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I think the article sidesteps the underlying issue with programming for a company. Programming is way closer to cleaning bathrooms or working the checkout line

by dangus 3y ago

I think the article sidesteps the underlying issue with programming for a company. Programming is way closer to cleaning bathrooms or working the checkout line at the grocery store than most programmers are willing to admit. It's an endless slog to solve the same problems for the same companies over and over. Your code really has no value without a business solution. A website or an app or some code is just an implementation detail, and it has no value by itself. It can lose value in an instant if something else comes around or the underlying problem that it set out to solve disappears. There's nothing wrong with web development today. It's a tool for a job and it does its job. I think a lot of developers have tunnel vision on what they actually do for a living. I don't really think it's the greatest gig. I think a lot of other corporate roles are more lucrative and easier. For example, fart out some business word salad for your MBA classes, get your degree (this is way easier than an engineering undergrad), and convince someone to hire you in a strategic business role. You can't even really screw it up at a lot of companies, there's no need to be competent, the programmers and other grunt workers do all the actual work.

jmfldn 3y ago
I think you have a point. The thing is, I'm weirdly OK with labouring away at the coalface. It's hard work, it's more toil and drudgery than people admit, but I'd rather that than finding the white collar 'cheat codes' that allow me to skive off. It helps to work on a product that you're into, or believe in, if you're lucky enough to find such a thing. I think one of the secrets is to become a product-centric engineer, and focus more energy on understanding the domain and what the business needs.
JackMorgan 3y ago
For a long time I've felt like software is really just a blue collar job, but instead of turning a wrench it's pushing little plastic buttons. I like this aspect of it. It feels humble and practical. We're plumbers, but we pipe data not fluid. We don't have any science of data dynamics yet, so it's all word of mouth cargo culting. It's like being a plumber in the bronze age if plumbing was extremely valuable. As to the ease of "and convince someone to hire you in a strategic business role". Yes, this is a job that people have, however it's extremely competitive and hard to keep. There's always someone else who can spit out MBA salad and who wants your job. I wouldn't want to be a BS artist, it's too stressful.

by dangus 3y ago

jmfldn 3y ago

I think you have a point. The thing is, I'm weirdly OK with labouring away at the coalface. It's hard work, it's more toil and drudgery than people admit, but I'd rather that than finding the white collar 'cheat codes' that allow me to skive off. It helps to work on a product that you're into, or believe in, if you're lucky enough to find such a thing. I think one of the secrets is to become a product-centric engineer, and focus more energy on understanding the domain and what the business needs.

JackMorgan 3y ago

For a long time I've felt like software is really just a blue collar job, but instead of turning a wrench it's pushing little plastic buttons. I like this aspect of it. It feels humble and practical. We're plumbers, but we pipe data not fluid. We don't have any science of data dynamics yet, so it's all word of mouth cargo culting. It's like being a plumber in the bronze age if plumbing was extremely valuable. As to the ease of "and convince someone to hire you in a strategic business role". Yes, this is a job that people have, however it's extremely competitive and hard to keep. There's always someone else who can spit out MBA salad and who wants your job. I wouldn't want to be a BS artist, it's too stressful.