Melkath

Absolutely.

I dont share my anecdote for the first time.

I have heard in equal parts that I have a rare privilege and also that privilege will not last forever.

I challenge both takes a little, but mostly accept both as true.

That's been the tactic.

Baby steps.

My company ordered back to office, and as I was told, I was the only one to say no.

I generate too much value and have tolerated being underpayed enough that they can't justify firing me.

I'm also not some MIT AI machine learning savant. I come from a business analyst/ QA background, and I have made a SQL/Java/VBA system for virtually free that does the work of a team of 10 every day, but it's just my underpaid ass running it.

When I lose this job, honestly, I'm fucked and it will be a nightmare because I'll probably need to go into an office, and I'm in no shape for that.

But for today, I said no and I keep doing my job.

Generally you add your meme.

Youre an active member tho.

I get it, but dont endorse it.

Me with Supernatural.

Invokes the moment Pikachu spoke perfect English to ash.

Smacks of "I am placing sanctions on Israel" Places sanctions on 3 men

Thank you for your TED talk defining enshitification.

Middle management bloat.

Edit: Bonus points for

Developers knowing how to write secure code helps, so they should theoretically also be capable of QA themselves to a degree.

Which is straight up just saying "why don't the devs just do it themselves? I'm busy with meetings to whine back and forth with other middle management."

That's a fair point.

When I departed QA myself, it was in the onset of automation.

In return, when the QA jobs disappeared, I learned basic scripting and started automating BI processes.

So, I would say:

1. I should hope modern QA departments (as I am told they exist) are automated and share both their tests and their results with devs in an efficient manner.

2. I don't think QA departments really exist today in a substantive way, and if they do, it isnt in as cooperative of a fashion as described in 1.

I still have observed a world where QA went bye bye. Planning? Drafting a Scope of Work? Doing a proper analysis of the solution you are seeking, fleshing it out, and setting a comprehensive list of firm requirements that define delivery of said solution? Offering the resources to test the deliverable against the well documented and established requirements to give the all clear before the solution is delivered?

Doesn't exist anymore, and modern "QA" is being the lemming who sits in meetings as listens to the management, then schedules meetings to sit and complain at the Dev about how they aren't "hitting the mark" (Because it was about 4 feet directly in front of them when they published, and is now at 5 erratically placed spaces behind them).

Ummm, from what ive seen, the general vibe is, you know how your boss would like to chain you to a desk in an office and ignore all your human wants and just make you a mindless drone that does their bidding, and as long as you are chained at that desk, you know that every couple days/weeks/months they will suddenly cater to your needs for a 45min to 4hr task, and based on how they like your performance, you stay chained to that desk or you get your needs catered to just enough to make you want to do WHATEVER you just did again?

That's what jail/prison is.

Human rights removed. Behavioral programming at maximum.

If I lost my leg right now, I would be destitute.

2 years in a prison and I'd probably be one-leg-hopping all over the place. Or buried out back. And we are learning that American police stations and prisons have a problem with literal shallow graveyards behind their buildings.

One of the major explainers about why badges hate 1st Amendment Auditors.

I guess I'm just being a snob here.

I worked for an actual QA department that produced actual documentation and ran actual full scale QA cycles.

In the past 15 years, I have seen that practice all but fully disappear and be replaced by people who click at things until they find 1 thing, have a verbal meeting vaguely describing it, and repeat 2 to 3 times a day.

IMO, that isn't QA. It's being lazy, illiterate, and whiny while making the dev do ALL of the actual work.