Ask HN: It's always the people isn't it?

You're seeing this from the limited perspective of a mortal, finite person stuck inside of events as they're happening. The reason the technology matters and we talk about it is because it endures. Does it matter at this point what personalities were involved in the inventions of the wheel, mill, axe, spear, hammer? They're still here and they're still useful and, not knowing the history personally, may have been independently invented by many different groups of people who never even met each other. They exist today because the technology works.

It's possible and even likely that whatever you've worked on most of your career isn't going to be like that. Most products disappear quickly and few people care if they didn't personally profit while they existed. But the products that do matter and will still exist in a thousand years, will do so because of the technology, not because of the people.

None of that is to say people don't matter. There is no point to creating and using technology if no one ever gets to live a more satisfying life because of it. And one of those people may as well be you. So, by all means, go and find your bliss if you can, but don't believe that organizational effectiveness requires the people in it to be satisfied and happy with what they're doing. Slaves built the pyramids. I'm sure the vast majority of soldiers in the Red Army didn't want to be there and served at the threat of execution, but they nonetheless swept over the Nazis and shaped world history to this day.

As for me personally, I've liked the people everywhere I've ever worked, and the very first software job I ever had remains the most interesting and challenging technology I ever worked on. Every time I left, it was for more money. Ultimately, the life outcomes of every future generation I'm ever responsible for, as well as my own, depend more on socioeconomic status than how much I like my co-workers. They come and go pretty frequently anyway, whether you change companies or not, whereas family is for life. Better relationships with them matter a lot more.

Without knowing anything about your specific situation, if you regularly find that you have bad relationships with your colleagues, then perhaps there is an opportunity for you to make a change somewhere in your own life? In my personal experience I haven't had too many problems with coworkers and on the rare occasion that I did, with hindsight I was at least partly responsible for the difficulties I encountered and perhaps initially blamed on others. Everyone has their own story and their own troubles, and while that is no reason to tolerate genuine abuse, a little understanding can go a long way in many other cases. Also it's important to recognise that no-one is perfect (cliché though that is) - usually people are doing their best, and we all make stupid mistakes.

Of course there are still slackers and people who want to take out their problems on others and there's not much you can do about that except perhaps develop other ways of dealing with such people, assuming you need to. Stoicism can be a useful mindset for situations like that.

Another thing to consider is your job hunting filter; perhaps you're not effectively excluding dysfunctional organisations?

I've stayed (longer) because of the people more often then left because of them. It's likely also the type of company and the type of people attracted to them.

don’t those problems come back to people though ?

hi, read

"Context, Context, Context: How Our Blindness to Context Cripples Even the Smartest Organizations"

by Barry Oshry

most people want to do a good job, be nice to others and be productive and feel fulfilment in their role and life.

and people behave like the context they are put it. and over time this context puts as into a "us vs them" or "me vs them" mindset.

it is not inevitable, but hard to change.