Hack definition:
” a professional who renounces or surrenders individual independence, integrity, belief, etc., in return for money or other reward in the performance of a task normally thought of as involving a strong personal commitment.”
or,
“a person who works solely for mercenary reasons”
1. Every hack thinks they are exceptional at what they do
They mistake being jaded and mostly burned out from having spent a long time in the same place doing the same thing for being “skilled”. Think that the reason they have not gotten anywhere in their chosen profession is the fact that they have not kissed the right asses, or just were not born with the privilege that others had. That, for them, is the ONLY reason the world has failed to recognize them for the geniuses they are. The truth is that they don’t really love what they do, and so have no natural aptitude for it. Not loving what you do means that you lack the endless desire to experiment, to learn, to spend all your waking hours thinking about the job. They lack the qualities that make people good.
2. Hacks are talent-hounds
The first point on this list is that they think they are very talented, but they are not. So what happens when somebody who is truly talented, truly gifted for the job shows up? They will be threatened. A hack can sniff out talent like a French hog can sniff out truffles. They are so good at it in fact that managers should keep one in every department so that they can figure out who the best people are. The smarter ones will try to befriend the person and dampen their enthusiasm for the work, steal their ideas or use them for advancement, the others will just try to get rid of them.
3. They are survivors
Like cockroaches. It’s not easy to keep a job anywhere, even in good times. Every time you run into a bad employee somewhere, someone not gifted with customer skills, someone who doesn’t speak good English or who doesn’t seem to know what they are doing, unless they are very new at the job you are probably dealing with a hack. They survive by doing some else well, something that allows them to survive in that environment without actually being skilled. This can range from being willing to do that which their co-workers are not, to being able to kiss the ass of a boss just well enough to avoid being fired. The effort that could be put into being good at the job is, for them, put into keeping it.
4. They like cronies
Safety in numbers. In the previous point I noted that their major goal is simply to survive. There is no better way to ensure survival, to entrench yourself in a place of work than to network with other people whose main goal is simple survival. They cover each others’ asses, and they promote each other. They for little cliques that compete with each other. There is nothing better for promoting office cold-wars and the mediocrity that comes from constant discord and pettiness like hiring hacks.
5. You are probably a hack
The fact is that they are more common than not. In the real world you take jobs, not because they are what you want to spend your life doing, but because they are the means to a paycheck. Mostly, if there is anything even remotely rewarding or enjoyable about a particular job, people cling to it, so those jobs are rarely ever open. Your average working person anywhere, performs at the bare minimum needed for the job. They will bring certain natural skills they acquired elsewhere, that, perhaps, were more required at a higher level than they are at the present job, but they bring no enjoyment, no desire to be exceptional.
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