Are Millenials Lazier than Boomers?
n article showed up in Ars Technica recently, An article showed up in Ars Technica recently, with the headline: “Two Trends Help Make Millenials Seem Lazy to Their Elders.”
The article goes on to site several studies that correlate importance of work vs lifestyles of groups depending on their age, social affiliations, and so on in an somewhat interesting word salad.
To me, the study is missing a primary motivation: As a Boomer, I was much more concerned with self-reliance. We Boomers liked our cars, liked our freedom to move about, and — above all — wanted to get out from under our parents’ control and influence.
Being self-reliant required economic means and, in that day, that meant working. Sure we would have liked to consider “work vs life balance” issues and the like, but primarily, we needed to make the rent, food, and car payments. So, we worked at whatever we could to make those things happen.
I did a lot of jobs in my twenties to make ends meet: warehouse-man, fork lift operator, draftsman, locksmith, machine operator — I even did a stint as a DJ in a small town radio station. Not to mention getting caught up in a couple of MLM scams.
With the exception of draftsman and the DJ stints, I didn’t think too much about “work vs life balance” issues. Making a living and being self-reliant were much more important goals.
Later in life, that all changed, somewhat: I went to school, got my degree in what I thought would be my life’s passion (geology), but wound up getting into something that grabbed my attention much more deeply: software development.
Now, work was suddenly much more compelling. Along with my cohorts in the industry, we famously worked insanely long hours, sometimes camping out in the office under the desk to get a few hours of shut-eye before waking to another 18-hour day.
It was grueling, tough, maybe not the healthiest of schedules, but we loved it and accomplished wonders during those years. We were also all in the same stew-pot, so the company was a highly social mix — when we weren’t coding, we were partying, going to the beach, playing volleyball, group dinners and movies, and more, all together.
More than a few marriages came out of that close interaction.
It didn’t last forever, of course. As we got older and we started having kids, we started paying more attention to the “work vs life balance” question. Even Steve Jobs commented on this in his later years working at Apple and Pixar, pointing out that he couldn’t do those 80 and 90 hour work weeks any more.
Ultimately, it matters how much of yourself you’re willing to put into your efforts, whatever you’re doing, and possibly the stage of your life. Are millenials do less vested in their occupations as a group? Maybe. The deteriorating education system hasn’t helped, shoving out the door young people more tuned to perceived social-justice-issues-of-the-moment than balancing out their checkbooks and ability to read and write. We’ve all encountered them in one capacity or the other. The counter person who can’t fathom a request beyond what they’re programmed to receive, the co-worker who complains they weren’t trained to do a particular task and won’t take the initiative to learn it on their own.
But then, there are standouts here and there. People who are genuinely vested in their capacity and determined to perform to the best of their ability. Elon Musk comes to mind. He’s a Gen-X baby (although he is from South Africa.) But, he has assembled a large group of competent people who care very much about their purpose and are insanely (perhaps) dedicated to their shared goal of expanding human presence off the planet.
A lot of those are _Gen-<x,y,z>/millenials, I’m sure.
Personal Perspective
These days, as a Boomer formally-”retired”, I’m still engaged. I love the tech world, I still love to develop software (in the form of this blog, currently, a lot of custom software involved) and be as productive as I can. However, I’m not interested in sitting in an office in some city I don’t like, subject to large organization inanities — I just don’t see the need any more.
Has my work ethic declined?
Maybe, somewhat. I do have to take naps more frequently. I have to look things up, more frequently, grasp for terms more frequently, correct my typing more frequently.
But, that I’m doing all of this without guarantee or promise of a paycheck suggests maybe not so much.