[ExI] [FoRK] On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs

[Adrian Tymes]

On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 1:13 AM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 2:57 AM,  dan wrote:
> > Security geek: Truthfully, cybersecurity is the most intellectually
> > difficult job on the planet but, just as truthfully, success means
> > that nothing happens.  That's the point: nothing happening is the
> > actual work product.  Does that qualify as bullshit?
> >
> >
>
> Depends on your POV. The problem is that nothing happening is a
> success for you, but everybody else (including management) thinks you
> do nothing all day. Come annual review time, your achievements are
> 'Nothing happened'.
> So you have ruined your career.
>
> Management reviews much prefer exciting people who have mini
> disasters, saved in the nick of time by working all night
> and weekends, with lots of crisis meetings, threats of doom and
> miraculous rescues. That's the way to become a corporate tech wizard.


The way around that is to log the number of attacks you have "successfully
repelled", to show evidence of all these barbarians at the gates you're
keeping at bay.  Of course, you're also responsible for generating those
logs.

My suspicion is, the resulting temptation is responsible for many of the
claims that cyberattacks are at a constant emergency level, especially with
regard to certain government agencies (US and otherwise) attempting to
justify continued funding.
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