Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

old.reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 470 posts

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#211

Post by pessimizer »

ryandvm wrote: post #62

Sure, you hate your boring, safe, lucrative job in software development until you become a plumber and find yourself on your hands and knees beside a disassembled toilet for the 87th time. Splattered in fetid wastewater, pulling stuck condoms out of the floor while the idiot renter stands above you dragging on his Juul, and you realize, maybe I didn't have it so bad after all. The "grass is always greener" is probabl…

I feel like a lot of replies like this assume that everybody is an upper-middle class white kid who hasn't had to shovel shit before. I've had a lot of much worse jobs than being a mechanic; jobs where I looked up from what I was doing when the mechanic walked in with unbelievable jealousy.

I'm counting the days until CoPilot suddenly turns a bunch of John Galts into Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, but an additional effect is that a lot of people are going to notice that most programmers are at exactly the same professional level as other tradespeople, the difference is that since we're riding a wave of financial scams and deregulation that require the internet and cellphone apps as part of the grift, we're showered with cash. There will be a oversupply of programmers that plumbers will be laughing at.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#212

Post by brnaftr361 »

jvanderbot wrote: post #162
jjcon wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh didn’t it turn out that most of that was drummed out in the 2012 era by a few doctors selling books and partnering with exercise and standing desk companies? I feel like most of the more recent stuff I have read has said, yes get your exercise in but sitting itself isn’t actually bad, certainly not the whole ‘1 hour of sitting reduces your life by 1 day’ sort of stuff we heard a decade+ ago. https://www.cnn.com/20…

My confusion is that "sitting" is confounded with "never exercising". If you exercise 5m/hr for 16hrs (and sleep 8), you have accumulated a huge amount of sitting time, but also a really big amount of exercise time. Nobody does that, but what if we did?

I read somewhere that somebody did some study with god knows what methodology (people like to use current-world HG communities, not representative of ancestry) and decided that our ancestors walked about 12mi/day. That's about 3-4h of walking daily. We have like 280k years of that selection criteria. But also we came from apes, so we're sorta shitty at this upright stuff.

An aside: I also just loathe ergonomic design, I'm never comfortable in anything other than a recliner or laying on a couch or bed. I'm wholly convinced that chairs are the way they are because "they've always been that way" with tables and desks following suit. It's unfortunate that better designs haven't caught on, aren't readily available, and tend to be inordinately expensive. What I'd really like to see is a practical true to form holistic ergonomic design instead of this weird traditionally inspired clusterfuck with its productivity centric model.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#213

Post by nkozyra »

Apocryphon wrote: post #178
nkozyra wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something so insidiously, backhandedly condescending about tech workers pining for the simplicity of an honest day's job that drives me nuts. Yes, there are almost always jobs with less strenuous requirements on time, fewer requirements and late nights. But the average tech worker has a pretty good gig. And if they don't they can go down the street in 2022 and get one. Trades scratch a similar itch to develop…

I had a manager who once abandoned software engineering to become a jeweler. There’s definitely a patronizing romanticizing of the trades in threads like this, but the yearning to switch to physical work doesn’t have to be fulfilled only by plumber/carpenter/electrician roles mentioned here. There are plenty of other jobs that require more physical work, from aestheticians to dentistry.

No doubt. I think that sitting in room all days drags on some people the way climbing up a pole with equipment all day might drag on another.

And sometimes you just want something radically different. But don't pretend it's simple enough that we - the brilliant computer and maths people - could easily just start doing it. I think that's where the patronizing comes in. Any professional job requires training and experience.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#214

Post by artemonster »

civilized wrote: post #147
artemonster wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, allright, I think I got the pattern. Next time someone wants to: """Everywhere you go, there will be {insert derogatory but also statistically backed pattern} Disproportionately they will be {insert your -ist qualifier}""" You just have to say sorry and it will be okay?

Have you considered what you personally believe is right? Why go around being an enforcer for social rules you don't even know if you believe in?

I personally believe in statistics and I believe you cannot use them to make derogatory generalizations. I mean racists REALLY love to pull out crime statistics out of their pockets in justification of their views. And, frankly, its not about my beliefs right now and enforcing of societal rules, its about you making derogatory generalizations and thinking that its okay, because "statistics" and because you've said sorry.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#215

Post by emteycz »

not1ofU wrote: post #206
emteycz wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah lol... The apartment building next to mine was having some reconstruction and the guys working on the exterior saw into my office windows (5th story). I started talking to them, had a cigarette together when I saw them lighting up, shared my WiFi password with them, etc, just being friendly. After a few days the guys asked "so, do you ever work man, or are you one of those computer pussies?". I agreed I'm a comp…

"Computer Pussy?.. no mate, computer hacker, and seeing as you all connected to my Wi-fi, my rent is covered for the next 2 months"....

Well I wanted to be a friend. They were cool to me, I was cool to them. It was all in good jest, with a bit of truth. ;-)

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#216

Post by Apocryphon »

nkozyra wrote: post #213
Apocryphon wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a manager who once abandoned software engineering to become a jeweler. There’s definitely a patronizing romanticizing of the trades in threads like this, but the yearning to switch to physical work doesn’t have to be fulfilled only by plumber/carpenter/electrician roles mentioned here. There are plenty of other jobs that require more physical work, from aestheticians to dentistry.

No doubt. I think that sitting in room all days drags on some people the way climbing up a pole with equipment all day might drag on another. And sometimes you just want something radically different. But don't pretend it's simple enough that we - the brilliant computer and maths people - could easily just start doing it. I think that's where the patronizing comes in. Any professional job requires training and experi…

Sure, but the point still stands is that people seem to be yearning for an alternative to computer-only work, and there are perhaps more feasible alternatives out there to the Office Space ending ideal.

As far as training goes- software engineering doesn’t seem particularly rigorous in providing it compared to other disciplines.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#217

Post by tangjurine »

emteycz wrote: post #202
_bfhp wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a manifestation of the inherent feeling that many of us developers are doing something mostly useless compared to others. We know that the world could be different and we could be working jobs that are physically and/or mentally difficult but also fair and useful. Ursula K. Le Guin puts it thus, from her novel "This Dispossessed": "A child free from the guilt of ownership and the burden of economic compe…

I can't understand that one. Software fascinates me since I was a child by how universally useful it is. Even for the more manual stuff, computer is still a hyper-useful tool.

Carpentry is useful, but if you are spending months making a small part you think no one uses or cares about for a lot of money, you might feel useless.

Same things goes with anything really.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#219

Post by bruce343434 »

ReactiveJelly wrote: post #136
JKCalhoun wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your contractor, on the other hand, may well have got a few rounds of golf in during the day time. A neighbor owns a painting company. He goes around the various job sites in the morning, sees that everyone has their marching orders for the day, returns in the afternoon to check in on the progress. In between the morning and afternoon though? He does what he pleases. I believe he started the company with a buddy, the…

I don't really want to be a manager, though. I want to be retired.

Don't we all?

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#220

Post by blame-troi »

nkozyra wrote: post #166
jedberg wrote: post #64

This last summer/fall really put things in perspective for me. We did a major outdoor renovation at our house, which involved landscapers, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters. Every day these guys would show up at 8am and long sleeves and jeans and hard hats, work super hard, pee in a port-a-potty, and be exhausted by the end of the day. They worked out in the 100 degree heat as well as the rain as the job got nea…

There's something so insidiously, backhandedly condescending about tech workers pining for the simplicity of an honest day's job that drives me nuts. Yes, there are almost always jobs with less strenuous requirements on time, fewer requirements and late nights. But the average tech worker has a pretty good gig. And if they don't they can go down the street in 2022 and get one. Trades scratch a similar itch to develop…

Nothing condescending here. After my first twenty years in tech I did feel the urge for a change. Why be just a tech worker?

Complexity is no indicator of worth to society, nor is salary.

Post reply on HN