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100% agreed. I'm not sure how big a problem this is, but it's been huge for me personally. I write software because I like solving problems for people. It's gr

100% agreed. I'm not sure how big a problem this is, but it's been huge for me personally. I write software because I like solving problems for people. It's gratifying to build clever things, but for me it has to end in making the world better somehow. Even if it's just one person, which has happened when I'm building in-house tools. But there's so much out there that isn't about actually getting things done. E.g., the project that is touted as using the hot technology (e.g., ML) because people want to be seen as on the leading edge; actual results would be a hindrance to bragging. Or the executive who wants to respond to public criticism and so launches an initiative that will show a lot of motion and be something they can point to, but will not actually make a difference. Or the big-talking boss who gets promoted based on the size of his project and how tough he looks, so he drastically overstaffs something, causes a lot of chaos, and then makes everybody work stupid hours in crunch mode to hit an entirely artificial deadline. And so on, and so on. These sorts of bullshit projects are way harder on me than actual hard work, because I experience constant dissonance between my goals (make things! help people!) and the day-to-day of the project. And I think it's even worse for others, because it's easy to learn the lesson that the important thing at work is just to shut up and play pretend with whatever the bosses want. That's a lesson I absolutely refuse to learn. But many apparently do, and that can ruin a person for their whole career.

camjohnson26 5y ago
When you see the politics behind tech leadership it can be hard to unsee it. Everything is always the previous leadership’s fault, and whatever hot new methodology or design pattern is the current buzzword will solve all the problems that could possibly come up in the future. Everyone knows reality will be much more complicated than implied, but then whoever is working on that code when it happens to fall apart will take the blame. Activity and irrelevant metrics will drive how successful people think the project is, regardless of whether any customers are actually getting helped. It’s hard to solve for these problems because that tone comes from the top, but trusting people and removing toxic personalities is a good start. Every successful team I’ve been on had a focus on the customer and the end goal and didn’t let politics get in the way of solutions.
- wpietri 5y ago
  In some ways it's a curse. Early on in my career I could take on and enjoy projects that I now recognize were doomed from the start. The older I get, the longer my "never do that again" list gets. The positive side is that I can now recognize the good signs too. And I'm much better at diagnosing and fixing issues. If the people with power want things fixed, which is definitely not a given.
lumost 5y ago
It's funny, I recently attempted to learn the latter lesson in order to get a good paycheck and build something really exciting. After 3+ years of working on making something happen, I finally realized that it either wasn't going to happen - or the company would never let me be the one to do it. After hanging up the towel officially, my mind is boggled by how much the constant pushing against a wall was weighing on me.

camjohnson26 5y ago

When you see the politics behind tech leadership it can be hard to unsee it. Everything is always the previous leadership’s fault, and whatever hot new methodology or design pattern is the current buzzword will solve all the problems that could possibly come up in the future. Everyone knows reality will be much more complicated than implied, but then whoever is working on that code when it happens to fall apart will take the blame. Activity and irrelevant metrics will drive how successful people think the project is, regardless of whether any customers are actually getting helped. It’s hard to solve for these problems because that tone comes from the top, but trusting people and removing toxic personalities is a good start. Every successful team I’ve been on had a focus on the customer and the end goal and didn’t let politics get in the way of solutions.

wpietri 5y ago
In some ways it's a curse. Early on in my career I could take on and enjoy projects that I now recognize were doomed from the start. The older I get, the longer my "never do that again" list gets. The positive side is that I can now recognize the good signs too. And I'm much better at diagnosing and fixing issues. If the people with power want things fixed, which is definitely not a given.

lumost 5y ago

It's funny, I recently attempted to learn the latter lesson in order to get a good paycheck and build something really exciting. After 3+ years of working on making something happen, I finally realized that it either wasn't going to happen - or the company would never let me be the one to do it. After hanging up the towel officially, my mind is boggled by how much the constant pushing against a wall was weighing on me.