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I. Hate. Technology. I hate working in this field. I hate how unprofessional every company is, from the largest to the smallest. I hate how incompetent all the

I. Hate. Technology. I hate working in this field. I hate how unprofessional every company is, from the largest to the smallest. I hate how incompetent all the engineers are. I hate how no business I have ever worked for has ever trained its workers on anything but how to fill out a time sheet. I hate all the blog posts about inane technical details. I hate how people start building a solution to a problem they're not familiar with. I hate how seemingly obvious and painful problems never get solved, because nobody has ever forced the entire product team to listen to a brand new user's feedback. I hate how this affects everything, so the problems just build and build and everything just gets worse and worse.

mkoubaa 3y ago
You can practice the craft of software for money without working on horseshit. You just might get paid a little less
- edoceo 3y ago
  Yes, I do that one. I work with small team that is excited about the space. Each team member has opportunity (and obligation) to interact with clients. The relationships are great. The money is less than at $BigCo but still above median for the area. Actively working against enshittification -- but I still feel it's a futile battle.
JKCalhoun 3y ago
It's not even the UI or the tech stack ... it's that it's tech at all. Am I required to own a smart phone now to park? Am I required to have a credit card to park? Idea: 1) Park without paying 2) Get towed 3) Sue the living shit out of the municipality so that they shut down modern parking meters.
- kiba 3y ago
  If we have good public transit, people can just walk and not have to worry about parking, and the space that's formerly for parking cars can be used for something else.
- fatnoah 3y ago
  Today, I literally spent 10 minutes downloading, installing, creating an account, and adding payment methods to an app so I could pay $0.40 to park for 30 minutes because the meter didn't have a coin slot and the credit card reader was broken. I was going to a local store to buy something. Amazon will probably get my business next time.
  - lamontcg 3y ago
    > Amazon will probably get my business next time. I see we've hopped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
    - fatnoah 3y ago
      While I prefer to shop local for as much as possible, if I'm given the choice between fighting this town's terrible parking regulations and implementation or buying online, the latter is going to win.
  - mc32 3y ago
    Worst are the apps that force you to “charge” a card with some ridiculous minimum even if you only ever would be in that city once. Who is going to track my balance 5 years from now when a different company is granted the rights to collect parking for the city? I’m guessing there has to be a hidden option to only “charge” the app for what you want to reserve the spot for, else this seems illegal, but then again the city may be giving itself these mob-style rights.
- molsongolden 3y ago
  Semi-related, there's a somewhat established YC company whose entire business is facilitating smartphone gig app usage for seniors who call in for help. https://gogograndparent.com/ https://gogograndparent.com/
  - gizajob 3y ago
    Oh jeez. This is a semi-decent idea for a company so not sure of the need for downvotes…but at the same time it’s a bit “we put a Service as a Service in your Service as a Service leveraged on Software as a Service!”
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
beeforpork 3y ago
Yeah. Don't take it too seriously, though. It's probably the same in other branches. You just happen to know this one best. Try to concentrate on the other stuff in life, maybe.
rootusrootus 3y ago
> I. Hate. Technology. I hate working in this field. Periodically I joke around with my family that when I retire (I'm 49 now, so it's not all that far away), I'm never touching another computer again. Ever. Each time I make that joke, it's a little less joke and a little more of an actual plan.
- beachy 3y ago
  In the book "soul of a new machine", one of the engineers burns out. > He went away from the basement and left this note on his terminal: "I'm going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time shorter than a season."
- pb7 3y ago
  I’m sorry to say but you guys haven’t had a single hard day in your life if computers and technology are this traumatic to you. You would crumble under the weight of life just a hundred years ago. You are an artist with a blank canvas that countless people in the world will pay you life changing amounts of money to draw on. If you choose to paint in a way that you hate, that’s on you.
  - TheMode 3y ago
    Humans are quick at adapting. Saying that our specie has been living in absolute terror for the past millenniums and that we somehow solved it in our century is pretty arrogant.
jbverschoor 3y ago
Yeah it’s funny. Same here. I just want simple things, maybe with an occasional link with my phone. I don’t want 500 knobs, a touchscreen on everything. I don’t want your app, I don’t want an account. The example of car parking.. the technology is there to make is 100% automatic. But then you can’t fine people
throwawaysleep 3y ago
> I hate how seemingly obvious and painful problems never get solved, because nobody has ever forced the entire product team to listen to a brand new user's feedback. Usually in this case the user is not the customer, so it does not matter.
dang 3y ago
Ok, but please don't fulminate on HN. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
  What specifically should I have said to change it from fulminating to a declaration of the inherent problems in the technology industry that causes the concerns listed in the article (and nearly everyone else's comments) ? Should I just have said "I dislike very strongly ..." ?
  - dredmorbius 3y ago
    Limiting yourself to the first "I hate ..." might have helped. Though TBF what you wrote is pretty much 100% prime grade-A certified rant. A/K/A fulmination. Substantiating a few of the claims / offering alternatives (either for the industry or yourself) might also skew dang's interpretation. Posting from a throwaway account would also add to the overall effect, IMO.
  - dang 3y ago
    I guess the best I can offer is the general principle that intellectual curiosity is the guiding value here (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20optimiz%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...) , and indignant/flamey/ranty comments tend to be out of that register. One important aspect of this is repetition. If a comment is repeating something that has been said many times before, its curiosity value approaches zero—and indignation makes that happen faster. Conversely, the more new information or unexpected twists a comment contains, the better it is for curiosity.
doesnt_know 3y ago
100% completely agree, the only reason I work in this field is because it's both easier and pays significantly more compared to every other job I've had and could potentially ever get.
the_only_law 3y ago
Get out if you still can. Or w forced out in the current market. It will suck though for sure because most jobs pay shit.

mkoubaa 3y ago

You can practice the craft of software for money without working on horseshit. You just might get paid a little less

edoceo 3y ago
Yes, I do that one. I work with small team that is excited about the space. Each team member has opportunity (and obligation) to interact with clients. The relationships are great. The money is less than at $BigCo but still above median for the area. Actively working against enshittification -- but I still feel it's a futile battle.

JKCalhoun 3y ago

It's not even the UI or the tech stack ... it's that it's tech at all. Am I required to own a smart phone now to park? Am I required to have a credit card to park? Idea: 1) Park without paying 2) Get towed 3) Sue the living shit out of the municipality so that they shut down modern parking meters.

kiba 3y ago
If we have good public transit, people can just walk and not have to worry about parking, and the space that's formerly for parking cars can be used for something else.
fatnoah 3y ago
Today, I literally spent 10 minutes downloading, installing, creating an account, and adding payment methods to an app so I could pay $0.40 to park for 30 minutes because the meter didn't have a coin slot and the credit card reader was broken. I was going to a local store to buy something. Amazon will probably get my business next time.
- lamontcg 3y ago
  > Amazon will probably get my business next time. I see we've hopped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
  - fatnoah 3y ago
    While I prefer to shop local for as much as possible, if I'm given the choice between fighting this town's terrible parking regulations and implementation or buying online, the latter is going to win.
- mc32 3y ago
  Worst are the apps that force you to “charge” a card with some ridiculous minimum even if you only ever would be in that city once. Who is going to track my balance 5 years from now when a different company is granted the rights to collect parking for the city? I’m guessing there has to be a hidden option to only “charge” the app for what you want to reserve the spot for, else this seems illegal, but then again the city may be giving itself these mob-style rights.
molsongolden 3y ago
Semi-related, there's a somewhat established YC company whose entire business is facilitating smartphone gig app usage for seniors who call in for help. https://gogograndparent.com/ https://gogograndparent.com/
- gizajob 3y ago
  Oh jeez. This is a semi-decent idea for a company so not sure of the need for downvotes…but at the same time it’s a bit “we put a Service as a Service in your Service as a Service leveraged on Software as a Service!”
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

beeforpork 3y ago

Yeah. Don't take it too seriously, though. It's probably the same in other branches. You just happen to know this one best. Try to concentrate on the other stuff in life, maybe.

rootusrootus 3y ago

> I. Hate. Technology. I hate working in this field. Periodically I joke around with my family that when I retire (I'm 49 now, so it's not all that far away), I'm never touching another computer again. Ever. Each time I make that joke, it's a little less joke and a little more of an actual plan.

beachy 3y ago
In the book "soul of a new machine", one of the engineers burns out. > He went away from the basement and left this note on his terminal: "I'm going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time shorter than a season."
pb7 3y ago
I’m sorry to say but you guys haven’t had a single hard day in your life if computers and technology are this traumatic to you. You would crumble under the weight of life just a hundred years ago. You are an artist with a blank canvas that countless people in the world will pay you life changing amounts of money to draw on. If you choose to paint in a way that you hate, that’s on you.
- TheMode 3y ago
  Humans are quick at adapting. Saying that our specie has been living in absolute terror for the past millenniums and that we somehow solved it in our century is pretty arrogant.

jbverschoor 3y ago

Yeah it’s funny. Same here. I just want simple things, maybe with an occasional link with my phone. I don’t want 500 knobs, a touchscreen on everything. I don’t want your app, I don’t want an account. The example of car parking.. the technology is there to make is 100% automatic. But then you can’t fine people

throwawaysleep 3y ago

> I hate how seemingly obvious and painful problems never get solved, because nobody has ever forced the entire product team to listen to a brand new user's feedback. Usually in this case the user is not the customer, so it does not matter.

dang 3y ago

Ok, but please don't fulminate on HN. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
What specifically should I have said to change it from fulminating to a declaration of the inherent problems in the technology industry that causes the concerns listed in the article (and nearly everyone else's comments) ? Should I just have said "I dislike very strongly ..." ?
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  Limiting yourself to the first "I hate ..." might have helped. Though TBF what you wrote is pretty much 100% prime grade-A certified rant. A/K/A fulmination. Substantiating a few of the claims / offering alternatives (either for the industry or yourself) might also skew dang's interpretation. Posting from a throwaway account would also add to the overall effect, IMO.
- dang 3y ago
  I guess the best I can offer is the general principle that intellectual curiosity is the guiding value here (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=curiosity%20optimiz%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...) , and indignant/flamey/ranty comments tend to be out of that register. One important aspect of this is repetition. If a comment is repeating something that has been said many times before, its curiosity value approaches zero—and indignation makes that happen faster. Conversely, the more new information or unexpected twists a comment contains, the better it is for curiosity.

doesnt_know 3y ago

100% completely agree, the only reason I work in this field is because it's both easier and pays significantly more compared to every other job I've had and could potentially ever get.

the_only_law 3y ago

Get out if you still can. Or w forced out in the current market. It will suck though for sure because most jobs pay shit.