I work a PMC job and while there is truth to what you're saying I haven't ever encountered soulless husks like that.
I live in Europe where I'd say most people have their head on straight when it comes to the most basic things at least, for example I very rarely see people significantly sacrifice their family life for their careers, politically they're all absolute brainwashed morons of course but they're not completely lobotomized. That said I think it's getting worse with the younger generations. But also the younger generations tend to be more politically active so it's a mixed bag overall.
This is the experience I've had from Australia, which is supposed to be the "laid-back" country. It's definitely not that they completely sacrifice the other aspects of their life for their career - a vitally-important part of the whole affair is that they have the house and the partner and the overseas holidays, and they work overtime but not 24/7 like lots of American PMCs do, and they take time for their brunches and fancy dinners (they have an absolutely encyclopaedic fucking knowledge of every trendy overpriced new restaurant). The meetings with friends are all about their travels and their mortgages and wedding plans and shit and it's all this exhausting fucking one-upmanship about their "successes" in each of the checkbox items, like they're Patrick Bateman with a new business card.
The essence of it is that it's all about "doing what you're supposed to" and doing it better than your peers, and never examining why you're doing any of it or whether it makes you happy or fulfilled. And it just happens that climbing the career ladder is a core part of doing what you're supposed to, so therefore it must be good, right? And the managers must be good because that's where I am going to be in 2-4 years in this psychotically-detailed map of how every aspect of my life is going to unfold. It's just the same old Keeping Up With The Joneses shit, it's just sad to see it first-hand in so many people.
EDIT: I've got a good friend from old lab nerd days who's only half in to the PMC bullshit but she's gone to work for big pharma and they have absolutely drained her dry with overwork and bullshit, like she looks like a shell of the person she once was and she knows it's killing her inside, and I can see she's not quite indoctrinated enough to uncritically believe all this bullshit. But she can't fight it, she's excited about the workplace opportunities and the career progression and can't fight this pressure even though she knows it's gonna be even more work and bullshit and draining, it's just What You Do. And the bosses are so supportive and lovely in giving her career progression opportunities (ie throwing even more fucking work at her and pretending like it's a favour). And I can see my objections to this craziness go in and even connect, but then they get washed away again because "my career progression". It's sadder to see in someone who wasn't a lost cause from the very start.
I work a PMC job and while there is truth to what you're saying I haven't ever encountered soulless husks like that.
I live in Europe where I'd say most people have their head on straight when it comes to the most basic things at least, for example I very rarely see people significantly sacrifice their family life for their careers, politically they're all absolute brainwashed morons of course but they're not completely lobotomized. That said I think it's getting worse with the younger generations. But also the younger generations tend to be more politically active so it's a mixed bag overall.
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Yeah that sounds like hell, my country is part of a decomposing corpse of a dead socialist country but I'll take that over what you guys have.
I can see my country looking like that in 20 years if nothing changes though.
This is the experience I've had from Australia, which is supposed to be the "laid-back" country. It's definitely not that they completely sacrifice the other aspects of their life for their career - a vitally-important part of the whole affair is that they have the house and the partner and the overseas holidays, and they work overtime but not 24/7 like lots of American PMCs do, and they take time for their brunches and fancy dinners (they have an absolutely encyclopaedic fucking knowledge of every trendy overpriced new restaurant). The meetings with friends are all about their travels and their mortgages and wedding plans and shit and it's all this exhausting fucking one-upmanship about their "successes" in each of the checkbox items, like they're Patrick Bateman with a new business card.
The essence of it is that it's all about "doing what you're supposed to" and doing it better than your peers, and never examining why you're doing any of it or whether it makes you happy or fulfilled. And it just happens that climbing the career ladder is a core part of doing what you're supposed to, so therefore it must be good, right? And the managers must be good because that's where I am going to be in 2-4 years in this psychotically-detailed map of how every aspect of my life is going to unfold. It's just the same old Keeping Up With The Joneses shit, it's just sad to see it first-hand in so many people.
EDIT: I've got a good friend from old lab nerd days who's only half in to the PMC bullshit but she's gone to work for big pharma and they have absolutely drained her dry with overwork and bullshit, like she looks like a shell of the person she once was and she knows it's killing her inside, and I can see she's not quite indoctrinated enough to uncritically believe all this bullshit. But she can't fight it, she's excited about the workplace opportunities and the career progression and can't fight this pressure even though she knows it's gonna be even more work and bullshit and draining, it's just What You Do. And the bosses are so supportive and lovely in giving her career progression opportunities (ie throwing even more fucking work at her and pretending like it's a favour). And I can see my objections to this craziness go in and even connect, but then they get washed away again because "my career progression". It's sadder to see in someone who wasn't a lost cause from the very start.