3 ms·

>we, as software developers, have grown so accustomed to a fundamentally unfair work environment that we no longer question it. Compared to a physician or a un

>we, as software developers, have grown so accustomed to a fundamentally unfair work environment that we no longer question it. Compared to a physician or a university professor a software developer might have a low level of autonomy (in the sense of free from being micromanaged) but developers do better than the vast majority of employees I suspect. Having to account for your time every day in a standup can get psychologically tiring but there's so many other jobs where it's much worse. I've worked in places where being out of your seat for more than a few minutes (when not on a break) would invite commentary or provoke questions. (This isn't intended to sound like a "You should be grateful because there is a kid starving in Africa" thing, just trying to provide a perspective why I find it hard to feel hard done when so many more people have it worse than me all around me. This doesn't mean we shouldn't all enjoy more autonomy and agency in our work.)

geebee 7y ago
This is a tough one to answer. Yes, there are harder done people, and I suppose that is enough to end the conversation. The only part I'd mention here is that you focus on micromanagement and autonomy, which alone, to me, isn't really the source of stress. I've had boring but predictable butt-in-seat jobs with clear instructions. You do your work at a reasonable pace, you will make your deadline. The source of the stress is being pressured to make firm deadline commitments under conditions of complexity and uncertainty, and the organizational aftermath when you don't make them (ranging from confrontational meetings, to angry emails to your boss, to threats to your employment, to threats to your professional reputation). I really have seen them all. Can't speak to how much of this goes on in other jobs, I'm sure it does -- then again, I don't constantly hear about a "critical shortage" of workers in most of these other jobs either, which implies to me that people with options may be rationally choosing to avoid software development in favor of other fields.

geebee 7y ago

This is a tough one to answer. Yes, there are harder done people, and I suppose that is enough to end the conversation. The only part I'd mention here is that you focus on micromanagement and autonomy, which alone, to me, isn't really the source of stress. I've had boring but predictable butt-in-seat jobs with clear instructions. You do your work at a reasonable pace, you will make your deadline. The source of the stress is being pressured to make firm deadline commitments under conditions of complexity and uncertainty, and the organizational aftermath when you don't make them (ranging from confrontational meetings, to angry emails to your boss, to threats to your employment, to threats to your professional reputation). I really have seen them all. Can't speak to how much of this goes on in other jobs, I'm sure it does -- then again, I don't constantly hear about a "critical shortage" of workers in most of these other jobs either, which implies to me that people with options may be rationally choosing to avoid software development in favor of other fields.