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I'm 25 years in and have the same problem. I feel like I could have written this. I have a side project (which has a software component but doesn't require that

I'm 25 years in and have the same problem. I feel like I could have written this. I have a side project (which has a software component but doesn't require that), but it's not monetizable yet. Like you, I still have to sell my skills in the marketplace -- one that has changed dramatically since I entered, and in all the ways you pointed out. Software development used to be fun, and many parts of it still are. But a sad new dev culture has taken over which I think hurts both developers and the products we create. This leads to junky software that no one likes. I wonder how much of it is due to the VC-backed philosophy of "selling to the next greater fool." As long as a company is just waiting to sell out to the next round of investors, the folks at the top have little incentive to make a great product or a great work environment. After all, those things are not counted in company valuations. In the enormous list of job postings on HN this month, I can see many companies which are obvious failures from the get-go. And many others which are clearly scammy, purely opportunistic, or vulture-based business that simply tax others and profit from their misery. I'm sure those places make money -- for a while. But I can't believe that these are sustainable product ideas or places to work. What's to be done to fix our industry?

Trasmatta 5y ago
There's an almost religious adherence to broken product management practices. Endless sprints, endless user stories, obsession with "velocity", constant meetings and status updates...all of which grind the actual work to a halt. It's about the appearance of work, rather than the work itself. Developers are considered as code monkeys who need constant attention, not skilled professionals. It boggles the mind that companies pay so much for developers, and then put endless obstacles in the way of them actually getting real work done.
- burntoutfire 5y ago
  > There's an almost religious adherence to broken product management practices. Endless sprints, endless user stories, obsession with "velocity", constant meetings and status updates.. It's caused by non-technical people invading our field and taking over many of the managerial positions. They can't pretty much contribute anything software-related and often have poor grasp on what's going on - so the only thing left for them to do is to be the "process police" and pester people about estimates, ceremonies etc. It's the only way they can "contribute", so they insist it's vital, as otherwise it would be completely transparent that they're a third wheel.
spzb 5y ago
Same here. 25 years. Bored to death of the whole thing but not having the talents or inclination to build a career in a different field at this point in life. I've never worked in the VC culture (public sector and SMEs instead) but there is still this slavish adherence to things that were "cool" in The Valley five or ten years ago. Scrum is my bete noire. I've just been moved onto a product team that follows the full shamanism of it and the amount of time wasted is staggering. Between daily sprints, weekly planning sessions and fortnightly retrospectives we waste half the week. Then they insist on adding in some "fun" "team-building" activities too. On top of business practices, I think dev practices have changed so much too. My job these days is increasingly about configuring some Saas system we've bought in or hooking up the plumbing between different open source libraries. I appreciate that it removes the tediousness of building yet another CRUD web app but it also devalues the skill of the job. Maybe our platforms have just got too complex now for any one person or small team to manage it all. I've tried going into management before and hated it. The higher you go, the more time you spend in meetings discussing the same shit with the same people just on different days.

Trasmatta 5y ago

There's an almost religious adherence to broken product management practices. Endless sprints, endless user stories, obsession with "velocity", constant meetings and status updates...all of which grind the actual work to a halt. It's about the appearance of work, rather than the work itself. Developers are considered as code monkeys who need constant attention, not skilled professionals. It boggles the mind that companies pay so much for developers, and then put endless obstacles in the way of them actually getting real work done.

burntoutfire 5y ago
> There's an almost religious adherence to broken product management practices. Endless sprints, endless user stories, obsession with "velocity", constant meetings and status updates.. It's caused by non-technical people invading our field and taking over many of the managerial positions. They can't pretty much contribute anything software-related and often have poor grasp on what's going on - so the only thing left for them to do is to be the "process police" and pester people about estimates, ceremonies etc. It's the only way they can "contribute", so they insist it's vital, as otherwise it would be completely transparent that they're a third wheel.

spzb 5y ago

Same here. 25 years. Bored to death of the whole thing but not having the talents or inclination to build a career in a different field at this point in life. I've never worked in the VC culture (public sector and SMEs instead) but there is still this slavish adherence to things that were "cool" in The Valley five or ten years ago. Scrum is my bete noire. I've just been moved onto a product team that follows the full shamanism of it and the amount of time wasted is staggering. Between daily sprints, weekly planning sessions and fortnightly retrospectives we waste half the week. Then they insist on adding in some "fun" "team-building" activities too. On top of business practices, I think dev practices have changed so much too. My job these days is increasingly about configuring some Saas system we've bought in or hooking up the plumbing between different open source libraries. I appreciate that it removes the tediousness of building yet another CRUD web app but it also devalues the skill of the job. Maybe our platforms have just got too complex now for any one person or small team to manage it all. I've tried going into management before and hated it. The higher you go, the more time you spend in meetings discussing the same shit with the same people just on different days.