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> our grandparents [...] woke up, put on their boots, and got to work, no excuses, no distractions, no bullshit. And mostly, I suspect, they saw tangible resul

> our grandparents [...] woke up, put on their boots, and got to work, no excuses, no distractions, no bullshit. And mostly, I suspect, they saw tangible results for their labour. The house got built, the dress got made, the bread got baked. Its easier to get yourself to do things when the things are there, in front of you. Nowadays many of us sit at a desk building or wrangling systems that are intangible and almost un-visualisable. I think its not surprising that our motivation can be lacking. I'm a developer, but for me my most productive (and rewarding) day of the last year was the day I spent with friends chainsawing and chopping and carrying twelve tonnes of logs for fuel for our climbing hut. Didn't need to get in the zone for that, and at the end we knew what we'd done and it stayed done.

graemep 2y ago
We are also very isolated from the people who benefit from our labour. We do not see anyone benefiting from what we do. It is also now usual to pay less attention to doing good work; to produce cheap crap or to design systems to trap customers into subscriptions or otherwise do bad work for greater profit.
helboi4 2y ago
Yeah its much easier to do things that actually have clear useful outcomes in the tangible world.
Over2Chars 2y ago
If you had to write software to run the chain saw, and write software to coordinate socializing with your friends, and write software to enjoy the warm luxury of the fireplace, I suspect you'd feel much the same about your software. Sadly, modern software development (and the workplace in general) is not optimized around generating immediate, tangible outcomes that might be that rewarding.
- reaperducer 2y ago
  If you had to write software to run the chain saw I am both completely unqualified and intensely interested in undertaking this task.
  - impure 2y ago
    Please don't.
  - Over2Chars 2y ago
    You aren't familiar with Software Defined Chainsaws (SDC)s? It's all the rage. I recommend against Rust.

graemep 2y ago

We are also very isolated from the people who benefit from our labour. We do not see anyone benefiting from what we do. It is also now usual to pay less attention to doing good work; to produce cheap crap or to design systems to trap customers into subscriptions or otherwise do bad work for greater profit.

helboi4 2y ago

Yeah its much easier to do things that actually have clear useful outcomes in the tangible world.

Over2Chars 2y ago

If you had to write software to run the chain saw, and write software to coordinate socializing with your friends, and write software to enjoy the warm luxury of the fireplace, I suspect you'd feel much the same about your software. Sadly, modern software development (and the workplace in general) is not optimized around generating immediate, tangible outcomes that might be that rewarding.

reaperducer 2y ago
If you had to write software to run the chain saw I am both completely unqualified and intensely interested in undertaking this task.
- impure 2y ago
  Please don't.
- Over2Chars 2y ago
  You aren't familiar with Software Defined Chainsaws (SDC)s? It's all the rage. I recommend against Rust.