4 ms·

Now that I'm 25 years into my software career, one thing that absolutely blows me away is just how few software engineers in my teams actually own their own com

by dfxm12 3y ago

Now that I'm 25 years into my software career, one thing that absolutely blows me away is just how few software engineers in my teams actually own their own computers. I'm 15 years into my IT career and I'm amazed at how few of my colleagues seem to care about tech. They know their way around our company's instance of ServiceNow, or whatever their specific role demands of them, but there is very little curiosity, desire & wherewithal to branch out from their little space into something new.

SoftTalker 3y ago
This is most people, at most jobs, TBH.
adversaryIdiot 3y ago
TBF working a full time job has sucked the soul out of me. The last thing I want to be doing on my free time is be on more computers. I used to be a kid eager about technology but now I am actually a boomer. I have a hard time using smart TV's now a days.
mattlondon 3y ago
People may have other things in their life that may mean they don't have the luxury of time to spare on these sort of things. When I had kids all of my hobbies stopped. There is no time left for anything non-essential. I simply no longer have the time - or frankly mental energy - for curiosity. Right now I am typing this while supervising bath time for a 3 year old.
- passwordoops 3y ago
  If my experience is generalizable, it's going to get better when the kid turns 4. By 9 I was able to go back to spending real energy on hobbies, especially if I wake up early enough. Hang in there!
  - genewitch 3y ago
    Note: this seems like it only applies if you're putting your children into a school. If you're homeschooling that "free time" doesn't materialize. It also doesn't happen if you have two children (or more) a couple of years apart, as their school start and end times won't sync up except a few times over the course of > decade. I had a friend gently remind me that the reason he can be prolific at writing music these days and i "can't seem to find the time" is because i've raised 2 and currently am raising a third, and if he had kids he wouldn't write music either. My youngest turned 7 this year. Older two are out of the house.
slily 3y ago
I felt that way when I was fresh out of school, now I find that my life is greatly improved by spending less time on (or thinking about) computers outside of work and more outdoors, doing some kind of physical activity.
starkparker 3y ago
A _lot_ of IT these days, at least at software companies, is more akin to retail work (inventory, rotation, shipping/delivery logistics, compliance and permissions management) than tech support. This also makes it an attractive vector for tech/trade colleges because they can directly map such experience to higher-paying, less-seasonal work than retail. It's still a good foot-in-the-door role for people who still can't access education or job experience reqs for tech, but it's also now one of the roles where you can just park, work 9-5, get a better wage than retail, and not have to corral shopping carts. The tech end of internal IT support has moved more to SRE/ops roles. Hardware company IT is marginally more interesting but it's still more interested in tagging hardware than understanding it.
bongodongobob 3y ago
When I'm in concentration mode for 8+ hours a day in tech, the last thing I want to do is fuck around with a misbehaving home lab. I used to have a server and switches and NAS and firewall etc. But got sick of troubleshooting unnecessary complexity. Now I've got a NAS and a desktop. My tinkering years are over and I just want things to work. That shit loses it's charm over time.

by dfxm12 3y ago

SoftTalker 3y ago

This is most people, at most jobs, TBH.

adversaryIdiot 3y ago

TBF working a full time job has sucked the soul out of me. The last thing I want to be doing on my free time is be on more computers. I used to be a kid eager about technology but now I am actually a boomer. I have a hard time using smart TV's now a days.

mattlondon 3y ago

People may have other things in their life that may mean they don't have the luxury of time to spare on these sort of things. When I had kids all of my hobbies stopped. There is no time left for anything non-essential. I simply no longer have the time - or frankly mental energy - for curiosity. Right now I am typing this while supervising bath time for a 3 year old.

passwordoops 3y ago
If my experience is generalizable, it's going to get better when the kid turns 4. By 9 I was able to go back to spending real energy on hobbies, especially if I wake up early enough. Hang in there!
- genewitch 3y ago
  Note: this seems like it only applies if you're putting your children into a school. If you're homeschooling that "free time" doesn't materialize. It also doesn't happen if you have two children (or more) a couple of years apart, as their school start and end times won't sync up except a few times over the course of > decade. I had a friend gently remind me that the reason he can be prolific at writing music these days and i "can't seem to find the time" is because i've raised 2 and currently am raising a third, and if he had kids he wouldn't write music either. My youngest turned 7 this year. Older two are out of the house.

slily 3y ago

I felt that way when I was fresh out of school, now I find that my life is greatly improved by spending less time on (or thinking about) computers outside of work and more outdoors, doing some kind of physical activity.

starkparker 3y ago

A _lot_ of IT these days, at least at software companies, is more akin to retail work (inventory, rotation, shipping/delivery logistics, compliance and permissions management) than tech support. This also makes it an attractive vector for tech/trade colleges because they can directly map such experience to higher-paying, less-seasonal work than retail. It's still a good foot-in-the-door role for people who still can't access education or job experience reqs for tech, but it's also now one of the roles where you can just park, work 9-5, get a better wage than retail, and not have to corral shopping carts. The tech end of internal IT support has moved more to SRE/ops roles. Hardware company IT is marginally more interesting but it's still more interested in tagging hardware than understanding it.

bongodongobob 3y ago

When I'm in concentration mode for 8+ hours a day in tech, the last thing I want to do is fuck around with a misbehaving home lab. I used to have a server and switches and NAS and firewall etc. But got sick of troubleshooting unnecessary complexity. Now I've got a NAS and a desktop. My tinkering years are over and I just want things to work. That shit loses it's charm over time.