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Ask HN: How long did it take for you to get jaded in this industry?
I'm convinced that everyone reaches this point, some sooner than later. Whether it be something career related, or something related to the industry in general, we all have frustrations that we never could have predicted that make us lose sense of hope. Of course, this could be simply temporary or terribly long lasting, depending on circumstance.
What's your story and when did you reach that point?
- brent_noorda 11y ago30 Years. Too many cycles of one popular language/design/data-model/patterns replacing another. Too many bubbles. Too many me-too products. Too many bugs produced faster than they're squelched. Too many simple paradigms made too complex, requiring creation of new simplicities that will only be overly complexified again. Too many people making too much money with too high opinions of their own genius accomplishing too little. A year and a half ago I saw my wife studying a textbook on Anatomy & Physiology. I started reading it. I thought "OMFG this stuff is amazing! And it can't be learned in 3 days (unlike all these 'hard' problems we hackers like to discuss)." Now I'm going to school for a career in nursing.
- coderKen 11y agoIt's all the craze, activities, noise and what not that has moved computing forward. If the industry was not constantly improving, we would have been stuck with a 5MB hard drive this big -> http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/27/visualized-ibms-1956-hdd-packs-5mb-of-storage-requires-forkli/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/27/visualized-ibms-1956-hdd-...
- richliss 11y agoIt can be cyclical (recession hits, cut staff, longer hours), and it can be job specific (idiot colleagues, failing company). I've had periods where the idea of working another day with arrogant dickhead 'know it all' ex-Physics students turned developers who can solve tough problems with terrible to maintain code thus making themselves unsackable made me think of jacking it all in and moving to a third world country and living in a hut - even to the point of visiting the Vietnamese consulate for information. Likewise I've had times where a young CS background developer who is eager to learn, very gracious, fun to be around and delivers makes me remember that it can be a great industry. I'd recommend getting out of your current job if you can if its making you feel this way. A few years ago I was working in finance, had experienced some workplace bullying so I overworked to prove myself to stop it despite it being about an Alpha boss picking a scapegoat, and I suffered from some mid strength burnout and in the end I wasn't fit to work for probably 5 months afterwards. I ended up going into a completely different industry (but still software) and managed to reboot myself over about 3 months and started to enjoy work again. Earlier in my career I met someone who had completely burned out. He'd not worked in 18 months despite having lots of offers, had moved to the coast and was just doing spiritual stuff all the time and was burning through his savings. We asked him to come in for 1 day to interview others and after 2 hours he said he couldn't take it anymore and left, and that was it. It was quite shocking to see someone who was that way and quite scary when I felt it happening to me. Don't wait until you completely burnout because it will damage more than just your career - your health, waistline, relationships, friendships, bank account, future employability etc.
- muzani 11y agoI was born in a third world country and lived in a (concrete) hut. It's most likely worse here tbh. Jerks are spread evenly across population. It's infectious too. If ten people are jerks to you today, it's likely you won't be as nice. Generally, smart people are more likely to leave bad places. And because they're more qualified, they have the option to. And so the jerks are left behind and bully the remaining people into becoming jerks. I think it's no coincidence there's so many jerks in places like China and India.
- mmanulis 11y ago+1 to this On the burnout and working with jerks, spot on. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do. Sometimes you can even recognize it in time, other times you can't. Best lesson, learn to recognize burnout and either take a vacation / get some distance and/or find a new gig.
- tomcam 11y ago32 years so far, and I'm just as excited using web2py and Python as I was writing 6502 assembly in the 80s and writing compilers in the 90s. Been in jail, beaten up, fired from dream jobs, seen plenty of friends die. Get jaded? I'm totally stoked to be above ground.
- chrisbennet 11y agoStill waiting to reach that point. :-) (31 years so far.)
- tmaly 11y agoI never really reached that point. Sometimes I think what is the point of counting beans, but then I switch from that view and try to find a better way to count the beans. Reading a little bit of economic theory helps to understand the concept of value.
- muzani 11y ago1 year for me. Ended up quitting and starting a cafe. Got seduced back into tech. 2 years into my career, I had built more apps solo than most agencies in my country. Meaning that I've worked with a lot of companies, a lot of visionaries, and none were imprrssive. A lot of them don't appreciate good products. Most would happily MVP forever. The latest request was to build a Tinder clone, on a $5000 budget. Sigh. I'm still looking for a full time job that I can actually focus and enjoy with. It's like being that guy who sleeps with a different girlfriend every month, but it's such an unfulfilling way to live. Maybe I'm getting old, but would really like to settle down with a company that respects their product.
- colund 11y agoIt's good if everyone else get jaded as it eliminates some competition
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoI reached it in college. After HS (coding every spare minute for years) I just stopped during college. Only coded for classes. Then when I got my first job (OS Engineer) in a new language (and a new state with new friends) it got exciting again.
- brudgers 11y agoMore than 36 years apparently.
- mmanulis 11y agoI feel like it happens every few years, just depends on the job. So far, I've always bounced back, usually through change of scenery or taking a vacation. Every time I get too far down the hole, I'm reminded of what Tony Robbins said in his TED speech. Sad people get sad, happy people stay happy, angry people get angry. After too many burnouts, too many long weeks, too many days on the road, it's all in your head and your ability to recognize what you're feeling/experiencing and developing mental tools to handle that. I've met people who swear by meditation, for others it's exercise. Find your habit, the thing that let's your mind "unclench".
- jakejake 11y ago25 years and going strong without being jaded here. I'd guess if you are jaded it's either that you need to find another company, or perhaps you're in this business for the wrong reasons. Perhaps you were lured by the idea of big salaries or huge IPO payouts that haven't happened? Perhaps the exciting portrayal in movies like the Facebook, etc. Whatever the case every career has its ups and downs, but getting jaded should not just be accepted as an inevitable fact.