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Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

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Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#171

Post by bluefirebrand »

dehugger wrote: post #65
bluefirebrand wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also like to know I've never worked in Silicon Valley but every company I've worked for is infected with Silicon Valley brainrot

Look for large companies dealing in physical goods. I work on warehouse software for a company selling motorcycle helmets and bbqs. Its a great intersection of tech and industry.

That's pretty cool. I would expect most of that sort of company to be buying off the shelf products these days but I guess some still roll their own

Thank you for the advice, I really appreciate that you took the time to do that. Very kind of you

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#172

Post by scarface_74 »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #123
_virtu wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean the grandparent poster isn’t wrong. This whole system is stacked against us. It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works. This is a very broad discussion that I know has many different facets to it, but the grandparent poster seems to be calling out what a lot of people believe is true.

> It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works. Pretty much nobody ever did, in any society, with few exceptions. "Going to America" was one exception, and then "going west". But for most people, for most of civilization, that has never been an option. And, in fact, the whole system is stacked against us less than it has been for most of the histor…

Yes because white straight males have it so hard in America now all the statistics show it…

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#173

Post by scarface_74 »

DracheZahn wrote: post #93

After 35 years in tech and 10 years with the same company, today is my last day at a Fortune 100 tech firm. I left voluntarily with no new job lined up. Never felt so relieved. I realized that the depression I was experiencing was caused entirely by leadership, not my job. No matter which products I worked on, the same feelings of depression and ultimately loathing of the environment and process kept returning. Don't…

How have you been in the industry for 35 years (myself 30 years in a year) and not had the optionality to say “no” to being overworked? I’ve worked for 29 years across 10 companies from 60 person startups to two F10 companies (including one FAANG) and always knew the worse case for saying “No” is that they could fire me and I just get another job.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#174

Post by scarface_74 »

spacemadness wrote: post #109
DracheZahn wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One more comment and a bit of advice for junior product and engineering staff. If someone else leaves, make it clear to your leadership that you cannot be expected to always pick up the slack. Don't get stuck in the cycle where leaders learn they can dump tasks on you and never backfill for the skill set. Becoming an essential team member will lessen your chances of getting promoted, and you will have very limited ca…

Sounds great until they’re PIPd. And I fully agree with you. The industry is hellbent on working people into the ground because they’re drunk on their newfound layoff powers. They absolutely love the turn around in their favor and I’ve personally witnessed management using horrible psychological tactics to overwork people in this environment. This industry really disgusts me, but hey, at least they’re going masks off…

That’s why you should always have - an emergency fund, an up to date network, resume and career document.

If you live in any major city in the US, as a software engineer you are probably making twice the local median wage and should be able to build up savings.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#175

Post by spacemadness »

scarface_74 wrote: post #174
spacemadness wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds great until they’re PIPd. And I fully agree with you. The industry is hellbent on working people into the ground because they’re drunk on their newfound layoff powers. They absolutely love the turn around in their favor and I’ve personally witnessed management using horrible psychological tactics to overwork people in this environment. This industry really disgusts me, but hey, at least they’re going masks off…

That’s why you should always have - an emergency fund, an up to date network, resume and career document. If you live in any major city in the US, as a software engineer you are probably making twice the local median wage and should be able to build up savings.

Are you suggesting I don’t? I have those things but the industry is still in a bad place and is doing a lot of damage to good people.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#176

Post by _virtu »

roarcher wrote: post #131
_virtu wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean the grandparent poster isn’t wrong. This whole system is stacked against us. It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works. This is a very broad discussion that I know has many different facets to it, but the grandparent poster seems to be calling out what a lot of people believe is true.

Is Reddit bleeding into HN now? The anti-work subs often feature these whiny hot takes like "woe is me, I don't get to do whatever I want" followed by a comical self-impressed implication that there's a great academic discourse behind this profound thought. Not used to seeing it here though.

First I’d like to state that if you look at my post history I’ve been here far before the bleed in from Reddit. Your whole response is pretty cynical and leads in the negative direction so I don’t know how you would want to have a positive interaction with your comment, but I’ll try anyway.

Regarding “woe is me, I don’t get to do whatever I want”. No, that’s not the way that I’m thinking. It’s more that people CAN feel this way at one point or another in this society of ours. The original comment that I responded too was simply belittling the op for having those types of thoughts. It’s valid and important to address those feelings. Whether or not you can do anything to change the way society is based on those is another story.

I do believe that there is an actual discussion to be had about adjusting our society to allow for a more healthy balance, that’s not stacked against the middle and lower classes. I love my craft as a software engineer and I plan to continue working even if I make it to retirement. It’s just that the system we live in could be more kind to the people in it.

I love HN, but this type of mentality is pretty toxic and isn’t conducive to the healthy conversations that I enjoy in it AWAY from Reddit.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#177

Post by scarface_74 »

spacemadness wrote: post #175
scarface_74 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s why you should always have - an emergency fund, an up to date network, resume and career document. If you live in any major city in the US, as a software engineer you are probably making twice the local median wage and should be able to build up savings.

Are you suggesting I don’t? I have those things but the industry is still in a bad place and is doing a lot of damage to good people.

If you have those things, you are empowered to say “no”.

I just came away from a 3.5 year stint at AWS - the most toxic of the big tech companies - the year before last. While many were losing sleep, overworking during their “focus”, I didn’t cancel a single vacation, refused to be overworked, and when they gave me the choice of accepting the severance and “leave immediately”, I accepted the severance without even listening to what I could do to possibly stay, reached out to my network, started interviewing and went to NYC for a week two weeks later to go to the US Tennis Open.

I had an offer ten days after my last day.

The next year in 2024, I got an invite at 7 PM for a “1-1” with my manager the next morning at 9 AM. I told my wife I’m about to be let go probably. She asked me was I okay. I said yes, set my alarm and rolled over and went to sleep.

I said thank you to my manager, asked them about the process to turn in my laptop (worked remotely) and asked about my severance and started interviewing that day - I had an offer within two weeks - staff architect working full time at a cloud consulting company.

I’ve been working since 1996 and I’m in my tenth job. I don’t panic, I don’t work over 40 hours a week unless I’m spending time learning something new to me, I don’t sacrifice my health or well being. I’ve been through the dot com bust, the 2008 recession and the shit show of the last three years.

It’s not “doing damage” to people who stay prepared. I don’t do the leet code grind. I don’t do take home test. I’ve never struck it rich in either BigTech or startups and I was a mostly your standard enterprise dev until 2020.

I mentioned my background here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44377380

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#178

Post by ted537 »

m0llusk wrote: post #14

Anyone who can engineer software systems is likely able to engineer some kind of company. Not the path for everyone, but it is one way of moving forward without staying linked to the industry.

Do you mean engineer a company as in start one, or work in business side of existing company?

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#179

Post by scarface_74 »

eikenberry wrote: post #19
AdamH12113 wrote: post #11

If you're willing to leave Silicon Valley, there are a lot of small companies out there that need one or two or a handful of decent software developers to do useful but non-cutting-edge work. They can't pay Silicon Valley money, obviously, but you get to be a lot closer to other kinds of work, which you might find satisfying in its own way.

How do you find these positions?

There are around 3 million software developers in the US, most working for regular old enterprise companies in most major metropolitan areas in the US. All of the job boards have openings for those positions.

I spent my entire career from 1996-2020 working locally in Atlanta - 7 jobs in all - until my last three jobs that have been remote.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

#180

Post by scarface_74 »

MongooseStudios wrote: post #54
AdamH12113 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I had something more specific for you, but my experience is more on the demand-adjacent side (as an EE) rather than directly on the software side. The companies I've worked at have posted on the regular job sites but mainly worked through recruiters. Companies do often post announcements on their LinkedIn, if they have one. I share your frustration with the fad-driven, cramming-AI-into-everything, rent-seeking…

No LinkedIn, I couldn't take another "this is what appendicitis taught me about B2B sales" post. But I bothered all the recruiters I know and fed my resume into the paper shredder of all the companies candidate portal early on. I suspect all those great little companies are either laying low or staffed up with the glut of ex- devs. Or the huge pool of ex federal employees who have lots of experience in "legacy" syste…

Well, you can either be righteous with your pride or go on LinkedIn where the jknd snd recruiters are.
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