3 ms·

IDK. This seems like good advice for a particular kind of person. One who is content for the vast majority of their human experience to revolve around software

IDK. This seems like good advice for a particular kind of person. One who is content for the vast majority of their human experience to revolve around software and technology. All these side gigs add up and this looks like a life with very little time to broaden oneself. Either that or this person has somehow found the golden ticket of a boss that actually considers career development as something they are willing to pay salary for. I would have to do these kind of things on the side and I don't want my whole intellectual inner life and my hobbies to become software. I don't want to write software blogs in the evening. I want to read history books and cook dinner. I don't want to do podcasts on Saturday. I want to tear the drywall off my entryway and frame in a new window. I don't want to do side hustle paperwork on Sunday. I want to teach my kid how to shoot. I don't want to take a day off to go to a developer meetup. I want to go march for Medicare.

EdgarVerona 3y ago
Agreed with your concerns, though to me it sounds like this guy in the article is also trying to limit his hours spent on learning and side projects outside of work, which is healthy. But I think the case you bring up is more interesting and prevalent in our field. I used to be the guy who lived in software development. Lived as in spent every waking moment doing something with development, including working stupid hours that in retrospect could not possibly have been productive. I woke up one morning and I was 30 years old, divorced in large part because I lived at work, had developed diabetes because I didn't take care of my body, and almost friendless because I chose my computer over my friendships nearly every time. That wasn't living. When I finally woke up I realized that I had wasted my 20's: I was an addict getting a fix, not some genius reaching enlightenment. Maybe some people are able to do both, but when I had that realization I decided to leave my software endeavors at work unless I knew it was a side project of a very short duration. If I wasn't being paid at my 40 hour a week - and not more than 40 hour a week - job, I needed to actively resist plunging into it as a default rather than vice versa. As a result of this, I know I have become a worse engineer. But I also have a wife and kids, several hobbies, friends I care about who care about me, and while my health will never fully recover from developing diabetes I would say that I am in astonishingly better health than I was at 30. I will take that over my addiction to the software treadmill.
tr_user 3y ago
Seems like you're going to have to fight for that kind of society where having a middle class life affords you free time.
nice_byte 3y ago
I mean, you can do that. that's what most normal people already do anyway. the bulk of audience on this website is not really "normal" though...

EdgarVerona 3y ago

Agreed with your concerns, though to me it sounds like this guy in the article is also trying to limit his hours spent on learning and side projects outside of work, which is healthy. But I think the case you bring up is more interesting and prevalent in our field. I used to be the guy who lived in software development. Lived as in spent every waking moment doing something with development, including working stupid hours that in retrospect could not possibly have been productive. I woke up one morning and I was 30 years old, divorced in large part because I lived at work, had developed diabetes because I didn't take care of my body, and almost friendless because I chose my computer over my friendships nearly every time. That wasn't living. When I finally woke up I realized that I had wasted my 20's: I was an addict getting a fix, not some genius reaching enlightenment. Maybe some people are able to do both, but when I had that realization I decided to leave my software endeavors at work unless I knew it was a side project of a very short duration. If I wasn't being paid at my 40 hour a week - and not more than 40 hour a week - job, I needed to actively resist plunging into it as a default rather than vice versa. As a result of this, I know I have become a worse engineer. But I also have a wife and kids, several hobbies, friends I care about who care about me, and while my health will never fully recover from developing diabetes I would say that I am in astonishingly better health than I was at 30. I will take that over my addiction to the software treadmill.

tr_user 3y ago

Seems like you're going to have to fight for that kind of society where having a middle class life affords you free time.

nice_byte 3y ago

I mean, you can do that. that's what most normal people already do anyway. the bulk of audience on this website is not really "normal" though...