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And this is one reason this industry can be so soul crushing. You're asked to demonstrate "ownership", but at any moment some person above you can take all you

And this is one reason this industry can be so soul crushing. You're asked to demonstrate "ownership", but at any moment some person above you can take all your work away and make you do something entirely different. Somehow we're asked to care about our work and not care about it at the same time.

Ancalagon 2y ago
This is what bothered me so much about my last job. Thank you for saying it so succintly
- Trasmatta 2y ago
  I think it's one of the prime causes of burnout. Feeling like you have no real control over things, but having immense responsibility anyway. Fighting learned helplessness with an internal taskmaster. It's not good for the psyche.
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    The prime cause of burnout is not saying “no” to being pushed to work extra hours. You do that by being able to communicate about the trade offs between the holy trinity of projects - on time, on budget and meets requirements.
    - Trasmatta 2y ago
      I disagree with this. You can burn out when working less than 40 hours. You can not burn out when working way more than 40. It has a lot more to do with other factors, it's just that those factors will burn you out even quicker if you're working too many hours. I'm incredibly burnt out currently, and I'm consistently at under 40 hours at my job.
      - scarface_74 2y ago
        In that case you probably see your job as more than just a paycheck. I go to work for one reason - to exchange my labor for money. The company gets all of my skills and experience during work hours. But when off of work. I’m off of work If either of us at anytime decides that the labor for money transaction is no longer needed. I get another job.
  - strken 2y ago
    I've started to think the solution to burnout is to just up and quit your job wherever anyone tries to force you to do anything without a good explanation. This is obviously not something everyone can do, but if you can, maybe it's worth it.
    - bckr 2y ago
      Well, make them fire you, so that you get severance. And keep a papertrail documenting how you were told over and over to do things that made no sense to the company’s bottom line.
bckr 2y ago
A good phrase to remember is “outcomes over outputs”
intelVISA 2y ago
"Drive this car with 3 wheels and if you crash it's all on you, if we get to the destination I'll be rich and DON'T even think about stopping to add a 4th wheel. DRIVE FASTER. STOP THINKING ABOUT THE WHEEL." Really devs should exchange labor like authors with royalties, there's no incentive to ship good software for salary so you just end up with a series of "crushed tickets" aka future work for yourself as job security.
asdasdsddd 2y ago
That's the nature of the job, we're not growing food to feed people. We tinker with with code in the hope that it helps someone else and sometimes it doesn't.

Ancalagon 2y ago

This is what bothered me so much about my last job. Thank you for saying it so succintly

Trasmatta 2y ago
I think it's one of the prime causes of burnout. Feeling like you have no real control over things, but having immense responsibility anyway. Fighting learned helplessness with an internal taskmaster. It's not good for the psyche.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  The prime cause of burnout is not saying “no” to being pushed to work extra hours. You do that by being able to communicate about the trade offs between the holy trinity of projects - on time, on budget and meets requirements.
  - Trasmatta 2y ago
    I disagree with this. You can burn out when working less than 40 hours. You can not burn out when working way more than 40. It has a lot more to do with other factors, it's just that those factors will burn you out even quicker if you're working too many hours. I'm incredibly burnt out currently, and I'm consistently at under 40 hours at my job.
    - scarface_74 2y ago
      In that case you probably see your job as more than just a paycheck. I go to work for one reason - to exchange my labor for money. The company gets all of my skills and experience during work hours. But when off of work. I’m off of work If either of us at anytime decides that the labor for money transaction is no longer needed. I get another job.
- strken 2y ago
  I've started to think the solution to burnout is to just up and quit your job wherever anyone tries to force you to do anything without a good explanation. This is obviously not something everyone can do, but if you can, maybe it's worth it.
  - bckr 2y ago
    Well, make them fire you, so that you get severance. And keep a papertrail documenting how you were told over and over to do things that made no sense to the company’s bottom line.

bckr 2y ago

A good phrase to remember is “outcomes over outputs”

intelVISA 2y ago

"Drive this car with 3 wheels and if you crash it's all on you, if we get to the destination I'll be rich and DON'T even think about stopping to add a 4th wheel. DRIVE FASTER. STOP THINKING ABOUT THE WHEEL." Really devs should exchange labor like authors with royalties, there's no incentive to ship good software for salary so you just end up with a series of "crushed tickets" aka future work for yourself as job security.

asdasdsddd 2y ago

That's the nature of the job, we're not growing food to feed people. We tinker with with code in the hope that it helps someone else and sometimes it doesn't.