i have nothing but contempt for the industry at large, even though there are occasional companies that are not completely horseshit. its great to have the insid

i have nothing but contempt for the industry at large, even though there are occasional companies that are not completely horseshit. its great to have the inside experience so you can speak with authority about all the ways its fucking garbage. most people here have their personalities too wrapped up in it to realize. pretty pathetic overall, but everyone's motivations and particular jobs differ, so i dont want to paint with too broad a brush. above all, im truly grateful that i feel like ive made sense of the whole thing sufficiently for my own peace of mind. its a huge part of where my politics comes from. work is not that complicated if you dont stake your entire ego on it, and recognize that money is not the be all and end all you think it is- with that realization, you can work plenty of jobs and enjoy them for their intrinsic value, while getting paid a nominal wage. pursuing money too singlemindedly can easily wreck your life, as far as i can tell. tech basically represents the pursuit of money- everyone here tries very hard to focus on science and the tech part of tech, but its pretty obvious from what gets upvoted that a primary focus is getting rich as quick as possible. i truly despise this, but again, everyone's situation is different and for some people its less egregious. at least finance bros admit what the game is. also tech companies are largely built on lies- the products they produce are often worthless, and ad sales, which prop up lots of other ones, are probably a bubble. the ads and data are ultimately of limited value, and i dont think the industry fully realizes it. i guess if i could summarize, i would say that you shouldn't underestimate the negative effect of doing worthless work, no matter how much you are getting paid. you cant connect with the people you work with because none of you are there for the right reasons that foster connection, most likely. and then every now and then, you find a tech company that does something useful well, and so i guess its just very complicated.