Here is - almost verbatim - the conversation I had with the recruiter.

Me: "Hello! What do I need to do in order to use my computer science degree to catch criminals?"

Them: "Well, after the physical, first you'll need to spend several years as a beat copper working on the front line. And then..."

Me: "Byeeeeeeee!"

Like, I can get that it might be useful to have practical experience of nicking scumbags and cracking heads. But I wanted to spend my days behind a computer - not getting roughed up, spat at, and being abused. I simply wasn't prepared to make that sacrifice. And certainly not for the salary they were offering.

There's a rage-bait story doing the rounds at the moment - Gen Z Cops 'Won't Work Weekends or Overtime'. Curse the youth of today! O tempora, o mores!

The reality is slightly more prosaic. A Police Scotland Superintendent said:

Young people don't want to come in and work overtime; they want their weekends off. They aren't like Gen X that came in before them.

It is not that Gen Z recruits are less inclined to work the weekends they have been rostered, but rather they are less willing to volunteer for additional overtime at the weekend and even less pleased when weekend or days off are canceled, as is often the case in policing

Well… duh!

Would you work for a paltry wage and risk your domestic relationships in service of people who didn't appreciate you? No.

I remember reading the book "The Secret Barrister" The author - a lawyer - complains about all the bullshit working practices, late nights, unrealistic demands on their time, and the crappy pay. All I could think of while reading it was "You chose this life. You knew what it was like before you got in."

I feel the same when I read about doctors and surgeons having their lives upended by work. I thought about trying to become a medical doctor when I was a kid². But I took one look at the sacrifices I'd have to make - insane training hours designed by a sadist, zero control over my career, an uncaring management structure - and I noped out.

Sure, some people have a calling. They feel the need so strongly that it over-rides all other issues. But most people aren't like that, are they?

A startup founder might be prepared to sacrifice everything in order to change the world. Their first half-a-dozen hires might also drink the Kool-Aid. But after that, it is diminishing returns. Why would I work 80 hour weeks for your shitty start-up when I could get a job which gives me a pension and lets me clock-off in the evening?

The Chief Superintendent who made the comments about Gen-Z makes a reasonable point:

The Service must evolve its practices and systems of work to accommodate flexibility wherever possible, if we are to attract and retain people within policing

It isn't that the kids are wrong - they rarely are - it's just that the incentives are wrong. It sometimes seems like we've built a world that relies on the enthusiasm of true believers.

But once someone points out that the emperor has no clothes, it doesn't take long for goodwill to evaporate and systems to crumble.