Author worked on android as his first job back when people hired entry level. Today, the entry level people I know struggle massively to get a foot in the door.
So long, and thanks for all the bytes
111–120 of 160 posts
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#112Because of the downturn, I wonder how many people have given up on their careers at Tech? How many more will respond to the call of a different professional life that pays less, but that will be more fulfilling? Even as recent as yesterday I heard a past-colleague tell me "maybe Tech isn't for me, after all. I'll try my hand at this other thing."
I loved tech until I started working in tech. What else is there though? I can’t really do anything else
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tech for tech's sake helps nobody. Politics is a fact of nearly every facet of life—you can accept this and play the game or accept that you're in the backseat. The worst people in the world already know this and run our industry. There's no reason we have to accept them.
> Tech for tech's sake helps nobody If it wasn’t for science, art and tech for their own sake we would still be on the trees gathering bananas
Probably a true statement, in that those folks made contributions, but also misleading, since technology specifically, usually has a goal or outcome in mind. A problem to solve. Like let's assume one of the first technological innovations on that long arc from banana-gathering to whatever we're doing now, was somebody inventing a better way to gather bananas. Or a substitute for bananas. Or a way to grow your own bananas in a controlled way (which I guess would be agriculture, one of our foundational technologies). All of these are easy to imagine and not far-fetched. So were they done by some poseur/pretender who only cared about bananas, and we should look down on them, or were they nobly doing tech for tech's own sake? I don't think the dichotomy exists.
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#114The idea that another multi-millionaire tech worker would think that leaving their job is something people would be interested in is… strange. He’s letting the world know that in the second worst tech downturn in history, he’s going to retire and pursue comedy writing. Feels more appropriate for a Facebook post to this friends rather than a medium post.
> that leaving their job is something people would be interested in is… strange.
Making it to the top of HN contradicts this
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure it's the downturn, necessarily. I used to be enthralled with tech, full of energy to explore new tools, programming languages, etc. I think I slowly awoke to the fact that it's not the tech but the people that make it interesting and rewarding. For me (and I'm not trying to project on anybody else), interactions and activities with people who were doing things that are not tech seemed deeper and more gen…
Do you think remote work has made it less interesting for you?
No. The countless garbage-tier attempts to measure productivity have, however, and the interview process for ALL companies should absolutely be regulated. Until realism can change things, I'm going to retire.
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is a reference to what the Dolphins say at the start of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as they leave the earth just before it is destroyed for a new intergalactic roadway.
yeah, he swears he loves Google, Android and the rest - but he did put that title there didn't he? Come to think of it, that's one of the hallmarks of comedy - say one thing and subtly imply another ...
Just because you love a place doesn't mean you can't recognize when it's coming to an end. The Dolphins had a grand old time swimming and eating fish, but alas it was time to go.
Not saying Google is coming to an end, but perhaps the author feels this way?
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#117Honestly, and I don't know if he'll have an opportunity to read this, but as someone who's both a computer geek and has dabbled in improv and comedy improv, he may find that coding and comedy writing are not entirely separate paths.
There's definitely a STRUCTURE to successful comedy. Certain things have to be in certain conjunctions. Yes, there are definitely times when anticomedy will work, or deadpan comedy, but it's not an utter free-for-all.
If as a person you (yes, whomever's reading this comment) ever want to investigate what I mean, shell out for the Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improv Manual [1]. It's fascinating reading on the structure of something you've simply enjoyed without thinking.
[1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources?isbn=979...
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tangential to the article since that was a voluntary departure, but this is absolutely happening, yes. My partner decided to get "into tech" in ~2018. Her reason more or less amounted to looking at me and determining "it's a cushy job that pays very well." For a while, I tried pointing her to various sources to start learning a bit about software development and programming; there's no barrier to installing PyCharm C…
If the most valuable programmers have a personal interest in tech and use it as a hobby, then businesses will realize this and will look for people who do tech as a hobby or who go to hobbyist meetups, etc, and then people who just want the money will start going into the hobby spaces. I wonder how much more potent our industries could be if they were filled with only people who deeply cared, and everyone else just g…
They drove me out and my tears are made of C, so....
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#119On one hand computer and information science degrees have experienced the highest growth among undergrad degrees [1], so lots of people are joining in, but on the other I'm curious to hear from the people who have left. Is anyone who has exited the tech world still reading HN? What's it like on the outside? [1] https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/charted-most-popular-u-s...
I remember being pleasantly surprised to find out that the guy who created the screensaver I used to use quit tech to make pizzas.
Re: So long, and thanks for all the bytes
#120I always wanted to program, to create great things, got really good at it, but most of the time I was overtaken by folks playing politics that only used tech as a stepping stone to something they always wanted to do but only tech gave them financial resources to do that.
You can make a personal project?