Ask HN: Software Developers – Do you like your job?

I've been working with the same company for about 11 out of the last 17 years. Obviously there's a long history there and there's been a lot of ups and downs along the way. It is a small company and these days I am the only software developer in the company.

Currently I would say the job is fine. Neither overly exciting nor overly vexing, not quite boring. But at this stage in my life this is perfect for me. I currently am working part-time (three days per week) and entirely remotely from home.

The part-time started about five years ago by mutual agreement (they suggested it, I agreed to it, wife went back to work full-time which she had wanted to do for ages) working one day a week in the office. About a year later it became entirely remote as my daughter had increasing issues with anxiety and being unable to go to school.

So yes, nothing exciting with the job, which has been a godsend given the huge amount of stress there has been at home with a kid who didn't go to school for two years. Who some days couldn't get outside her bedroom. With myriad appointments with medical professionals and with many days where you get up in the morning and walk on eggshells wondering what you're going to face that day.

We've been fortunate that my work situation was flexible enough to allow me to do what needed to be done. But whenever someone asks, "How's work?" I always give a shrug and say, "Work's there, it's ticking along." Which, at this stage, is exactly what I need it to be.

Paradoxically, I love working remotely, but miss working with other developers. We had a contractor in working on a project for us last year and I realised how much I miss the techie discussions. I'm hoping for the next job to be working with a 100% remote company.

But for now, we've got daughter in a much healthier place, and back at school and just starting Year 11 (which has been a rough transition but we're getting there). I'm hoping work will just be there, ticking along for the next few years, as that's what we need right now.

I know I went over the one/two sentences max stipulation, but sometimes you can't measure the happiness level at work in isolation to the rest of your life. Given my life at the moment, I'm very happy with work.

Would be a solid 10 as I love the actual work I do but being so busy at the moment means I am basically sat on my ass 12 hours a day - one of the downsides of working at home is not even getting your "Morning stroll to work" - not great for the waistline!