I used to think that the current setup of writing software, with prevalent scrum, talking-head managers, resume-driven development, byzantine tech stacks, draining practices such as heavy CI/CD and code reviews etc. is what makes the jobs unpleasant. But then I watched the documentary about the creation of the first Netscape web browser around 1995 or so, when they presumably didn't have any of the above. And yet, the interviewed people were still clearly on a verge of burnout. One of the developers said that she plans to quit the industry in her early thrities as she cannot imagine doing this for her whole life. So I guess the hard part is the task itself, not the circumstances.
I've walked away from software development
41–50 of 237 posts
Re: I've walked away from software development
#42The things I've been missing in software development are:
- some kind of manual labour or any kind of movement, sitting at a desk all time is boring and unhealthy
- some kind of social interactions, I don't count tech-talking as one
Re: I've walked away from software development
#43My plan is to deal with it , every job is a another job. Trying to retire within the next decade. I don't want a boss period.
This is me. Twenty years at my current company (with various increasing roles & responsibility). It's good pay, but not crazy. It's stable, and I have seniority.
Re: I've walked away from software development
#44Well said. I'm rotting from the inside out.
The only problem I have with the post is that they have the luxury of quitting. People like myself are trapped in the job. They're likely making 5x many people's salary if they are a principle engineer at a large tech firm.
I dream of quitting everyday, but I know I have to deal with this job for the next 2 decades at least (about 9 years in). I'm miserable and know I'm wasting my good years, but I have to support a family.
Re: I've walked away from software development
#45It's interesting that the OP on reddit is describing normal company politics. It exists at every company I've ever worked at, and will exist anywhere there is money, power, and status at stake in the decision making process. My suggestion is to find a company where you can accept and work within that company's dysfunction, and stay put as long as you have a positive career path there. Every company is dysfunctional i…
I did the same thing moving from an IC to a management role and wholeheartedly agree that now I have the ability to influence the culture within my team of developers and also influence other managers' norms and teams' culture. Yes, I haven't been coding, but throughout the past years I've been able to create and form a team with a healthy culture that has been successful.
Large tech companies have more than one "culture" which various across departments and projects. When I found myself stuck in an unhealthy project I would look for opportunities to transfer within. Usually I was able to find a team that suited my interests and way of working.
Re: I've walked away from software development
#46I think an alternative to the reddit OP, since he loves coding and has so much experience is to try and create his own product on some niche. He would get back the joy of coding and still be a programmer, without having to deal with any of the corporate system. I can fully understand where he is coming from, it's not the job itself, it's the whole system that makes it unbearable after a while. This is the reason also…
Yup, I think the OP might enjoy the indie hacker/microconf ethos.
Re: I've walked away from software development
#47"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar." --Drew Carey That said, there are some good (if conflicting) points in there. Large tech companies are worse than startups, usually. Startups become large companies over time, if they don't fail. A good read on the real corporate dynamic: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/
Just for the record, I don't hate my job. I suspect many others don't. There's a saying that I recommend: either change your organization or change your organization. I'm sad for this guy that he let the fat checks keep him in misery until he burnt out on the work. I get how it happens, but I don't think it's a good trade. I hope he finds his way back to health.
I would love to burn out with fat checks. It beats burning out on average (non SV) checks. At least one can retire earlier.
Re: I've walked away from software development
#48I think all of us 40+ folks are in the same place.
When we first started we didn't mind the bullshit so much because we were too dumb to realize how much there was.
Then we got older and, yeah, it's ridiculous, but we were pretty decent at surfing the bullshit waves so we still didn't mind so much.
Now you're in your 40s and the real obligations of life have started piling up. You've gone from 7 hours of free time a day to 1, and you sure as hell aren't going to spend it learning about the latest iteration of Angular/React/Vue/Svelte/whatever the fuck is next. So you start losing your technical edge. Meanwhile at work you have some dipshit in sprint planning that wants to have the 57th discussion about how story points do not represent time. Oh, by the way, it's December, so we need you to watch that 45 minute security training video again so you don't accept USB flash drives from strangers in the parking lot. Now it's 4 PM and you didn't get anything done today and you start thinking about how pointless all this shit is because all we do is make an app that helps people schedule dog massages...
So, yeah, there's a reason mid-life crises are so cliche. It's like teenage angst. It's not completely justified, but it's not exactly unwarranted either. I mean, what kind of dumbass doesn't wonder at least a little bit if all this bullshit is worth it?
Re: I've walked away from software development
#49> I'm sick of wasting time writing worthless tests. I'm sick of fixing more tests than bugs. I think as an industry we need to look at tests, particularly unit tests, and Test Driven Development (TDD) through critical lens. Writing unit tests is seen as a virtue while in reality how much value an individual unit test adds given the cost of writing, running and maintaining unit tests. What baffles me the most is TDD.…
It is the processes around tests that mess up devs day I think. Having the rule of all tests need to pass for a submit and no way to just remove failing tests due too over zealous review process. Tests testing the implementation rather than the problem. Old tests on undocumented code. Etc.
Re: I've walked away from software development
#50Well said. I'm rotting from the inside out. The only problem I have with the post is that they have the luxury of quitting. People like myself are trapped in the job. They're likely making 5x many people's salary if they are a principle engineer at a large tech firm. I dream of quitting everyday, but I know I have to deal with this job for the next 2 decades at least (about 9 years in). I'm miserable and know I'm was…
If your making 5x seems like it shouldn't take 30 years to build up enough to move on to something else and still be WAY ahead. Maybe it's time to consider if your lifestyle is too expensive... Sounds like you'd be happier if you had less upkeep + a more enjoyable job