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The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

ericlippert.com

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Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#241

Post by dnissley »

chubot wrote: post #190
jordwest wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've experienced this in a similar workplace before and did lead me to spiral and exit, to me it was absolutely exhausting keeping such a ruse up. There was something about it that felt so inauthentic, a bit toxic positivity, a bit hide-the-pain-harold. It's like the workplace version of Instagram itself, where everybody shows their best side, is mildly ashamed of feeling anything but positive because of the collecti…

So Facebook doesn't have something like memegen? I worked at Google when it was created and "went viral". Before memegen there was a strain of what I would call inauthentic positivity I think memegen made it a lot more acceptable to be cynical, which was probably good, because the company was definitely drinking a lot of its own Kool-aid

Oh we definitely do -- the shitposting workplace group serves this purpose. Also the private nonmanagers group.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#242

Post by rurp »

luckylion wrote: post #192
MattGaiser wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no one wants to wear VR goggles I would be curious how many people are willing to wear VR goggles for any amount of time. I spend easily 10-12 hours a day at my computer. I am absolutely someone who is happy working, socializing, playing, and learning all at the same desk. But I can't wear those goggles for even 2 hours. Are there people who can wear them for 12?

I haven't used the new ones, but I have an Oculus Go. I think the most important part is fitting. I believe there are companies selling accessories to make it more comfortable to wear, and I'd totally invest in that if I planned to use it more, or in a different setting. I'm using it for porn (and it's amazing, VR porn is the most underrated thing imho, but maybe I'm just weird) and for movies (non-3d, having these s…

The fact that VR content is gated behind major companies concerned with brand safety is a major reason to be skeptical about current VR tech ever taking off. If it were more like the early internet where any passionate and reasonably technical person could make widely available apps and content, I think VR would be much more interesting. Porn is one of the most obvious genres, but also just having a bunch of weird niche content and experimental games would be really cool.

Living in a bland Facebook controlled world overseen by Zuckerberg the God is about as enticing as filing my taxes on a daily cadence.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#243

Post by ericlippert »

ericlippert wrote: post #33
musk_micropenis wrote: post #9

Sorry to hear about the lay-off. I can't stress enough how influential Eric Lippert was on my early career. His work on C# and .NET, but more importantly his openness and engagement with the community played a big part in me continuing on the Microsoft stack. Just jumping into any random month[1] in his blog archive from my formative years is incredible nostalgia for me. It's not the kind of high-concept "a monad is…

Thank you, that's kind of you to say.

And thanks to all the repliers below for their kind words. My goal was always to share knowledge and enthusiasm and it is genuinely touching to know that I succeeded.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#244

Post by OkayPhysicist »

zemvpferreira wrote: post #120
a4isms wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's the same thing as people say about fires. When you put out a fire you are a hero. When you prevent the fire in the first place, everybody thinks it's business as usual and nobody understands why you are needed. I got a dose of very cold water about this thirty years ago when I was building payware that improved developer productivity. I gave a presentation about its ROI, and afterwards, a developer walked up t…

It's a trope with some truth to it, but it runs out of steam fairly quickly. Was original facebook a painkiller? Instagram? $1000 iPhone? Liver King? I find it's a useful framework for selling b2b. Even then, desire can win over pain many times. Fear and greed are the real big sellers in b2b anyway.

The original facebook was a painkiller the same way the Oxycodone you crush up on a table and insuffulate is a painkiller. The metaphor works amusingly well, actually.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#245

Post by paganel »

rob74 wrote: post #91

> Speaking of cutting costs, the company is still pouring multiple billions of dollars into vaporware called “the metaverse”. News flash: no one wants to wear VR goggles to spend any time in a digital heaven where the role of God is played by Mark Zuckerberg and you can do anything you can imagine, including “work” and “shop”. You can somehow feel that he has been dying to say this for years, but couldn't while he wa…

> but couldn't while he was still working for Meta...

He still took the money, though. That was all I could think about while I was reading that paragraph.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#247

Post by dnissley »

ouid wrote: post #237
dnissley wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can somehow feel that he has been dying to say this for years, but couldn't while he was still working for Meta... It's a pretty common sentiment in my experience here, de rigueur even. Expressing it in the way he does here is definitely frowned upon though -- one of the most interesting cultural traits I've noticed that Meta has fostered is an awareness and avoidance of cynicism. When people comment internally…

>for me it's refreshing. blink twice if you need help?

The kool-aid in the microkitchens is to die for :)

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#248

Post by ericlippert »

WorldMaker wrote: post #134
KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #8

Eric Lippert was my hero back when his blog was hosted on MSDN. Sad to see him go into retirement when he's at his prime. Hope he finds some new exciting project.

Given how many greatly appreciated his blog and have been upset at the last few years of Facebook-encouraged radio silence (including myself, Eric Lippert has been a blogger I've looked forward to posts from), even if he were to just fall into the exciting "old" project of blogging regularly again (as his post teases at the bottom), I think that would be a great use of "his prime" and I wouldn't exactly call that a r…

That's all very kind of you to say, thank you.

I have several times been offered the chance to teach a masters level course on compiler design but never had the time to develop it. After a bit of a break, maybe I'll give that more thought.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#249

Post by rurp »

astrange wrote: post #141
a4isms wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's the same thing as people say about fires. When you put out a fire you are a hero. When you prevent the fire in the first place, everybody thinks it's business as usual and nobody understands why you are needed. I got a dose of very cold water about this thirty years ago when I was building payware that improved developer productivity. I gave a presentation about its ROI, and afterwards, a developer walked up t…

What actually happens with vitamins is people love taking them (because they’re colorful and some of them are food preservatives) but there’s like no evidence they have health benefits.

I don't know, I was surprised to learn that my vitamin D was quite low, and I get a fair amount of sunlight each week, probably more than a lot of office workers.

Now that I take supplements though my levels have been fine. From what I have read, quite a few people fall into a similar bucket.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#250

Post by zaroth »

ska wrote: post #121
stuff4ben wrote: post #69

He's not wrong about Meta's VR foray. VR as a technology is cool and revolutionary, Zuck's vision for it in our daily lives is not.

> VR as a technology is cool and revolutionary That's a funny way of saying decades old at this point and still not ready for prime time.

The current state of VR is not decades old. It’s like saying automobiles are decades old so EVs are not exciting.
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