If Technology makes a Resource more efficient to use, then the Demand for Said Resource Goes Up

Engineer’s Enigma #6

Efficiency has it’s downsides. You would think that anything that has been made more efficient would be a net benefit for all, but usually not for the one who made it more efficient.

Software Engineers are a great example of this. If you are a L9 Software Engineer, you are extremely efficient at your job. Not only that, but you’re so good you make every other engineer better around you.

But this presents a problem. Everyone wants to be by you, in your proximity. Your reward for being good at your job is more work. This is Jevon’s Paradox.

If you were an IT guy, and you were also really good at your job, the company would be incentivized to keep you at your current position if you’d allow it. Being efficient and a great contributor to the company doesn’t serve you as much as you serve the Company. This is why they say in order to get consecutive raises, you need to switch companies, play off the other companies to increase your salary and worth.

Unfortunately, our “wanting to be comforted” brains want stability, which runs opposite to true success. If we are comfortable, we are not striving.

The only way to solve this would be to give more money and more time off and have them do less work for being so efficient, but you can see the flaws in this already. If we don’t become efficient at more and more things, why bother paying the person more in the first place. I don’t know if Jevon’s Paradox can be solved. Maybe if we didn’t have money as our main exchange of value, and reputation was the only way we advance…

Until Tomorrow,
Jason Ziebarth
JZ#399