Issue #4 Now Available (FINALLY!)

After several delays and setbacks (which is only appropriate for an issue devoted to 2020), we’re pleased to release Issue 4!

The fantastic content in this issue:

• What does “Diversity & Inclusion” really mean? Like, really?
• Quarantine Activities – things we did to try to stay sane
• Password, a sublime work of fiction
• Remember Mad Libs? Do this one, “Notice of Data Security Incident”, over Zoom with your friends!
• Workplace Safety Poster – something to hang up by your desk, juuust in case
• The challenges of organizing when everyone is working remotely
• Working a bullshit job during a global pandemic

Download and read it! Tell your friends! Print out copies and hand them to people while wearing your mask!

Issue #4 Call for Submissions Redux

Listen up, comrades! Our plans for issue #4 back in the Spring didn’t materialize (can you guess why)? Luckily, Bug Report! is back in production, and it’s going to be tremendous! But first, we need your contributions.

What’s that you say? “But I’m so tired and anxious all the time and can’t possibly write something worthy of the Bug Report!” Look, we’re all tired and anxious. I suggest telling your perfectionism and imposter syndrome to go to hell. Then call in sick one day in the next month or two and create something. It will be therapeutic for you. (And, if necessary, we’ll correct the typos.)

Theme: 2020 (Interpret that as you will)

Here are a few ideas for the types of things you could contribute:

• Poetry
• Art
• Comics
• Short essays & investigative journalism (< 1000 words)
• Interviews (or offer to be interviewed, and a Bug Report! representative will interview you and write it up)
• Short fiction
• Advice
• Word search
• Crossword puzzle
• Mad Libs
• Coloring pages
• Jokes
• Recipes
• Coupons
• Personals
• Polls
• Quizzes
• Circuit diagrams
• Flow charts

Some ideas for topics:

• Tech nostalgia
• Dystopia survival tips: How are you staying healthy, both physically and mentally in these troubled times?
• Perspectives on the state of America from non-Americans
• The life and times of an in-demand COBOL programmer in 2020
• BLM: What have you done to support the BLM movement? How is your org failing or succeeding in supporting the BLM movement?
• Do you live in an apodment? What’s that like?
• Vents: Tell us your tales of harassment, terrible interviews, etc.
• Confessions: Did you harass someone? Hack someone? Sabotage a project? Or dream of doing it?
• Love stories: Did you fall in love at your tech workplace? Or out of love? Or maybe you just overanalyzed a fleeting moment of virtual eye contact during a Zoom call?
• Success stories: Did you get a toxic manager fired or disciplined? Radicalize a coworker? Or maybe you just got the company to start stocking your favorite type of fizzy water in the drink cooler?
• Speculative design fiction
• Anything you can think of that is (even loosely) related to tech and helps people feel less alone in this Capitalist hellscape

Deadline: November 3rd, 2020

Submissions should be sent to:  bugreportzine@protonmail.com

*Submissions may be anonymous, but please choose a pseudonym or we will make one up for you and it probably won’t be very good.

Now Taking Submissions for Issue #4

There is no theme for issue #4, so anything goes!

Well, almost anything. We don’t want stories about how wild your Aunt Martha was in her prime. We want your stories about working in tech.

What in particular frustrates you about this deeply broken industry? What do you wish was different? How have you fought back? Do you have crazy stories that begin “there was that one time my jerkface boss…”? We prefer writing that’s about personal experiences over analytical pieces. Reach out via email if you’re feeling unsure about your idea.

(Stories about Aunt Martha are welcome if she works in tech.)

Read through our past issues for a sense of what we publish.

Stories should be less than 1000 words. Creative features and artwork are also welcome.

Deadline: April 15th, 2020

Submissions should be sent to:  bugreportzine@protonmail.com

Issue #3 Now Available

What’s spookier than oncall? Issue 3 of Bug Report! is dropping just in time for Halloween.

In this issue you might expect oncall horror stories from some familiar Big Companies. But be warned – you never know when that pager is gonna beep!

Submit to Issue #3: On Call… to ACTION!

We wanted to write a piece for the last issue about how much we hate being on call, but we were overwhelmed with anxiety from, uh, being on call. However, there’s so much to say on this topic that we’re dedicating the next issue to it!

Submit your stories about being on call:

• What can’t you do when you are on call?
• What would other industries look like if their workers were required to be on call?
• How has being on call disrupted your personal life?
• How has your workplace normalized on call culture?
• How do people push back against invasive on call culture?

Other content about the invasive 24/7 aspects of technology work would fit too.

Stories are ideally ~1000 words. Creative features and artwork are welcome.

Deadline: August 1st, 2019

Submissions should be sent to:  bugreportzine@protonmail.com

Issue #2 Now Available

This issue is chock full of good stuff, including…

• robots against climate change
• attending the Lesbians Who Tech conference
• the glories of true start-up innovation
• a new connection for your network on Licked In
• the absurdity of applying for tech jobs
• a Madlibs offer letter

We’ll be distributing print copies by drone throughout Seattle. If you’re lucky, you’ll find one lurking in a pile of magazines in your company’s break room or at your local coffee shop. But if not, why not print out a few copies and put them there yourself?

Help us celebrate May Day by spreading the word and passing around copies to your coworkers and friends!

Issue #2 Call for Submissions

Bug Report! is a zine about the frustrations and growing disillusionment of working in technology today.  In a time when tech companies have an utter stronghold of power and workers are feeling increasingly alienated and ready for change, we want to provide an outlet to empower our voices and connect us to one another.

We’re looking for submissions for our second issue: writings, interviews/profiles, poetry, games, photographs, drawings, screenshots— anything that can be pasted on a page and printed out. We regard “tech workers” as anyone who works in tech, including engineers, designers, cafeteria staff, warehouse workers, researchers, contractors, etc.

If you have a piece that you’d like to submit but need assistance editing, email us and we can help.

Ideas for topics include, but aren’t limited to:

• Questions that people are embarrassed to ask about work
• Experiences we take for granted as tech workers but shouldn’t
• Returning to the tech industry
• Actual vs. perceived work norms (e.g. 8 hours of productivity a day)
• Frustrations of dealing with the arbitrariness of hiring
• Experiences with recruiters
• Automating your coworkers out of a job
• Expectation created by education vs realities of jobs

Check out our first issue of Bug Report! here: https://archive.org/details/BugReportIssue1

Submissions should be sent to:  bugreportzine@protonmail.com

Deadline:  Sunday, March 17st, 2019