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I'm not sure I've met anybody happy this year (I live in Poland but it's not because I live in Poland I swear :D). It's not just job uncertainty. Our whole worl

I'm not sure I've met anybody happy this year (I live in Poland but it's not because I live in Poland I swear :D). It's not just job uncertainty. Our whole world (that is "1st" and "2nd" world countries) is currently unstable. A literal war is brewing, currently with Russia, maybe with China, maybe the Middle East stuff will escalate. Those maybes are a big problem. And let's not even start about the housing market and the possible future job market shift due to AI. Almost none of it is due to the current local job stuff. That doesn't matter. It's all about how the future seems to look like.

cinntaile 2y ago
Ignore the news. Almost none of it concerns you nor can you affect it.
- amonith 2y ago
  I do now but the damage is done. I already know what's happening even without updates. Also I have <200km to war-torn Lviv, so... kind of concerns me.
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  ... on the national and international level. but absolutely read your local / state news. it is 1) often very, directly relevant, and 2) is something you may have the ability to impact, and often directly. case in point: my sister in law and her husband got pissed off about speed bumps and signs (too many, and/or too few, in the right places), and started going to town hall meetings. show up with photos and make some valid points and things get changed...
Trasmatta 2y ago
Those factors are consistent for everyone, though, and it seems that developers have more job induced unhappiness than many other careers. There's something fundamentally wrong and broken with this discipline.
- croo 2y ago
  It is almost as if humans are not made for sitting 8-10 hours learning abstract stuff and thinking really hard about imagined logic puzzles in constant stress.
  - JKCalhoun 2y ago
    It's as if we get some satisfaction from doing physical things with our hands and seeing progress for our labors at the end of each day.
  - mekoka 2y ago
    The fact that a programmer would quit their 50h/w job, which they hate, to then take on a personal 80h/w project (open source, saas, educational, etc), which they enjoy, suggests that the malaise has little to do with the craft.
- ricc 2y ago
  Is there something like the SO Developer Survey for other industries?
- JKCalhoun 2y ago
  A good point — and as even the article points out, plumbers and farmers live in the same world as engineers and aren't grousing about housing costs or wars potentially brewing. Why is that?
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    Plumbers and farmers are deeply unsatisfied, just try talking to them. That's why a sizable majority of them plan on voting for Trump.
silverquiet 2y ago
I'm in the US and have similar worries, but to be honest they sort of pale in comparison to climate change; we just had the three hottest days ever this month and it looks like we are committed to accelerating warming. I don't mean to depress anyone further, but this is literally a thing that keeps me up at night.
- boppo1 2y ago
  Also US. I think WW3 is a more pressing threat for most in the developed world than climate change is. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/please-dont-give-up-on-having-kids https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/please-dont-give-up-on-havi... There's a nervous murmur going around with men younger than me (31) about the draft coming back. Dying in a field from a consumer-grade drone dropping a grenade on you is increasingly frightening.
  - silverquiet 2y ago
    I can’t tell what a world war would actually be about these days. It’s easy to imagine a lot of regional squabbles as the Pax Americana unwinds itself, but I can’t see any large issue that would unite two global factions against one another. And it’s hard to imagine the US having the stomach for more foreign involvement to include actual “boots on the ground” after the disastrous lessons learned since Vietnam, but especially of the Bush Administration.
    - JKCalhoun 2y ago
      I also thought talk of "WWIII" was putting too fine a point on it. Is anyone really worrying about all out nuclear warfare?
      - amonith 2y ago
        To be honest never-ending myriad of "local" conflicts and long-term economy downturn stresses me much more than nuclear war. That would be over pretty quick...

cinntaile 2y ago

Ignore the news. Almost none of it concerns you nor can you affect it.

amonith 2y ago
I do now but the damage is done. I already know what's happening even without updates. Also I have <200km to war-torn Lviv, so... kind of concerns me.
red-iron-pine 2y ago
... on the national and international level. but absolutely read your local / state news. it is 1) often very, directly relevant, and 2) is something you may have the ability to impact, and often directly. case in point: my sister in law and her husband got pissed off about speed bumps and signs (too many, and/or too few, in the right places), and started going to town hall meetings. show up with photos and make some valid points and things get changed...

Trasmatta 2y ago

Those factors are consistent for everyone, though, and it seems that developers have more job induced unhappiness than many other careers. There's something fundamentally wrong and broken with this discipline.

croo 2y ago
It is almost as if humans are not made for sitting 8-10 hours learning abstract stuff and thinking really hard about imagined logic puzzles in constant stress.
- JKCalhoun 2y ago
  It's as if we get some satisfaction from doing physical things with our hands and seeing progress for our labors at the end of each day.
- mekoka 2y ago
  The fact that a programmer would quit their 50h/w job, which they hate, to then take on a personal 80h/w project (open source, saas, educational, etc), which they enjoy, suggests that the malaise has little to do with the craft.
ricc 2y ago
Is there something like the SO Developer Survey for other industries?
JKCalhoun 2y ago
A good point — and as even the article points out, plumbers and farmers live in the same world as engineers and aren't grousing about housing costs or wars potentially brewing. Why is that?
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  Plumbers and farmers are deeply unsatisfied, just try talking to them. That's why a sizable majority of them plan on voting for Trump.

silverquiet 2y ago

I'm in the US and have similar worries, but to be honest they sort of pale in comparison to climate change; we just had the three hottest days ever this month and it looks like we are committed to accelerating warming. I don't mean to depress anyone further, but this is literally a thing that keeps me up at night.

boppo1 2y ago
Also US. I think WW3 is a more pressing threat for most in the developed world than climate change is. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/please-dont-give-up-on-having-kids https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/please-dont-give-up-on-havi... There's a nervous murmur going around with men younger than me (31) about the draft coming back. Dying in a field from a consumer-grade drone dropping a grenade on you is increasingly frightening.
- silverquiet 2y ago
  I can’t tell what a world war would actually be about these days. It’s easy to imagine a lot of regional squabbles as the Pax Americana unwinds itself, but I can’t see any large issue that would unite two global factions against one another. And it’s hard to imagine the US having the stomach for more foreign involvement to include actual “boots on the ground” after the disastrous lessons learned since Vietnam, but especially of the Bush Administration.
  - JKCalhoun 2y ago
    I also thought talk of "WWIII" was putting too fine a point on it. Is anyone really worrying about all out nuclear warfare?
    - amonith 2y ago
      To be honest never-ending myriad of "local" conflicts and long-term economy downturn stresses me much more than nuclear war. That would be over pretty quick...