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Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

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Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#731

Post by tonyedgecombe »

arvinsim wrote: post #384
zozbot234 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nonviolently showing up"? I might or might not agree but let's face it, most of us won't even bother to show up at a voting place on election day. People just don't care. Maybe they'll kvetch to their acquaintances about how bad the other side is, but overall there's a lot of complacency. Similarly, you don't need to arrest corrupt politicians, you just need to not vote for them. Support a primary challenger if they…

> Similarly, you don't need to arrest corrupt politicians, you just need to not vote for them. Support a primary challenger if they're incumbents. Most of the time, the alternatives aren't any better. That's why some people are apathetic.

That's one excuse.

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#732

Post by meheleventyone »

Clubber wrote: post #669
meheleventyone wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not having unit tests doesn’t imply not testing nor suggest anything about the value of testing.

I think a lot of people miss this point entirely. Before the unit test thing, I would always have a tester project, it just wasn't formal or automated. I see good value in modern unit tests when you are building some sort of automation engine, rules engine, etc. But I think a lot of people see them as a hammer and everything is a nail.

Yup, in my domain (games) unit tests are common for functionality that is easily applicable to them (e.g. linear algebra libraries) then integration tests are more common for systems (e.g. testing collision systems integration with the game engine, do you get the right callbacks or whatever) but once you hit the game itself automated testing is not massively useful as it's usually painful to setup and maintain and only covers "does this case still work" with no information on how good the end product actually is.

IMO a lot of places have forgotten the value of manual testing in terms of not only finding bugs but actually understanding how the product is used. Games companies prize iteration speed in terms of how quickly you can test a change in situ because we as game makers need to verify our changes by playing the game. I'm making a multiplayer game right now so I need to make sure what I do works on the server and clients which usually necessitates three copies of the game running together. Then we playtest it with a larger group weekly and playtest with even larger groups less regularly.

My impression of a lot of modern development elsewhere is that as soon as automated tests are green the code gets punted into production which seems utterly bonkers.

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#733

Post by sidpatil »

asdff wrote: post #708
fxtentacle wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kind of weird by now. They will happily offer you $200k in annual salary, but an office with a window where you could keep a potted plant is out of the question.

"remember that sad library basement with the rows of depressing tables and power strips where you cried during finals in undergrad? welcome to your office for your next 40 years."

If those rows of depressing tables and power strips are akin to open-plan offices and free desks, then the carrel desk is like the cubicle.

I've always loved the carrel desk. It seems perfectly designed to encourage the state of flow in its occupant.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrel_desk

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#734

Post by tripzilch »

xiaolingxiao wrote: post #39

I have also experience close to burnout and recovered multiple times, in the process I have lost very precious relationships, and entire years were spent in darkness. I also have friends who have been in tech for close to ten years, and are close to burning out though they would never admit to such. This is the nature of the beast, all things that appear glamorous on the outside ( Hollywood, Finance, Tech, many nonpr…

> There's what you love, and there's what you do. It's best to keep some distance: because no one cares about what you love.

Isn't that cultural? Cause I find I care a lot more about what people love than what they "do". Ask someone what they do [for a living], and you say "oh that's cool" and conversation is at a standstill again. Ask someone what they love and you'll get a whole different kind of conversation.

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#735

Post by tripzilch »

Aeolun wrote: post #302
zozbot234 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nonviolently showing up"? I might or might not agree but let's face it, most of us won't even bother to show up at a voting place on election day. People just don't care. Maybe they'll kvetch to their acquaintances about how bad the other side is, but overall there's a lot of complacency. Similarly, you don't need to arrest corrupt politicians, you just need to not vote for them. Support a primary challenger if they…

I think the problem in the current US political system is that a tiny majority of votes wins you everything. If this won you the 49% you deserve, then things would be different.

A two party system is literally a failure mode of democracy.

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#736

Post by kahlonel »

makapuf wrote: post #36
battery_cowboy wrote: post #2

I'm having similar issues, and i think i found a way out: stop playing their game. Don't make enterprise software. Don't write unit tests. Don't accept pull requests. Simply write software for yourself and have fun doing it. Forget refactoring code into modules, just fucking code. Don't worry about deployment with k8s, just copy the Python script to your production folder and run it. Fuck all that shit about git bran…

Thats exactly what i did while working on dreaded big data. Got myself a microcontroller, implemented a small arm console and write fucking low level C code optimized the heck of cpu cycles for tiny games, no code reuse, no interfaced, no deadlines, no refacto, no security, no network, no politics. Barely version control (with appropriate "update" commit messages). Kept me sane while doing those things at work.

I feel fortunate to have chosen embedded software as the career path. 10 years in industry now and never had a dull moment (though I've had some bad colleagues/clients). I work inside a terminal all day, no GUI (even use GDB TUI), and somehow never get bored of it. I think having a physical entity responding to your code immediately (blinking LED for example) keeps the programmer interested.

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#737

Post by mark_l_watson »

neuronic wrote: post #602
mark_l_watson wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in this place. I have been working for months on an app that perhaps a few dozen people might want (in the semantic web space). If I have a few enthusiastic users who provide some feedback, I am good with that.

Enterprise software is often the epitome of being removed from the results and the fruits of your work, it's a prime example of what Marx was talking about. You can write unit tests and Spring components with 64 character names all day long but by the end of the day you are completely disassociated from your contribution. Rarely is anybody there to thank you, who is grateful you made their life better, or who has som…

This is far from enterprise software: I am planning all three apps to be free on Apple's App Store. I have (or will have) a web site for each, with extra material, terms of service, privacy info, etc. I will have links to my consulting web page and my books page so I might indirectly earn some income.

I have the same attitude with apps as with the books I write: if some people enjoy them and I get to occasionally meet (probably virtually) app users and book readers, then I am very good with that.

re: "going into their hobbyspace is an escape from the world of work-for-a-living": for most people this is really important. For me, I go wilderness hiking every day and have a hobby of cooking so I have several hours a day away from technical interests.

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#738

Post by looping__lui »

TomMckenny wrote: post #132
xiaolingxiao wrote: post #39

I have also experience close to burnout and recovered multiple times, in the process I have lost very precious relationships, and entire years were spent in darkness. I also have friends who have been in tech for close to ten years, and are close to burning out though they would never admit to such. This is the nature of the beast, all things that appear glamorous on the outside ( Hollywood, Finance, Tech, many nonpr…

All accurate and objective and good for everyone to know early rather than late. Moving a bit further from the specifics, it's worth noting that this is not a natural state of affairs. Humans evolved to be in groups of about 30-100 people who they knew their whole lives and thus making catastrophic deception nearly impossible. Likewise vast sums of wealth did not exist nor total social and fiscal isolation surrounded…

Hmm, just an anecdote (personal): My grandfather was a farmer, rural town in Europe. The village was essentially ruled by three people (just before WWII): the mayor, the police officer and the priest. There was a strict hierarchy (“who owned the most”) and gossip, treason etc. were unescapable. He (and all generations before him) worked up their bodies to the bones only to survive. I think he took a single vacation to Italy when he got married. Work has never been about “realising your dream” until somewhat recently I think... Maybe watch the movie “The Dark Valley”. A big difference may have been (and it is probably still how cultures and immigration clash): how family vs. society are seen. Germans see the government stand above family and all (e.g., government will take care of you, not family). Western societies have (deliberately) broken the family in its function. But that was probably necessary.

Humans adapt, that’s why we became what we are. Not sure I have the desire to “live with 100 people in a village I don’t like” encoded in my DNA.

I don’t want to downplay any anxiety or frustration, but I believe every generation had it/felt it the same way. We push and work ourselves up until we reach the level if anxiety we cannot longer cope with.

Objectively speaking: Who would prefer going back 250 years in history? No way on earth. Not even as a king.

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#739

Post by looping__lui »

saltyfever wrote: post #695
OOPMan wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this. I find articles like this on HN tend to be full of rosy-eyed nostalgia. It's rather annoying.

>There were corrupt officials, plagues, bad people. How is this rosy-eyed? I think many people today use the idea that even though some things are miserable today it ok, because they've been miserable always. It's a sad, self-defeating coping mechanism, a lame justification for how things are. It's possible for some things to have been better in the past, much like some other things may be better in the present. Prog…

But still I would argue, we keep forgetting: - Food - Health - Shelter - Freedom - Family is safe, not killed or taken away by barbarians or the plague or a demon

are pretty much at the top of “things that really stress us when we don’t have them.

I mean, everything else is icing on the cake. Not too long ago, people didn’t know whether they would starve to death during the next winter, their wife would die from childbirth or some local bogeyman would just burn down your house and enslave your family.

Re: Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help

#740

Post by crankylinuxuser »

seer wrote: post #372
Thorentis wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the OP comment, and also with this one. It is important to understand two things in coping with the state of the world in my opinion. 1) The reality is you need to find validation and fulfilment outside of work, because in our current society you are just a drone. 2) Don't be depressed because it seems like this is how it's always been. It hasn't. Our work culture is broken. People never used to be so fa…

Anecdotally, the best professional experience in my 15+ career in tech was one startup. There the founders were very into doing “work-life harmony” instead of “work-life balance”. They made a point to have their friends meet your friends and each colleagues’s friends. Our partners and spouses knew each other. There was a big push to make sure your work is not simply something that you work and leave in the office, bu…

Nope, not in a hundred years.

I go to work for 1 reason: compensation. I expect to get paid, and get the benefits agreed upon when I agreed to work here. I will be friendly to those I work with, so that I don't hate to come in to work every day.

Does that mean they have the right to meet my SO or friends or things/people/hobbies outside of work? Absolutely not. If I choose to do so, that's on me.

Work != outside of work. That's a hard boundary.

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