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I was in a company where half my dev team would say "Penis? Penis." all fucking day. One guy was a "Penis" automaton until I got him shut up in retaliation for

I was in a company where half my dev team would say "Penis? Penis." all fucking day. One guy was a "Penis" automaton until I got him shut up in retaliation for watching my screen to see if I was working. Then there was the "Hey we're a big startup! <airguitar>" startup I was in, with the "Homo?" Inquisition. Software industry people are severely fucked up individuals. Dysfunction is the norm. All these business books are white picket fences around the most pathetic shit. (https://modelviewculture.com/news/the-eternal-and-toxic-optimism-of-startup-advice https://modelviewculture.com/news/the-eternal-and-toxic-opti...) And it's not weird. Throughout history, people as human as we are painted rosy pictures of the creepy shit they saw from kings, CEOs, politicians... and the secular priests who serve them. michaelochurch is a breath of fresh air; he's no more "jaded" than the businesspeople I speak with, who must take a cynical view of their equally sociopathic partners. I have no idea about how pervasive this particular relationship is that he describes; I've filed it away in the back of my mind and will revisit it if it explains anything I see. (And of course, one must be careful not to descend into homophobic condemnations.)

NhanH 12y ago
I didn't mean to say "jaded" in a negative way, in fact it's very much the opposite. I would have used "cynical", but I think it's quite a bit more negative, and "skeptical" isn't the correct word. As for whether software industry is dysfunctional: most of us here on HN is working in the industry, and we're alright human being here. I'd be more careful with generalization. And as for michaelochurch, I didn't say that he was wrong. I said that his posts were counterproductive: even if it's true, it's just too negative and getting tiresome after a while (you will notice it's the common theme in his comments, which unfortunately just garner him downvotes nowadays, regardless of the post's merit). I sincerely value his blog, back when he was more focus on the craft of programming.

NhanH 12y ago

I didn't mean to say "jaded" in a negative way, in fact it's very much the opposite. I would have used "cynical", but I think it's quite a bit more negative, and "skeptical" isn't the correct word. As for whether software industry is dysfunctional: most of us here on HN is working in the industry, and we're alright human being here. I'd be more careful with generalization. And as for michaelochurch, I didn't say that he was wrong. I said that his posts were counterproductive: even if it's true, it's just too negative and getting tiresome after a while (you will notice it's the common theme in his comments, which unfortunately just garner him downvotes nowadays, regardless of the post's merit). I sincerely value his blog, back when he was more focus on the craft of programming.