5 ms·

Does anyone working in software honestly feel like their work gives them a strong sense of purpose? Honestly I'd imagine the far majority don't, working on prop

Does anyone working in software honestly feel like their work gives them a strong sense of purpose? Honestly I'd imagine the far majority don't, working on proprietary code for companies driven solely by profit, within agile factories where a developer's sole role is to churn out tickets on an assembly line, and have no real ownership or stake in the company's success. Hence the high rate of burnout despite the job being relatively cushy and high-paying. It certainly is a spectrum however (for me adtech felt the most meaningless). Any job where you're someone else's employee naturally means you're sacrificing autonomy and freedom over your work, probably in the name of private profit over social good, so will probably not be as enjoyable being able to work on one's own terms unless one feels they are accomplishing more through this arrangement than they could be otherwise. For me what personally excites me most in the tech world right now is tech that is open source, modular, and decentralized (basically the goal of web3). The idea of building a decentralized, modular, open source <insert big tech platform> sounds more interesting than golden handcuffs at <big tech company> (who IMO have also been fairly stagnant innovation wise outside of just performance and scaling under the old centralization paradigm). I haven't made the jump though. And at the end of the day I'm still kind of a slave to money until I'm financially independent, and if I'm going to sell my labor to someone else, I might as well sell to the highest builder (assuming it ethically aligns). Haven't spent much time really looking though, with the crypto/web3 boom it may finally be reasonably possible to do that sort of work and still get paid handsomely.

claytongulick 5y ago
I work in healthcare technology. The software I wrote saved two people's life last week. So, yeah. Purpose.
- 101008 5y ago
  Can you share more?
- natoliniak 5y ago
  Kudos, but is there a flip side of the coin, where the software you write can cost someone life (if you screw something up/introduce a bug)?
  - WJW 5y ago
    Is that a downside? Clearly if his code hadn't worked those 2 people would not be alive right now, so in that sense yes bugs will kill people. But if there is no consequence on the world when you write bugs, can there be purpose in the work?
    - natoliniak 5y ago
      Not a downside per se, but I wonder how, in the context of other engineering disciplines which are highly formalized, software engineering fits in. One of the typical arguments against the feasibility of formalizing and licensing software engineers as PEs (in the USA) is that the stuff we create "cannot kill anyone" unlike, for example, a civil engineer whose work is very structured and vetted.
      - EEBio 5y ago
        Don't get confused - unlike many software engineering branches, the medical one is highly regulated. Take a look at Medical Device Regulation, which sets out standards for medical devices - software included (in fact, any medical software is automatically considered an active medical device). The demand for supervision is so high, there are now third party companies (Notified Bodies) taking care of the approvals. They are appointed by their respective Certification Authorities (which are governmental organisations). The approval usually works in the way where the manufacturer classifies the device and performs all the necessary tests and submits the documentation to the Notified Bodies where they verify that the device is correctly classified and all the necessary tests for the given class of the device have been performed and that the documentation checks out. MDR: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/medical-devices https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/medic...
      - wheelinsupial 5y ago
- DLA 5y ago
  That is amazing! Good for you. What type of software is this?
eddieroger 5y ago
I think that's right, and it is how I feel as well. I find enjoyment and fulfillment in my passion projects, or making things used by friends and family in ways that they love (home videos on Plex have made me an all star), and that's enough for me. Getting my Arduino to blink for the first time is far more fulfilling than any line of code I've written for work, and while I've liked and sometimes loved my jobs so far (and been lucky in that way), I am well aware that I am a "resource" and must limit how much it impacts me accordingly. Work in the private sector is a means to me having the funds to do the things I want in my private life.
jmartinpetersen 5y ago
I work for a company that is owned by and serves pension funds. If I do my job well, it means better retirement savings for nurses, teachers and kindergarden teachers. That's pretty motivating.
foxfluff 5y ago
I've never found sense of purpose at work. I wish I could but nope. The idea of passion projects is what keeps me going but to be honest, work tends to exhaust me to the point that my own projects make no real progress and I don't know if I can ever make something I'd feel happy about.
- openknot 5y ago
  Have you tried getting up earlier (and going to sleep earlier) to save your best hours in the morning for your own work? It's easier said than done, especially if you have family to take care of, but it's the go-to solution recommended by past HN users for getting personal work done when the workplace is exhausting.

claytongulick 5y ago

I work in healthcare technology. The software I wrote saved two people's life last week. So, yeah. Purpose.

101008 5y ago
Can you share more?
natoliniak 5y ago
Kudos, but is there a flip side of the coin, where the software you write can cost someone life (if you screw something up/introduce a bug)?
- WJW 5y ago
  Is that a downside? Clearly if his code hadn't worked those 2 people would not be alive right now, so in that sense yes bugs will kill people. But if there is no consequence on the world when you write bugs, can there be purpose in the work?
  - natoliniak 5y ago
    Not a downside per se, but I wonder how, in the context of other engineering disciplines which are highly formalized, software engineering fits in. One of the typical arguments against the feasibility of formalizing and licensing software engineers as PEs (in the USA) is that the stuff we create "cannot kill anyone" unlike, for example, a civil engineer whose work is very structured and vetted.
    - EEBio 5y ago
      Don't get confused - unlike many software engineering branches, the medical one is highly regulated. Take a look at Medical Device Regulation, which sets out standards for medical devices - software included (in fact, any medical software is automatically considered an active medical device). The demand for supervision is so high, there are now third party companies (Notified Bodies) taking care of the approvals. They are appointed by their respective Certification Authorities (which are governmental organisations). The approval usually works in the way where the manufacturer classifies the device and performs all the necessary tests and submits the documentation to the Notified Bodies where they verify that the device is correctly classified and all the necessary tests for the given class of the device have been performed and that the documentation checks out. MDR: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/medical-devices https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/medic...
    - wheelinsupial 5y ago
DLA 5y ago
That is amazing! Good for you. What type of software is this?

eddieroger 5y ago

I think that's right, and it is how I feel as well. I find enjoyment and fulfillment in my passion projects, or making things used by friends and family in ways that they love (home videos on Plex have made me an all star), and that's enough for me. Getting my Arduino to blink for the first time is far more fulfilling than any line of code I've written for work, and while I've liked and sometimes loved my jobs so far (and been lucky in that way), I am well aware that I am a "resource" and must limit how much it impacts me accordingly. Work in the private sector is a means to me having the funds to do the things I want in my private life.

jmartinpetersen 5y ago

I work for a company that is owned by and serves pension funds. If I do my job well, it means better retirement savings for nurses, teachers and kindergarden teachers. That's pretty motivating.

foxfluff 5y ago

I've never found sense of purpose at work. I wish I could but nope. The idea of passion projects is what keeps me going but to be honest, work tends to exhaust me to the point that my own projects make no real progress and I don't know if I can ever make something I'd feel happy about.

openknot 5y ago
Have you tried getting up earlier (and going to sleep earlier) to save your best hours in the morning for your own work? It's easier said than done, especially if you have family to take care of, but it's the go-to solution recommended by past HN users for getting personal work done when the workplace is exhausting.