4 ms·

> Can we not just have moderate success? Sure, but Hacker News is a strange place to lament about that. The country is full of exactly what you're looking for

by wdr1 4y ago

> Can we not just have moderate success? Sure, but Hacker News is a strange place to lament about that. The country is full of exactly what you're looking for. Go work in an IT department in a medium size business, or a non-profit. Join a consulting group that does software development outside a major metropolitan area. Join a software company that's been around for 20-30 years running the same product. Join the software development team at a company who focuses on the development of their internal proprietary applications. (I'm not insulting these place. I spent half my career at them. There's nothing wrong with them. They're just different. And they tend not to have the focus on growth.) There's a lot of companies doing exactly what you want. They just don't make the headlines. And they're definitely not talked about on Hacker News. It's a bit like vegetarian showing up at a steakhouse & acting surprised.

galdosdi 4y ago
Great point. That said, I read the OP as complaining about the boom-bustiness of the world and modern life in general for everyone, not limiting the perspective to just one's employment, nor limited just to the perspective of if one is a software engineer. A stable job helps a lot but does not totally insulate you.
iwanttocomment 4y ago
Hang on, what mid-sized independent software companies have been around with the same corporate ownership since 1992? In today's world of corporate growth via acquisition, having a modestly successful job with a modestly successful mid-sized company in no way insulates you from the economic forces of the outside world. Legitimate modest success tends to result either in a series of endless acquisitions where a mid-size business gets absorbed into incrementally larger businesses time after time - or where the business gets acquired by one of the larger, monolithic players in the industry. With any acquisition, restructurings, layoffs and product changes have substantial impact on those moderately successful staffers. Alternately, stagnation or modest decline typically results in vulnerability to market forces which results again in a buyout by another player in the market, or a buyout by a private equity group who cuts costs, lays off staff, and tries to leverage whatever assets they can to maximize their return at the expense of the business itself. The effects on the staffers are even worse. Sure, you can find a boring, moderately successful job for yourself. It may last 5, even 10 years. But the days of being able to have a modestly successful, boring job with the same company for 30 years appear to be completely gone.

by wdr1 4y ago

galdosdi 4y ago

Great point. That said, I read the OP as complaining about the boom-bustiness of the world and modern life in general for everyone, not limiting the perspective to just one's employment, nor limited just to the perspective of if one is a software engineer. A stable job helps a lot but does not totally insulate you.

iwanttocomment 4y ago

Hang on, what mid-sized independent software companies have been around with the same corporate ownership since 1992? In today's world of corporate growth via acquisition, having a modestly successful job with a modestly successful mid-sized company in no way insulates you from the economic forces of the outside world. Legitimate modest success tends to result either in a series of endless acquisitions where a mid-size business gets absorbed into incrementally larger businesses time after time - or where the business gets acquired by one of the larger, monolithic players in the industry. With any acquisition, restructurings, layoffs and product changes have substantial impact on those moderately successful staffers. Alternately, stagnation or modest decline typically results in vulnerability to market forces which results again in a buyout by another player in the market, or a buyout by a private equity group who cuts costs, lays off staff, and tries to leverage whatever assets they can to maximize their return at the expense of the business itself. The effects on the staffers are even worse. Sure, you can find a boring, moderately successful job for yourself. It may last 5, even 10 years. But the days of being able to have a modestly successful, boring job with the same company for 30 years appear to be completely gone.