this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I’ve been writing software professionally for almost 15 years. I’ve never hated writing software, it’s something I really enjoy. But I’ve gotten to the point where I vehemently hate the industry. It’s horribly cutthroat, driven by pure capitalism and there’s never any incentive to do something cool or novel unless it grows profits in a quarter. The problem now too is that participating in the open source community is wading into a den of toxicity. So many people are using or contributing to open source software with the pure goal of financial gain, and they are toxic parasites. Scroll through comments in GitHub issues on popular projects and they are everywhere. What started as a fun way to collaborate on projects where people would work together to build cool things has turned into a cesspool of bickering. I’m tired. Tired of the industry, and tired of the fact that software has just become an idea for “get rich quick” schemes for so many.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

My dad was an executive for a large telecom company in the 90s and 2000s. A lot of the other executives would actually start a farm… like alpacas lol. The CFO of the company started a hydroponic farm (not a drug one)

I don’t think what you’re saying is all that silly, seriously.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I think when you have the money to start a farm it totally makes sense, and I probably would. As farms exist now, they have to basically scrape by to make it, constantly fighting pressure from big Ag to get acquired or get shut down so they can’t compete. At least that’s how it is in the US. It’s looking more like I should just figure out how to move out of the US lol, but the problems we have exist everywhere, and problem’s we’ve had are now rearing their heads. Perhaps at the end of the day I’ll try to buy a cabin in Alaska and die trying to start a fire to stay warm lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Sounds like your problem is with the specific industry you're in, not software in general. Move out of finance or startups or wherever it is that's so cutthroat and find a long established company that's not in danger of going out of business on one bad quarter. The industry might not be as interesting but the work will be, and the pay might not be as high but the quality of life will improve!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm at one of those companies and they're just as greedy and cutthroat as anyone else. I really can't imagine why you think that's limited to fintech or startups.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Because everyone I know at companies like that has a pretty chill time most of the time. Clearly your millage has varied, but my point is that not every job is unpleasant, you just have to find somewhere relaxed, and that's not an impossible feat.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Start ups tend to be the least cut throat since they’re flush with cash. They’ve got their own issues though.

It’s larger orgs where you get the status chasing middle management layer.