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Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

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181–190 of 214 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#181
It's not just you. What you're talking about—an unclear or uncompelling mission and a lack of agency—is a big source of dissatisfaction in our industry. It leads to burnout and turnover. As far as I'm concerned, it's specifically a manager's job to address these problems. As much as anything else, manager is tasked with organizing the work of a team so that teammates all feel like their work has purpose and that they have agency over what they do.

There are a two big reasons for this. In some companies, a lack of profitability, or a desire for short term speed above all else, means that managers aren't given the space and resources to do their job well. A good manager will not stay in places like this for long. Even in companies where managers have resources and room to succeed, I think that companies very rarely train managers to do their job well. Often management is a promotion from IC to person in charge of making sure ICs ship products on time. But how to do this is not taught at any point in an IC's career. The trade offs involved in shipping products on time are counterintuitive: the things that work best over a 1 month time scale will kill your productivity over a year time scale.

If you feel like you have the raw materials to be good at what you do (you have the skills, you're interested, you have the time and can be dedicated) but you feel like your job isn't fulfilling, my advice is to start thinking about who you want to work under (or what kind of person) and include that as a top criteria in your future career moves.

I work at a major tech company and, yes, ultimately my team's goal is to increase company (and shareholder) profits. But my goal as a manager is to translate my teams directives into work that actually adds value to our customers, improves the work of our stakeholders, and uses the skills of my team in new and interesting ways. Yes, some work we have to do isn't the most fun, but everyone understands why and we're all bought into minimizing the work that sucks so we can get to the parts that are exciting.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#182
post #43

Most jobs - especially in software - produce very little or no value. There are a couple things you can do: - Accept it, do as little work as you can get away with, and find fulfillment outside your job. Maybe get a stand-up desk and do some light exercise while working, to ease the feeling of wasting your time. - Find a useful job. Non-profits, government services, and research organizations are good places to look,…

> do some light exercise I’m somewhat convinced if everybody did this we would have far less problems. So far this year I’ve kept that resolution, swimming 1250 meters Monday-Friday. It improves my sleep and helps my diet too. My ability to ward off negative thought patterns is the main difference affecting my mood.

It's amazing how powerful regular exercise is. It doesn't even have to be intense cardio, either. My wife and I bought a set of dumbbells for the house. We just grab a set and do exercises throughout the day. The feeling of physical satisfaction is very real. It helps us to get out of our heads.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#183
post #179

oh noooooooooooooooooooooooo i'm writing closed source software for a megacorp for hundreds of thousands of dollars from the comfort of my home :'(

I understand the sentiment, but one can simultaneously be better off in some ways--e.g., income--and worse off in other ways--e.g., mental health. It's important to be empathetic with not only those who are worse off economically but also those who are worse off mentally. Humanity should be striving for meaning and happiness no matter what one's station.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#184
I cope by having interests and hobbies that are not related to SWE. I have thought about what it would be like to work in one of those areas, and I always conclude that making money in tech is much easier, more comfortable, and requires less effort. So I use it to find my other interests.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#185
post #155
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basing your happiness from your work life is a recipe for unhappiness. You will always find something to nitpick about

Work satisfaction is a large component of happiness, as we spend a lot of our time at work (nearly half our waking hours). It's important not to neglect other aspects of your life and base your self-worth and happiness on work alone, but it's important to ensure you are happy at work.

Every statement you made is completely subjective.

If you added 'For myself' at the beginning it would make more sense as an argument.

Assuming others feel the same about work, or that they only spend half their waking time there is pretty short-sighted.

I, for one, place no worth on a person by what they do, or what I do, to make a living.

As far as I'm concerned, we are not our jobs, and I am sure quite a few people are living their lives with unfulfilled potential because they will never be given the opportunity to find out what they are truly good at or capable of. They are spending most of their lives trying to survive while making the rich richer.

To me it's a sad state of affairs all the way around.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#186

I’m 46 years old now. I’ve felt as you have since my first corporate job at 21. I have contemplated “offing myself” as you say. But obviously I’m still here! Seems to me your reaction to the world is appropriate and correct. The world we’ve created for ourselves is devoid of meaning. Most work is performative, and entirely pointless, IME. So you need to make your own meaning. A significant-other helps. As do pets, an…

> For me, the best I can do at work is find a sort of Zen-like contentedness with the work. Working carefully, slowly, deliberately, doing my best with minimal effort; these things bring me to my place of Zen. Sounds interesting. Do you have tips on how to get and stay into the Zen mindset when there are deadlines?

Get good at setting expectations and being firm about them. Managers LOVE to bully people into deadlines.

Also get good at not getting mad about it! If your work is truly meaningless and/or performative, then the deadline has no real power. Its just social pressure… but tread carefully as it can also put a target on your back and put you in the unemployment line!

You’ll know you’re in your Zen state when problems just roll off you and your emotions aren’t your guiding force.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#187
post #25
post #2

Any headline that starts with a question can be answered with a "yes" :)

I guess it can also be answered with a "no", so i fail to see your point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines?...

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#188
Living super frugally and saving most of the paycheck (I save 81% of my pre-tax salary, 96% post-tax) will allow me to retire very quickly. Otherwise, I don't think I'd be able to do it, I'd rather do something radical like becoming a pirate, than spend 30+ years in the software engineering industry. I'm on my 9th company and I haven't yet had a job that I didn't want to quit after 6 months (and usually, much sooner).

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me or do 99% of SWE jobs offers seem completely pointless?

#190
post #155
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basing your happiness from your work life is a recipe for unhappiness. You will always find something to nitpick about

Work satisfaction is a large component of happiness, as we spend a lot of our time at work (nearly half our waking hours). It's important not to neglect other aspects of your life and base your self-worth and happiness on work alone, but it's important to ensure you are happy at work.

I agree, but i would phrase it contrarily, as this much more common - work dissatisfaction is often a large component of unhappiness.
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