Its shocking to me how people don't get bored of rehashing this same, tired opinion over and over and over again and discussing it with hundreds of comments. There is a blog post like this every other day on the front page of HN and it always generates the exact same discussion.
I have said this before: it's group therapy for entitled devs that feel they're entitled to oversized salaries just because they have tenure. Young grads accept the process as is. People that are either happy with their comp or comfortable putting in the work do not lament the process - they just accept it and proceed. Only devs that have been doing it a while, whose salaries have plateaued, that either never learned…
As someone who mostly agrees with you, I still bemoan the LC grind. This is mostly because I think the software market has grown to the point where there’s a distinct market for “plumbers” vs “engineers”. I consider myself a “plumber” who understands how to piece together various frameworks and languages in the most efficient matter, but “engineer are the one who actually invent the new frameworks and who need to actually understand DSA to accomplish their jobs. It feels like distinct skills since I’ve tackled what I consider engineering problems multiple times and failed but I keep getting rewarded with higher and higher salaries for doing what I consider plumbing.
Unfortunately there seems to be an ego component and no company will admit that they need software “plumbers” more than they need software “engineers” or it makes them/their employees look bad.
I just wish I could be ranked and rewarded off my “plumbing” skills and only ranked on my “engineering” skills if I was looking for a career change