4 ms·

Sure, you hate your boring, safe, lucrative job in software development until you become a plumber and find yourself on your hands and knees beside a disassembl

Sure, you hate your boring, safe, lucrative job in software development until you become a plumber and find yourself on your hands and knees beside a disassembled toilet for the 87th time. Splattered in fetid wastewater, pulling stuck condoms out of the floor while the idiot renter stands above you dragging on his Juul, and you realize, maybe I didn't have it so bad after all. The "grass is always greener" is probably the most repeated aphorism for a reason.

hodgesrm 5y ago
Somebody really needed to write this comment. The HN community thanks you.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
firstplacelast 5y ago
So I get it, but also people are way overhyping software development in this thread (which is expected on a tech website). The only thing going for it is an insane salary and lots of us don’t have those. I’ve worked in biotech/healthcare and have never had anything close to a FAANG salary even in a HCOL area. I burned out and am just now taking a month off to just exist. I have had the same thoughts about going blue-collar as the OP, but taking a month to figure out if it’s just general burn out or if I need a career change. I’ve been working since I was very young and have had all sorts of jobs: door-to-door sales, lifeguard, retail, waiting tables, property maintenance, cleaning homes from flood/fire damage, and on and on. I loved a lot of those jobs, though I didn’t do any for more than 2.5 years (or even just a summer). I don’t know if it was the pandemic or what, but never been so miserable at a job in my life and can’t imagine staring at a computer 40+ hours/week right now. I was literally staring into the Taco Bell drive-through window 6 weeks ago thinking I’d rather be working there and learn how to make a quesadilla in 1min than sit at a desk, which was the last straw for me. Plus with software it’s all about the skills. So if I drop out for awhile and decide to get back in a few years later, I should be fine after a couple months of self-study.
- TheCoelacanth 5y ago
  Software development has a lot more going for it than just high salaries. You have a enormous amount of bargaining power and ability to be picky about working conditions.
  - lordnacho 5y ago
    Aren't those all the same thing?
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    People always say this to claim that software engineers don’t need to organize, but consider a very banal but ubiquitous example pre-pandemic: if open offices are so universally despised, why was it used everywhere in tech? And why was remote work so rare in the industry despite worker demand for it?
- schwartzworld 5y ago
  > The only thing going for it is an insane salary and lots of us don’t have those. This is a really naive statement. Software development is so easy and fun compared to most of the shit work out there. Everytime I see someone whining about burnout, I think about all the busboys and dishwashers I used to work with who probably also get burned out working long hard physical shifts for abusive bosses, in order to make in a week what many devs do in a couple of days.
pessimizer 5y ago
I feel like a lot of replies like this assume that everybody is an upper-middle class white kid who hasn't had to shovel shit before. I've had a lot of much worse jobs than being a mechanic; jobs where I looked up from what I was doing when the mechanic walked in with unbelievable jealousy. I'm counting the days until CoPilot suddenly turns a bunch of John Galts into Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, but an additional effect is that a lot of people are going to notice that most programmers are at exactly the same professional level as other tradespeople, the difference is that since we're riding a wave of financial scams and deregulation that require the internet and cellphone apps as part of the grift, we're showered with cash. There will be a oversupply of programmers that plumbers will be laughing at.
- sjg007 5y ago
  Honestly same for most doctors too. They are just human body mechanics.
  - rightbyte 5y ago
    On the other hand being a mechanic is a very high skill trade.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - taxcoder 5y ago
    And they only have two models to work on.
1123581321 5y ago
Is this comment actually based on experience with trade labor? Why do you think those words are incisive?

hodgesrm 5y ago

Somebody really needed to write this comment. The HN community thanks you.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

firstplacelast 5y ago

So I get it, but also people are way overhyping software development in this thread (which is expected on a tech website). The only thing going for it is an insane salary and lots of us don’t have those. I’ve worked in biotech/healthcare and have never had anything close to a FAANG salary even in a HCOL area. I burned out and am just now taking a month off to just exist. I have had the same thoughts about going blue-collar as the OP, but taking a month to figure out if it’s just general burn out or if I need a career change. I’ve been working since I was very young and have had all sorts of jobs: door-to-door sales, lifeguard, retail, waiting tables, property maintenance, cleaning homes from flood/fire damage, and on and on. I loved a lot of those jobs, though I didn’t do any for more than 2.5 years (or even just a summer). I don’t know if it was the pandemic or what, but never been so miserable at a job in my life and can’t imagine staring at a computer 40+ hours/week right now. I was literally staring into the Taco Bell drive-through window 6 weeks ago thinking I’d rather be working there and learn how to make a quesadilla in 1min than sit at a desk, which was the last straw for me. Plus with software it’s all about the skills. So if I drop out for awhile and decide to get back in a few years later, I should be fine after a couple months of self-study.

TheCoelacanth 5y ago
Software development has a lot more going for it than just high salaries. You have a enormous amount of bargaining power and ability to be picky about working conditions.
- lordnacho 5y ago
  Aren't those all the same thing?
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  People always say this to claim that software engineers don’t need to organize, but consider a very banal but ubiquitous example pre-pandemic: if open offices are so universally despised, why was it used everywhere in tech? And why was remote work so rare in the industry despite worker demand for it?
schwartzworld 5y ago
> The only thing going for it is an insane salary and lots of us don’t have those. This is a really naive statement. Software development is so easy and fun compared to most of the shit work out there. Everytime I see someone whining about burnout, I think about all the busboys and dishwashers I used to work with who probably also get burned out working long hard physical shifts for abusive bosses, in order to make in a week what many devs do in a couple of days.

pessimizer 5y ago

I feel like a lot of replies like this assume that everybody is an upper-middle class white kid who hasn't had to shovel shit before. I've had a lot of much worse jobs than being a mechanic; jobs where I looked up from what I was doing when the mechanic walked in with unbelievable jealousy. I'm counting the days until CoPilot suddenly turns a bunch of John Galts into Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, but an additional effect is that a lot of people are going to notice that most programmers are at exactly the same professional level as other tradespeople, the difference is that since we're riding a wave of financial scams and deregulation that require the internet and cellphone apps as part of the grift, we're showered with cash. There will be a oversupply of programmers that plumbers will be laughing at.

sjg007 5y ago
Honestly same for most doctors too. They are just human body mechanics.
- rightbyte 5y ago
  On the other hand being a mechanic is a very high skill trade.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- taxcoder 5y ago
  And they only have two models to work on.

1123581321 5y ago

Is this comment actually based on experience with trade labor? Why do you think those words are incisive?