I come to write this, the second part of the previous post with the same title–where the eventual point of the story was that I was feeling unmoored, anchored in the wrong sea, generally tired of being overlooked–because my attention has been drawn several times this week to the fact that another un- word should be added to the title: UNVALUED.

There’s the old adage that “no one goes into [critical-yet-taken-for-granted profession] for the money.’ It comes up in frequently in conversation with teachers, musicians, social workers, Librarians, etc. But have you ever really priced it out to show the evidentiary proof?

I haven’t exactly, and even Librarians tend to do this just to calculate the benefit of libraries themselves, not the people making them happen. But then the math kicked me in the face. Here’s what I learned:

• For $0.96, I will find existing data in a database and move it to another database.
• For $1,230.00, a corporate staffer will do the same.

Pennies on the dollar. Despite my education, despite my expertise, despite the critical thinking I have to put into the process, despite…

Later, I found that:

• For $500,000, a construction company will replace the lightbulbs and sweep the floor (but not remove the grime), despite what was promised.

For half a million dollars, I can move all of my data plus some of yours from database to database, record by record verifying data integrity and accuracy.

That made me think about other monetary scenarios I’ve been involved with and how the math doesn’t math the same for me as it does for them. For example:

• For $8,000,000, a (knowingly greedy) corporation can move all of my data, all of your data, and all the data of 100 of our friends from database to database. The catch? It’s all data you, me, and our friends have carefully created and curated for 100 years, and that eight mil doesn’t include integrity and accuracy verification.

Still not getting it? Here’s another:

For $15,000,000, a project will provide the repetitive labor and the machines to reformat 3 million media objects in 5 years…BUT…when it’s done, then the human intellectual labor begins–which will take centuries to complete for 3 million corresponding data records.

Let me reiterate: Pennies. On. The. Dollar.

Let’s go back to the half a million example, using a round 1:1000 equivalent…there are 18 light bulbs that needed replacing, That means that each one cost $27,777 to replace. What would be the equivalent of 0.03% of the labor to change a light bulb? I should just sleep all day while collecting my salary. Maybe I’ll change a light bulb once every few years to prove I earned it.

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Disclaimer:
All words and images are my own. If they are not, they are cited as such to give proper attribution to the intellectual property owners.
No words or images reflect the opinions or viewpoints of my current, former, or future employers and educational institutions. They are from my own viewpoint.