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> I want to work on my own projects on my own terms. This is the only way I can find work that is worth doing. Worth doing in what sense? Not in the capitalist

> I want to work on my own projects on my own terms. This is the only way I can find work that is worth doing. Worth doing in what sense? Not in the capitalist sense of your work being worth at least your compensation. Maybe you mean "worth it to you, subjectively", but if so I don't understand what information is in the second sentence but not the first. And if you mean it in terms of social good, maybe if you have very unusual values? It can't be a matter of technical challenge; there are plenty of hard jobs out there. I've spent most of my career in big tech, and I've definitely been frustrated when I've had projects that I worked on canceled. That work obviously wasn't worth doing, in hindsight, except that I still got paid. But I've also had roles where I had meaningful positive impact on customers and on the business, and I don't think my situation was particularly unusual.

hsn915 4y ago
Worth doing as in, I can look back 10 years later and be proud of what I did. That the work had meaning beyound getting a paycheck. > And if you mean it in terms of social good, maybe if you have very unusual values? "Social Good". I don't like terms like this. In the west this term is often conflated with leftist values. I'm mostly concerned with technical excellence and making products that provide some value to end users. These two criteria alone exclude that vast majority of tech jobs. Most software products suck, both on the technical front, and the user experience front. > It can't be a matter of technical challenge; there are plenty of hard jobs out there. Right, but they are challenging because you have to work with terrible tech. This is not an interesting kind of challenge. It's the annoying kind of challenge. Think of it this way: building a website using only Notepad (the default text editor in Windows XP) is probably challenging, but is it interesting? No.
- andsoitis 4y ago
  > Most software products suck, both on the technical front, and the user experience front. Since you also hate being an employee, this could be your chance to venture on your own and make awesome technical products with great user experience, given that you posit most software suck.
  - hsn915 4y ago
    Thanks for your advice

hsn915 4y ago

Worth doing as in, I can look back 10 years later and be proud of what I did. That the work had meaning beyound getting a paycheck. > And if you mean it in terms of social good, maybe if you have very unusual values? "Social Good". I don't like terms like this. In the west this term is often conflated with leftist values. I'm mostly concerned with technical excellence and making products that provide some value to end users. These two criteria alone exclude that vast majority of tech jobs. Most software products suck, both on the technical front, and the user experience front. > It can't be a matter of technical challenge; there are plenty of hard jobs out there. Right, but they are challenging because you have to work with terrible tech. This is not an interesting kind of challenge. It's the annoying kind of challenge. Think of it this way: building a website using only Notepad (the default text editor in Windows XP) is probably challenging, but is it interesting? No.

andsoitis 4y ago
> Most software products suck, both on the technical front, and the user experience front. Since you also hate being an employee, this could be your chance to venture on your own and make awesome technical products with great user experience, given that you posit most software suck.
- hsn915 4y ago
  Thanks for your advice