't have been better for him."

As an undergraduate

[Anonymous Coward]

who works as a systems administrator for a research project and is therefore on call 24/7, I get paid $0/hour. I get no benefits, I even had to pay the parking ticket when I had to work 30 hours over a 3 day weekend and the closest place I could park was an empty lot. An associate of mine calculated that it is much cheaper as a research institution to hire undergraduates than it is to hire graduates/post-doc. It's roughly a third for undergrads, if you even have to pay them at all. It's really quite a sad state of affairs. While I'm not in a particularly huge financial problem, there are a lot of talented people who flip burgers when they should be doing "great" things.

If Paul Graham says it, it must be true

[ftzdomino]

This is just as likely as his previous essay stating that bayesian filtering [paulgraham.com] would end all of our spam problems.

Re:Specialization.

[njfuzzy]

No, this is Wednesday. Slashdot is Socialist on Wednesday and Thursday. We're Capitalist on Friday through Monday. Tuesday always confuses me.

-1 clueless as ever

[epine]

Does anyone else see the irony in a long essay about undervalued 22 year-olds posted on Slashdot?

I was impressed with his observation that when you're young "you occasionally say and do stupid things even when you're smart". Apparently we've had it backwards all along. Slashdot should immediately adopt a negative moderation system:

-1 lacks penetrating insight
-1 not so funny as always
-1 rare knowledge gap exposed

Dammit!!!

[Rick and Roll]

I have a final tomorrow. So, today, Joel Spolsky and Paul Graham both write essays.

Don't they know this is a big finals week?

Re:Outsourcing...

[Anonymous Coward]

> So how does an american company compete with that?

Uh, by building faulty chemical plants that kill thousands of people?

What? Wrong answer? I think not! At least I think "not in my back yard".

Re:Who thinks recent grads are undervalued?

[Accipitradea]

he has a Bachelor's in drinking beer from a hose held by a college slut.

Damn, I definitely picked the wrong major.