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I no longer build software

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Re: I no longer build software

#731

Post by biztos »

mauvehaus wrote: post #123

Holy shit, this is me! A couple things to clarify: I posted the original issue as a minor complaint about the docker cli and promptly forgot about it. I never expected it to get any traction or follow-up. At the time I posted it, I was working as a contractor for my former full time employer. I had left full-time work there in early 2017 to attend the full-time program at the (sadly now-defunct) Furniture Institute o…

Great comment!

Two things I noticed a couple years ago:

1. There is a quite expensive furniture maker near where I grew up -- in the more "genteel" area of course.

2. If I still lived there I'd totally shell out three grand for one of their chairs!

I've never spent that much on a piece of furniture, but it sure looks like it's worth it:

http://ericksonwoodworking.com/furniture/seating/sumi-chair-...

Your work is beautiful and I hope you find many buyers. I humbly suggest you include prices on your web site, as many people have no idea what handmade furniture costs these days, and many of those can actually afford it.

Re: I no longer build software

#732

Post by [deleted] »

nicbou wrote: post #75

Add me to the woodworking ex-developers. I built a website that pays the bills, and now I have a lot of time on my hands. I am finishing my first piece of furniture today. It's pretty scary to work without an undo button. The physical world isn't just instructions, but movements. A little twitch can ruin a cut. A clumsy movement can dent a piece of wood you spent an hour sanding. You truly experience the meaning of "…

[deleted]

Re: I no longer build software

#733

Post by 2mol »

nicbou wrote: post #608
2mol wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welcome to this beautiful hobby! I'm sure you'll love it for a long time to come (as you said, it helps to not _have_ to do it for 40hrs a week). I want to add to your description and say that the design part of the work can also be hugely satisfying! I found that there is something similar to software engineering: you can make it as simple [1] or complicated as you want, but there is something magical about finding…

Those are some fancy joints

Thanks :) I take little credit, because nowadays a lot of this is very achievable to learn with youtube and a bit of patience.

It's really incredible how much tacit knowledge transfer is made possible because of youtube. Definitely one of the purely positive aspects of the platform and the internet in general.

Re: I no longer build software

#735

Post by bialpio »

throwawaygh wrote: post #615
CptFribble wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

innovation doesn't always look like a steam engine or a polio vaccine, with immediate and obvious impact on society. sometimes innovation looks like 1000 small improvements that only save us 30 seconds of our day, but once they're all built we suddenly have whole hours freed up that used to be taken up by things like spending an hour on the phone with a travel agent

For every 30 seconds the average person saves on misc. Tasks, there are whole minutes spent doom scrolling on social media apps.

So? If I get to pick how I waste my time, then that time is not really wasted.

Re: I no longer build software

#736

Post by pier25 »

grishka wrote: post #706
pier25 wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense but I think you're being dramatic and a bit naive. There are plenty of small companies chasing a dream other than total economic world domination. Obviously if you look at Facebook etc that's all you're going to see. Also, good luck running a business, any business of any size, without caring about money. Once you're responsible for the the livelihood of your employees and yourself (and maybe even SO and y…

> There are plenty of small companies chasing a dream other than total economic world domination. That is until they are pressured to "grow" by their investors that they do have more often than not. > Also, good luck running a business, any business of any size, without caring about money. I've worked at a company that was alive and well without chasing profits. It did a bare minimum of monetization to cover its expe…

If you had put a couple of millions into a company you'd probably expect to get your money back, no? Would you be happy giving your money away?

Another point you are missing is that not all companies work that way either. Many people start their own business with their own money and don't have to answer to investors. Look outside of tech: restaurants, design studios, stores, etc.

Re: I no longer build software

#737

Post by yibg »

coldtea wrote: post #275
chpmrc wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can order a comfy car anywhere I am with the tap of a button. I can order food from hundreds of restaurants and have it delivered in less than 30 mins with the tap of a button. I can book flights and hotels with the tap of a button. I can play with friends in virtual reality and actually sweat. I can watch a live stream of SpaceX launching reusable rockets in space. I could buy a car that is almost fully "self driv…

So we've mostly solved trivial non-problems if/not regressions? People lived in 1990 and didn't feel that bad to have to call a travel agency to get a ticket, or, god forbid, to actually meet friends and not in VR space... I'll give you "self driving cars" -- well, I would if they could work today, which they don't...

I mean people were also "fine" with washing clothes by hand until the washing machine came out. Just because it was done one way that was accepted, doesn't mean there isn't a better way.

Having navigation on my little device I can fit into my pocket and work pretty much everywhere is a huge convenience. I no longer have to plan trips carefully, drive around hoping I get to the right place or stop 3 times to ask for directions.

Re: I no longer build software

#738

Post by ChrisKnott »

briefcomment wrote: post #703
nicbou wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can find it in my post history. I help people settle in my country, in plain English. It's just not the main point of this conversation.

How do you monetize the site? It looks really useful, but I don't see any ads or payment options.

Some of the guides have affiliate links.

> "This guide contains affiliate links. When you click those links and buy something, I make a little money. The income allows me to work on All About Berlin full time. All my recommendations are genuine. I want to keep this website useful and neutral."

https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/moving-to-berlin

Re: I no longer build software

#739

Post by foobiekr »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #237
notacoward wrote: post #125

Totally on board with not building software any more. In fact, at 55 this is my last week of it. For real. Basically, everything sucks more about building software nowadays more than I remember it sucking before, from the mere mechanics of navigating through an obscenely large pseudo-object-oriented codebase to the WRONG constructs/idioms people use to build distributed systems to the way software is packaged and dep…

It goes without saying that your feelings are personal ones, totally valid, and nobody can really question them. I'm 20 years behind you, and I don't know what effect that will have on my views. But I don't really recognise the picture you're painting. Compared to the first steps I took as a developer about 15 years ago, almost everything about software development seems better to me. I find developing software to be…

The challenge is that in most projects, the things that make things "better" also hide entire galaxies of technical debt. The MongoDB debacle is an example of that problem, as is the outcome of Docker (images full of vulnerabilities, difficulty in making even the most quotidian tools like strace, etc. run easily, converting a known and enforced-common production userland environment into a hodgepodge of 'whatever', etc.) and so on.

Supportability, risk-mitigation, debuggability, etc. are all thrown away in most of today's environments. An awful lot of tech companies are running mostly on hope.

Re: I no longer build software

#740

Post by sangnoir »

tluyben2 wrote: post #499
jlangenauer wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are right to say that the methods are vastly improved, but the ends to which those methods are applied have become ever more uninteresting (for a lot of people), and often morally suspect. We have built exquisite tools, but we use them to extract profit, to manipulate behaviour and often for no discernable purpose at all. Programming has become joyless. There are ever-shrinking spaces where a developer ge…

Not to mention that those CRUD apps have been done, exactly the same, 10000s of times before and 10000s of people are doing the same work you are doing now at this moment. Everyone thinks they are productive but value is being burned all day, every day in most companies all over the world. The level of reuse is depressing and people, especially here, firmly believe we need to use the latest frontend and backend crap…

> The level of reuse is depressing and people, especially here, firmly believe we need to use the latest frontend and backend crap to rebuild what was working perfectly fine before.

This seems overly cynical to me; the reason software developers are well-paid (overpaid, some would argue) is that what they build is measurably better that what was there before (at least in dollar terms. I'm not getting into the moral quagmire of automation replacing human jobs ATM)

Code reuse is often a red herring, when taken to extremes. Here's a thought experiment: all software developers are now required to implement all CRUD software in SAP or Peoplesoft (pick one). How much of the code do you think will be re-used, and how much will be in the customizations?

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