3 ms·

> It’s not cool, or admirable to wallow in mediocrity. I never heard the term "lying flat" before this article, but I live that lifestyle and I'm not "wallowin

by hgs3 3y ago

> It’s not cool, or admirable to wallow in mediocrity. I never heard the term "lying flat" before this article, but I live that lifestyle and I'm not "wallowing in mediocrity." I code, make artwork, compose music, write fiction and non-fiction, and cook gourmet food. For years I miserably grinded for Big Corp and considered just ending it all. Since quitting my job my depression has lifted and I'm working 12+ hours a day pursuing my dreams. My sole motivation in life is to learn and create my visions. Materialism does not motivate me. Money is an obstacle, not the objective. If anything, being self-motivated to learn and produce should be the norm, greed and materialism should be shunned.

PartiallyTyped 3y ago
It's funny, I had the same thought just a moment ago. I have decided that I will quit $BIGCORP and put my effort and mind into something actually useful for people. Maybe it's the place that i am, but given the evidence, I have updated my expectations over skill. I also don't have material needs, I might buy a cute top here and there, or a few books but that's it.
- hgs3 3y ago
  If you have doubts, depending upon how you feel, you could consider speaking with your employer about working part time. Part time means more free time while still earning an income. Also consider how you might negotiate it: half-days five days a week are one thing and three full days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) with the rest off is another.
  - PartiallyTyped 3y ago
    It's unlikely that a FAANG company will arrange such a situation for me, and given our current deadlines, it is unlikely that my manager will agree. I just want to write code. I hate the days when all I do is sit in meetings for pre meetings for pre meetings or write docs about docs about docs. edit: clarified on docs and meetings a bit.
    - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
      Wait, I don't understand. You want to write code but you don't want to bother documenting it or expressing its design? I must say that any coder who won't document their code is detrimental to the world of software engineering. It is Job Number One to accurately document, from the start, what your code does and what it's supposed to do. If a SWE can't write a design document, comment their code, accurately describe source commits, and at least assist a technical writer in writing the manual for the app/tool/framework, then that SWE should be fired and re-educated. I have strong feelings about this, but I find that an enduring problem in my experience as an end-user is poor documentation of just about everything I use. I mean, vendors don't even bother bundling the manual anymore, not even as a PDF. It comes in little WWW help-files that are like tasting baby food. I will always harken back to the 80s when my family purchased two Commodore computers, and they had the best documentation ever. That user manual explained the 6502/6510 architecture, the memory layout, sprites and sound, as well as BASIC programming. I learned those computers inside and out, because they were well-documented. Hardly anything lives up to that now.
      - PartiallyTyped 3y ago
        It seems that I didn’t communicate my feelings properly. I enjoy documenting and reading code. I also enjoy reading design documents that are very technical in nature and actually motivate the decisions and direction. I even read research papers on my free time. I also enjoy writing such documents and respective code. My issue is that I spent 4-5 days writing a darn excellent document on the proof of concept that I had built for a service we are supposed to launch this fall with a code freeze on September 1st. And today I had to spend all day writing yet another document summarizing what I had written in the first one so that I can have a discussion with other principals to get their comments (I got great comments from 2 in the presentation and follow up discussions), just to get an approval and the go ahead to productionise what I had already built that was shown to work. No other approach exists, no other poc exists, and most of my time is now fragmented because of the meetings. No other engineer working on this had an approach that could actually work for reasons I explained in yet another document, the more seniors had claimed they’d need a month to get the poc done. I did it in far less time, and had it all well documented. That was the most fun I have had in a while. Upper management (2-skip manager) gave me lots of praise and blew off another meeting he had to stay on for the additional questions and discussion, and scheduled another full on 1h meeting with me alone to discuss it further.
TillE 3y ago
Same. I've got a very flexible, low-stress job with mediocre pay, but it pays the bills and I have a ton of time to work on projects that interest me. It's great.
- simmanian 3y ago
  Mind sharing what job it is?
simmanian 3y ago
How do you make ends meet? Honest question because maybe I'd like to apply some of your lessons :)
- hgs3 3y ago
  I live minimalistically and have a nest egg from working as a software engineer for Big Corp. Hopefully my income will resume when I launch what I've been building commercially in the next few months.
  - simmanian 3y ago
    Good luck!
laurels-marts 3y ago
> emphasizes relaxation and avoiding excessive work > I’m working 12+ hours a day pursuing my dreams Something doesn’t add up here. I don’t think you are embracing the exact same lifestyle described in the article.
- hgs3 3y ago
  You're right, that part is not the same, but the 2nd paragraph of the article is: "[...] adults who choose to live a minimalist lifestyle and reject the pressures of society. Lying flatists refuse to participate in consumerist lifestyles, such as pursuing high-paying jobs, purchasing material possessions [...] They believe that personal efforts are no longer effective in improving their lives due to structural and societal factors." It would be more accurate to describe my lifestyle as minimalistic with a pursuit of art and craft.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

by hgs3 3y ago

PartiallyTyped 3y ago

It's funny, I had the same thought just a moment ago. I have decided that I will quit $BIGCORP and put my effort and mind into something actually useful for people. Maybe it's the place that i am, but given the evidence, I have updated my expectations over skill. I also don't have material needs, I might buy a cute top here and there, or a few books but that's it.

hgs3 3y ago
If you have doubts, depending upon how you feel, you could consider speaking with your employer about working part time. Part time means more free time while still earning an income. Also consider how you might negotiate it: half-days five days a week are one thing and three full days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) with the rest off is another.
- PartiallyTyped 3y ago
  It's unlikely that a FAANG company will arrange such a situation for me, and given our current deadlines, it is unlikely that my manager will agree. I just want to write code. I hate the days when all I do is sit in meetings for pre meetings for pre meetings or write docs about docs about docs. edit: clarified on docs and meetings a bit.
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    Wait, I don't understand. You want to write code but you don't want to bother documenting it or expressing its design? I must say that any coder who won't document their code is detrimental to the world of software engineering. It is Job Number One to accurately document, from the start, what your code does and what it's supposed to do. If a SWE can't write a design document, comment their code, accurately describe source commits, and at least assist a technical writer in writing the manual for the app/tool/framework, then that SWE should be fired and re-educated. I have strong feelings about this, but I find that an enduring problem in my experience as an end-user is poor documentation of just about everything I use. I mean, vendors don't even bother bundling the manual anymore, not even as a PDF. It comes in little WWW help-files that are like tasting baby food. I will always harken back to the 80s when my family purchased two Commodore computers, and they had the best documentation ever. That user manual explained the 6502/6510 architecture, the memory layout, sprites and sound, as well as BASIC programming. I learned those computers inside and out, because they were well-documented. Hardly anything lives up to that now.
    - PartiallyTyped 3y ago
      It seems that I didn’t communicate my feelings properly. I enjoy documenting and reading code. I also enjoy reading design documents that are very technical in nature and actually motivate the decisions and direction. I even read research papers on my free time. I also enjoy writing such documents and respective code. My issue is that I spent 4-5 days writing a darn excellent document on the proof of concept that I had built for a service we are supposed to launch this fall with a code freeze on September 1st. And today I had to spend all day writing yet another document summarizing what I had written in the first one so that I can have a discussion with other principals to get their comments (I got great comments from 2 in the presentation and follow up discussions), just to get an approval and the go ahead to productionise what I had already built that was shown to work. No other approach exists, no other poc exists, and most of my time is now fragmented because of the meetings. No other engineer working on this had an approach that could actually work for reasons I explained in yet another document, the more seniors had claimed they’d need a month to get the poc done. I did it in far less time, and had it all well documented. That was the most fun I have had in a while. Upper management (2-skip manager) gave me lots of praise and blew off another meeting he had to stay on for the additional questions and discussion, and scheduled another full on 1h meeting with me alone to discuss it further.

TillE 3y ago

Same. I've got a very flexible, low-stress job with mediocre pay, but it pays the bills and I have a ton of time to work on projects that interest me. It's great.

simmanian 3y ago
Mind sharing what job it is?

simmanian 3y ago

How do you make ends meet? Honest question because maybe I'd like to apply some of your lessons :)

hgs3 3y ago
I live minimalistically and have a nest egg from working as a software engineer for Big Corp. Hopefully my income will resume when I launch what I've been building commercially in the next few months.
- simmanian 3y ago
  Good luck!

laurels-marts 3y ago

> emphasizes relaxation and avoiding excessive work > I’m working 12+ hours a day pursuing my dreams Something doesn’t add up here. I don’t think you are embracing the exact same lifestyle described in the article.

hgs3 3y ago
You're right, that part is not the same, but the 2nd paragraph of the article is: "[...] adults who choose to live a minimalist lifestyle and reject the pressures of society. Lying flatists refuse to participate in consumerist lifestyles, such as pursuing high-paying jobs, purchasing material possessions [...] They believe that personal efforts are no longer effective in improving their lives due to structural and societal factors." It would be more accurate to describe my lifestyle as minimalistic with a pursuit of art and craft.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]