3 ms·

As Upton Sinclair so aptly observed "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" There was a

As Upton Sinclair so aptly observed "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" There was a thriving core to the software industry that existed well before the ad-fueled web and still exists today. Plain old business websites, line-of-business internal software, desktop apps, embedded and IoT software, etc., none of these things depend on ads. If you can't see that there is plenty of things to do for software developers to do if ads are curtailed, you need to broaden your horizons.

BoorishBears 8y ago
The problem isn't no one will find work. It's that there was a thriving core decades ago that supported a fraction of the people the software industry supports today. > Plain old business websites, line-of-business internal software, desktop apps, embedded and IoT software, etc. All experience a monumental retraction the likes of which our economy has never experienced the moments ads go away. No industry, let alone some niche in tech, would be unaffected if Google and their ad-revenue driven efforts dried up tomorrow morning. If you can't see that there is plenty fewer things to do for the economy to do if ads are curtailed, you need to broaden your horizons.
- ThrowawayR2 8y ago
  > All experience a monumental retraction the likes of which our economy has never experienced the moments ads go away. Such hyperbole; computers are embedded in every aspect of daily life now. Moreover, even if by some miracle you happened to be correct, propping up the adtech software industry does not justify its negative externalities any more than preserving tobacco jobs justifies the continued sale of cigarettes and subsequent deaths or preserving coal jobs justifies the pollutants produced and its subsequent deaths.
throwawaymath 8y ago
I can clearly see there are plenty of things to do for software engineers beyond advertising. But that was never germane to my point. What does concern my point is how many comparably compensating opportunities there are, how quickly they can transition to them, and whether or not those opportunities will be meaningfully less controversial (e.g. fintech).

BoorishBears 8y ago

The problem isn't no one will find work. It's that there was a thriving core decades ago that supported a fraction of the people the software industry supports today. > Plain old business websites, line-of-business internal software, desktop apps, embedded and IoT software, etc. All experience a monumental retraction the likes of which our economy has never experienced the moments ads go away. No industry, let alone some niche in tech, would be unaffected if Google and their ad-revenue driven efforts dried up tomorrow morning. If you can't see that there is plenty fewer things to do for the economy to do if ads are curtailed, you need to broaden your horizons.

ThrowawayR2 8y ago
> All experience a monumental retraction the likes of which our economy has never experienced the moments ads go away. Such hyperbole; computers are embedded in every aspect of daily life now. Moreover, even if by some miracle you happened to be correct, propping up the adtech software industry does not justify its negative externalities any more than preserving tobacco jobs justifies the continued sale of cigarettes and subsequent deaths or preserving coal jobs justifies the pollutants produced and its subsequent deaths.

throwawaymath 8y ago

I can clearly see there are plenty of things to do for software engineers beyond advertising. But that was never germane to my point. What does concern my point is how many comparably compensating opportunities there are, how quickly they can transition to them, and whether or not those opportunities will be meaningfully less controversial (e.g. fintech).