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I didn't feel like the author was trying to prove anything, or was trying to get people to pursue more "virtuous" pursuits. It is simply a personal reflection o

I didn't feel like the author was trying to prove anything, or was trying to get people to pursue more "virtuous" pursuits. It is simply a personal reflection on the state of the startup ecosystem and what it means to be a computer programmer.

jacques_chester 13y ago
I'm trying to save him some angst. Trying to reconcile the virtues of what he does with his economic value is pointless. They're just not connected. Demand for Ruby on Rails plumbing is ultimately connected with the current wishes and desires of most of the planet's population and has nothing whatsoever to do with how he, or anyone else, feels about it. In literary terms: he's tilting at windmills.
- stdbrouw 13y ago
  Well, sure, but there's a difference between understanding this on an intellectual level (which he already does) and coming to terms with it on an emotional level.
  - jacques_chester 13y ago
    Granted. But if the existentialists taught us anything, it's that if you stop and look, I mean really look at your life, you'll find how thoroughly inconsequential it is. Which is no comfort at all. Quite the reverse. Ignorance really is bliss. I find the intellectual argument comforting because I can focus on the things I can control, the things that are within my sphere of power. I used to be very interested in politics. These days I either ignore it or treat it as entertainment. Because I have no control over it, why drag myself down with it?
    - darkxanthos 13y ago
      Exactly. HMoney isn't the only value here as I see him somewhat struggling with how much he values doing something more meaningful.
    - deathcakes 13y ago
      If nothing is worth anything then by definition everything is worth whatever you want it to be worth. My life is inconsequential from the perspective of the universe but from my point of view its pretty important. Also, you certainly do have the ability to actively engage with your world and you have an extremely limited ability to change how certain aspects of that world works. Of course this has to be based on the idea that doing so is inherently worth it which you seem to have abandoned.
      - jacques_chester 13y ago
        I take the view that I can change the world. But also that what I can change isn't unlimited. I change my mind about the boundary line pretty frequently.
- pessimizer 13y ago
  most of the planet's population != most of the planet's purchasing power Demand for Ruby on Rails plumbing is connected with where that money is going, and it's alright to think that where that money is going may not equivalent to the wishes, desires (and needs) of most of the population, and to be pensive about that. In moral terms: he's wondering if the concentration of spending on matters that he's a subject expert in is a negative thing in terms of the world he wants to see. He's not fighting hallucinations.
- jrochkind1 13y ago
  MOST of the planets population? Really? I think the actions or desires of most of the planets population, who don't have computers or internet-enabled phones, have virtually no impact on the market for rails developers.
  - notahacker 13y ago
    That was my thought. Really it's the actions or desires of a small number of VCs with copycat investment strategies hoping to outperform VC as an asset class by backing a slightly different set of San Francisco startups working on a slightly different spin on social sharing that drives demand for developers in that particular corner of the world into the stratosphere. (The market for Rails developers in many other parts of the world is not that different from the market for other locally-based professionals with a skillset that can solve defined business problems, which is probably what their code is actually doing) That said, the billion plus people that joined Facebook and click on Google ads have had a bit of an influence on why LPs from all over continue to pump money into Sand Hill Road VC funds...
  - jacques_chester 13y ago
    You've misread me. I didn't say "everyone in sub-Saharan Africa is hankering for a RoR coder of their own". My point is that everyone who is connected to the global economy is indirectly connected to everyone else in it. The overall system pushes prices, goods and money around in an impossibly large web of interactions. We can see the local factors, but we can't see the whole picture. Nevertheless, the price of lettuce at the supermarket, the price of a new laptop, the hourly rate I bill, the cost of bullets for an AK-47 being used in a civil war: these are all, ultimately, connected together.
- deathcakes 13y ago
  Ah you guys. This is precisely the attitude that the article is talking about. The fact that you conflate most of the world with the tiny proportion of the world that has both money and internet and also the even tinier proportion that cares about whatever cool thing you've made in rails screams of the kind of self involved perspective that the author of the post is complaining about. I don't mean this to sound like a personal attack, apologies if it comes off that way.

jacques_chester 13y ago

I'm trying to save him some angst. Trying to reconcile the virtues of what he does with his economic value is pointless. They're just not connected. Demand for Ruby on Rails plumbing is ultimately connected with the current wishes and desires of most of the planet's population and has nothing whatsoever to do with how he, or anyone else, feels about it. In literary terms: he's tilting at windmills.

stdbrouw 13y ago
Well, sure, but there's a difference between understanding this on an intellectual level (which he already does) and coming to terms with it on an emotional level.
- jacques_chester 13y ago
  Granted. But if the existentialists taught us anything, it's that if you stop and look, I mean really look at your life, you'll find how thoroughly inconsequential it is. Which is no comfort at all. Quite the reverse. Ignorance really is bliss. I find the intellectual argument comforting because I can focus on the things I can control, the things that are within my sphere of power. I used to be very interested in politics. These days I either ignore it or treat it as entertainment. Because I have no control over it, why drag myself down with it?
  - darkxanthos 13y ago
    Exactly. HMoney isn't the only value here as I see him somewhat struggling with how much he values doing something more meaningful.
  - deathcakes 13y ago
    If nothing is worth anything then by definition everything is worth whatever you want it to be worth. My life is inconsequential from the perspective of the universe but from my point of view its pretty important. Also, you certainly do have the ability to actively engage with your world and you have an extremely limited ability to change how certain aspects of that world works. Of course this has to be based on the idea that doing so is inherently worth it which you seem to have abandoned.
    - jacques_chester 13y ago
      I take the view that I can change the world. But also that what I can change isn't unlimited. I change my mind about the boundary line pretty frequently.
pessimizer 13y ago
most of the planet's population != most of the planet's purchasing power Demand for Ruby on Rails plumbing is connected with where that money is going, and it's alright to think that where that money is going may not equivalent to the wishes, desires (and needs) of most of the population, and to be pensive about that. In moral terms: he's wondering if the concentration of spending on matters that he's a subject expert in is a negative thing in terms of the world he wants to see. He's not fighting hallucinations.
jrochkind1 13y ago
MOST of the planets population? Really? I think the actions or desires of most of the planets population, who don't have computers or internet-enabled phones, have virtually no impact on the market for rails developers.
- notahacker 13y ago
  That was my thought. Really it's the actions or desires of a small number of VCs with copycat investment strategies hoping to outperform VC as an asset class by backing a slightly different set of San Francisco startups working on a slightly different spin on social sharing that drives demand for developers in that particular corner of the world into the stratosphere. (The market for Rails developers in many other parts of the world is not that different from the market for other locally-based professionals with a skillset that can solve defined business problems, which is probably what their code is actually doing) That said, the billion plus people that joined Facebook and click on Google ads have had a bit of an influence on why LPs from all over continue to pump money into Sand Hill Road VC funds...
- jacques_chester 13y ago
  You've misread me. I didn't say "everyone in sub-Saharan Africa is hankering for a RoR coder of their own". My point is that everyone who is connected to the global economy is indirectly connected to everyone else in it. The overall system pushes prices, goods and money around in an impossibly large web of interactions. We can see the local factors, but we can't see the whole picture. Nevertheless, the price of lettuce at the supermarket, the price of a new laptop, the hourly rate I bill, the cost of bullets for an AK-47 being used in a civil war: these are all, ultimately, connected together.
deathcakes 13y ago
Ah you guys. This is precisely the attitude that the article is talking about. The fact that you conflate most of the world with the tiny proportion of the world that has both money and internet and also the even tinier proportion that cares about whatever cool thing you've made in rails screams of the kind of self involved perspective that the author of the post is complaining about. I don't mean this to sound like a personal attack, apologies if it comes off that way.