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Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

martinalderson.com

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Re: Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

#2
Off topic, but I’d love a good travel agent: someone who would help me cut through all the SEO and slop reviews to find the good hotels, tours, etc., and take care of booking and logistics.

We’ve used some location-specific agencies that have been really good to work with, but you first have to find them. I’d happily pay a premium to someone who would work globally. Do such things exist?

Re: Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

#3
A spicy hypothesis that SWEs net-output from a business process standpoint is comparable to a 1970s travel agents.

It is clear top executives share his perspective given the massive layoffs. But survival is a marathon not a sprint, and there’s a lot of race left to run.

Re: Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

#4

Off topic, but I’d love a good travel agent: someone who would help me cut through all the SEO and slop reviews to find the good hotels, tours, etc., and take care of booking and logistics. We’ve used some location-specific agencies that have been really good to work with, but you first have to find them . I’d happily pay a premium to someone who would work globally. Do such things exist?

You can still hire personal assistants to do grunt work like that

Re: Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

#6

Off topic, but I’d love a good travel agent: someone who would help me cut through all the SEO and slop reviews to find the good hotels, tours, etc., and take care of booking and logistics. We’ve used some location-specific agencies that have been really good to work with, but you first have to find them . I’d happily pay a premium to someone who would work globally. Do such things exist?

A friend started that type of business in my country a few years ago (end covid): she is pretty successful and I gave her a chance for a trip I am on now. It mostly exposed how absolutely terrible everyone seems to be at this: she did absolutely lazy work I could have done fast(er) and better myself (usually do and will do again), but, seeing her other clients, including a friend, it seems most people are just really bad at it, far worse than she is (or wants to spend time on I guess).

Re: Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

#7

Off topic, but I’d love a good travel agent: someone who would help me cut through all the SEO and slop reviews to find the good hotels, tours, etc., and take care of booking and logistics. We’ve used some location-specific agencies that have been really good to work with, but you first have to find them . I’d happily pay a premium to someone who would work globally. Do such things exist?

If it's not niche service, it won't be what you are looking for. The best thing is to search for "my travel destination travel agent" and find a local company which is not overly difficult. I have friends who did not even think anybody booked a major trip in a different way than that. There are also travel agents who work in many locations, but specialize in a specific type of trip like adventure/extreme trips etc. It's a different fit though, they can't know each area as well as a local agent.

Re: Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

#8

Off topic, but I’d love a good travel agent: someone who would help me cut through all the SEO and slop reviews to find the good hotels, tours, etc., and take care of booking and logistics. We’ve used some location-specific agencies that have been really good to work with, but you first have to find them . I’d happily pay a premium to someone who would work globally. Do such things exist?

Sure, just stumble through SEO and reviews to find them!

Re: Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

#9
I remember using travel agents in the 1990s. Maybe it was just the particular ones I dealt with, but the experience was terrible. I was supposed to tell them what I wanted, they would look it up, and then I'd write them a check for whatever amount they told me it would cost. Then along came the internet portals where you could easily see all of your options/prices, without a single sigh from a travel agent. To my knowledge, software developers have little in common with that industry.

Re: Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in

#10
> If your job is to translate requirements into code manually - and that's it - you're the generalist travel agent.

I’ve been a full-stack web programmer at five different companies over the last fifteen years, big and small, e-commerce and B2B, junior to senior to staff, and that has never fully described my responsibilities.

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