I’ve talked a bit about my work with automation, scripting, and AutoHotKey here, and today I was reminded of how imperative it is to not ‘show your hand’ unless it is in your best interests to do so.

Automating tasks is great. After your first useful script, you might even feel prideful. you might want to scream it from the rooftops – “I AM GOD HERE”

But dont. Ignore the urge. there will be plenty of time for bragging when you’re old and senile. Telling your co-workers, peers, or (heaven forbid) bosses about your ability to automate tasks will only harm you in the long run. They’ll realize that part of your job can be replaced by a robot at no cost. They cant or wont take into account the ammount of knowledge necessary to maintain this system, nor the fact that it just doesnt run in perpetuity – it needs a trained, smart operator or it’ll fall apart upon the next update.

The truly cynical bosses will look at you taking longer than expected to complete a task and ask themselves “Why doesnt he just automate it?”

And as they see you automating more and more tasks, you’ll be expected to do more and more things – even if you’re pulling the weight of 3 other employees, they’ll load you down with more tasks. This is how it works.

So keep your damn mouth shut. Brag to your friends on fourchan. tell your cat. nobody cares. It makes your job easier and thats nice. But dont expect anything other than perpetual shit if your superiors find out.

I can imagine the inevitable question –

“but mister stress, how is this fair to the job creators?”

Me: “Is a slave morally obligated to keep his master informed?” – Listen. I’m not in the business of fair. I’m in the business of keeping you stress free. Do what you want, but 9 times out of 10, “fair” is going to get you shafted.