Passion | David Mitchell's SoapBox
David Mitchell's Soapbox2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2014–2017
comedy · general · evergreen · 2014–2017 on HN
David Mitchell's Soapbox rant on employers who demand passion and enthusiasm from workers, using satire to skewer fake workplace passion.
HN people share it as a funny and apt take whenever job postings or recruiters demand passion.
Up next
10 mo on HNUSENIX Security '18-Q: Why Do Keynote Speakers Keep Suggesting That Improving Security Is Possible?
USENIX
10 HN recommender · 2018–2026
11 mo on HNThe Loving Trap
Ben Woodhams
15 HN recommender · 2012–2026
7 mo on HNNaN Gates and Flip FLOPS
suckerpinch
7 HN recommender · 2020–2025
6 mo on HNErlang The Movie II: The Sequel
gar1t
6 HN recommender · 2013–2025
6 mo on HNOn The Turing Completeness of PowerPoint (SIGBOVIK)
Tom Wildenhain
8 HN recommender · 2017–2025
6 mo on HNChicken chicken chicken
Yoram Bauman
5 HN recommender · 2013–2026
5 mo on HNHow to sound smart in your TEDx Talk | Will Stephen | TEDxNewYork
TEDx Talks
6 HN recommender · 2015–2024
6 mo on HN30 Weird Chess Algorithms: Elo World
suckerpinch
8 HN recommender · 2019–2026
6 mo on HNThe Lottery: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
LastWeekTonight
6 HN recommender · 2014–2023
6 mo on HNEvo-Devo (Despacito Biology Parody) | A Capella Science
acapellascience
6 HN recommender · 2017–2026
4 mo on HNDo Nothing- a message of motivation from Self-help Singh- (un) motivational speaker and life coach
Masood Boomgaard
4 HN recommender · 2022–2024
4 mo on HNCompost-Fueled Cars: Wouldn't That Be Great? - Onion Talks - Ep. 1
The Onion
4 HN recommender · 2013–2026
4 comments from Hacker News
The "passion" thing is not unique to the software industry. David Mitchell had a very good take on it. ▶ this video
Can we also add "Ninja" and "Genius" to the list of abused recruitment buzzwords? And don't even get me started on "passion". (David Mitchell's take: ▶ this video )
> "we're looking for people who are passionate about [thing that literally no-one has ever been passionate about]" Relevant satire clip: ▶ this video
I call bullshit. Especially because this is a temporary position, either way in a few months she would be gone. And if there's an attitude problem she could be fired. I've had plenty of jobs that were beneath me and I hated (I even worked at Taco Bell for a season as a graduate student), I did them and did them well then left when I felt it was time to move on, no harm no foul. And this includes computer science and programming jobs. Yes I enjoy programming and engineering and generally like my job, but all this fake enthusiasm is annoying. Most people are there for one reason to make money, either now or in the future. ▶ this video