I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
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Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#2Imagine having to work to pay the bills. Truly offensive, and women seem to be disproportionately affected (judging by the amount of complaints).
Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#3Maybe live in a country that has a better work life balance? Or find an employer that is willing to give that benefit?
Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#4I feel like we as an industry can sometimes forget just how good we have it. Many of my friends do not work in tech, they are low paid, they have stressful jobs with little autonomy, they are not challenged at all and they feel little personal accomplishment in their day today. I appreciate the author alludes to this but having seen friends recently job hunting (outside of tech) I am reminded that even on the worst days I have it many times better than a lot of people.
> If I won the lottery would I still code? I would, but it would not be like work. It would be projects I enjoyed. And it would be fewer hours.
But wouldn't we all love to do that no matter our vocation? Until basic income comes along I think we have to just get over it. Most jobs aren't going to provide you with fun for 8 hours a day. I feel like the older I get the more I understand that a job is a way for me to trade time for money, I don't have to (or should expect to) like it.
Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#5> Also once in a while some jerk will be like “if women really were paid less why wouldn’t companies hire more women to save money?” I’m pretty sure they already do this and that recent lawsuits will reveal it is a common practice. My experience is companies are thrilled to hire women, it makes them look good AND they can usually pay them less. It’s not about quotas.
This misandristic conspiracy theory distracted me from the other message in the article.
Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#6In my experience, it's counterproductive to code more than 4-5 hours per day. At a certain point you start introducing bugs/inadvertent complexity whose negatives outweigh any feature contributions you're making. There's lots of research which bears this out. E.g., https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-working-more-than-4...
Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#7I basically lost my hobby (writing desktop applications) by turning it into a profession.
I successfully compensated that with game dev. I started writing little games, working on game engines, and tinkering around. I'm pretty happy with that now. I guess that happens to a lot of people when turning your hobby into sth. you do for your living.
And I also realized that humans are simply not made to sit 12+ hours a day. (Count the work time + spare time). So some kind of activity is recommended, I guess.
//Edit: However, it took my quite some years to figure out why I hadn't fun coding Desktop applications in my spare time any longer...
Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#8The thing that kills me is that these problems don't have to exist. A company that can afford to hire a developer full-time can also afford a decent ergonomic setup and equitable salaries for women. It's just that we have collectively made this kind of treatment okay, as evident in the majority of these comments.
Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#9It's hard for me to read articles like this. If you don't like working at a high paying tech job, please quit and dig trenches, drag brush, or pick lettuce for minimum wage and no benefits. Then come tell me how much it sucks to write fragments of code while sitting in your air conditioned office.
Re: I don’t want to be a software developer anymore
#10The realization that people I considered friends never really have been after that memo got to me too. They might like my presence, but I don't really count as a women should be to them and they never considered me good as they pretended to. Good thing I don't always get subtle social clues I guess.
But the rest sounds like burnout. Old programmers I see around had all learned not to let companies burn them out.