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Two things - I don't think it's as easy as you think it is. If you're good at it, it can feel comparatively easy, because when you're good at it and you enjoy

Two things - I don't think it's as easy as you think it is. If you're good at it, it can feel comparatively easy, because when you're good at it and you enjoy it - it's fun. It's flow. You get lost in it and don't realize that you were just working flat out for 12 hours. But there are lots of things that are flow that are not easy. I've been coding since I was 12, I have flow days where it's just an absolute pleasure. But on a bad day where I never hit flow, it's brutal. It's so hard to force myself to focus. And often when I come back the next day, the code I wrote is absolute shit and I spent a good chunk of the next day just debugging it. So yeah, echoing those who say not easy. The other piece of it, is that I actually think a lot of software engineers are massively underpaid. I was at my last job for 7 years. My total compensation, including benefits, options and what have you, was probably less than $1 million (over 7 years mind you). But I can draw a direct line between work I did and the enablement of millions of dollars of ARR. The company probably got anywhere from a 5x or a 10x return from their investment in me. I was paid a little under market, but not so far under market that I'm that different from the norm. I worked on some particularly high impact features in terms of return, so that line is particularly clear for me and not all of my peers there could say the same -- but a lot of them could, and even for the ones where it was less obvious it's still true. As software engineers at a software company, our work is ultimately essentially. The companies don't exist with out us. As a class, given that, we're still underpaid ;)

papito 4y ago
Yeah. One thing. I found that if I spend even an hour in the morning on a passion project, before going to work, it really helps me focus on the soul-sucking office task. I don't know why, but that's the case for me.
blueblisters 4y ago
Software engineering is not easy but no profession comes close to software engineering when it comes to the sheer number of high-paying jobs it creates. I think much of the "alpha" comes from being truly cross-disciplinary - all jobs can perhaps eventually be abstracted away into code, including software engineering itself.
- bumby 4y ago
  One thing that becomes apparent when working on important, safety critical stuff is that cross-disciplinary problems require a team, many of whom are not SWE, because there’s a ton of domain specific and tacit knowledge a SWE generally won’t know. Writing software to control a rocket or surgery or, hell, just a commonplace boiler shouldn’t be approach cavalierly. Edit: to the downvoter(s): what claim do you have issue with? Do you think safety critical software can be treated cavalierly? Or that SWEs can replace that domain knowledge without other domain experts?
Valakas_ 4y ago
I can take an online course and start a job in SE in 6 months. Good luck doing that for another engineering field. Cmon... it is definitely easier. It's easier to start, it's easier to develop. With many other engineering courses you need a HUGE base of knowledge to even start being useful. With SE you can start being useful almost from the get go in comparison. Not saying it's not hard to master, because i believe it is. But comparatively, it is definitely easier. But tbh who cares? I've been doing mechanical engineering for years, and it's hard as hell, and what do I get from that difficulty? A pat on the back to feel good about how smart i am? Getting home tired because my brain is fried of thinking about complex stuff? At this point i'd rather have gone the easy way and take SE. We only have one life. Easy = Good.

papito 4y ago

Yeah. One thing. I found that if I spend even an hour in the morning on a passion project, before going to work, it really helps me focus on the soul-sucking office task. I don't know why, but that's the case for me.

blueblisters 4y ago

Software engineering is not easy but no profession comes close to software engineering when it comes to the sheer number of high-paying jobs it creates. I think much of the "alpha" comes from being truly cross-disciplinary - all jobs can perhaps eventually be abstracted away into code, including software engineering itself.

bumby 4y ago
One thing that becomes apparent when working on important, safety critical stuff is that cross-disciplinary problems require a team, many of whom are not SWE, because there’s a ton of domain specific and tacit knowledge a SWE generally won’t know. Writing software to control a rocket or surgery or, hell, just a commonplace boiler shouldn’t be approach cavalierly. Edit: to the downvoter(s): what claim do you have issue with? Do you think safety critical software can be treated cavalierly? Or that SWEs can replace that domain knowledge without other domain experts?

Valakas_ 4y ago

I can take an online course and start a job in SE in 6 months. Good luck doing that for another engineering field. Cmon... it is definitely easier. It's easier to start, it's easier to develop. With many other engineering courses you need a HUGE base of knowledge to even start being useful. With SE you can start being useful almost from the get go in comparison. Not saying it's not hard to master, because i believe it is. But comparatively, it is definitely easier. But tbh who cares? I've been doing mechanical engineering for years, and it's hard as hell, and what do I get from that difficulty? A pat on the back to feel good about how smart i am? Getting home tired because my brain is fried of thinking about complex stuff? At this point i'd rather have gone the easy way and take SE. We only have one life. Easy = Good.