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Why I hate the weekends (2017)

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Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#101

Post by carc1n0gen »

rb808 wrote: post #36

Honestly I hate these self-absorbed, live-is-tough posts by Software Developers doing creative work in a nice air conditioned office. Get a real job, try milking a few hundred cows at 6am, work as a cop in a bad city, or outside in construction when its freezing or scorching hot. Not to mention doing it on a 20k wage with a few kids. I get it, figuring out how to get our software working can require a lot of thinking…

I worked a turkey egg production farm for 4 years before becoming a software developer. I can say without a doubt that the cognitive load software development brings has been worse on me than the 12 hour days on the farm ever were.

Understandably that's just one guys experience though.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#102

Post by lazyjones »

tastyfreeze wrote: post #95
rb808 wrote: post #36

Honestly I hate these self-absorbed, live-is-tough posts by Software Developers doing creative work in a nice air conditioned office. Get a real job, try milking a few hundred cows at 6am, work as a cop in a bad city, or outside in construction when its freezing or scorching hot. Not to mention doing it on a 20k wage with a few kids. I get it, figuring out how to get our software working can require a lot of thinking…

What exactly is a real job? Does a job have to physically difficult to be considered real? Why is a mentally taxing job any less real than a physically taxing one? Even meaningless work can be a real job. Some people enjoy working their asses off in the hot sun. Some enjoy sitting at a desk hacking code. Just because one job isnt like another doesn't mean it is less real.

> Does a job have to physically difficult to be considered real?

Sitting for 40-50 hours a week and staring at a monitor is physically difficult, ask anyone with 20+ years of that under their belt.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#103

Post by tastyfreeze »

jorgesborges wrote: post #70
rb808 wrote: post #36

Honestly I hate these self-absorbed, live-is-tough posts by Software Developers doing creative work in a nice air conditioned office. Get a real job, try milking a few hundred cows at 6am, work as a cop in a bad city, or outside in construction when its freezing or scorching hot. Not to mention doing it on a 20k wage with a few kids. I get it, figuring out how to get our software working can require a lot of thinking…

What bothers me about these posts is that it seems to diminish any sense of personal responsibility for one's own happiness. Stop acting defeated and invest in other areas of your life where you can be more fulfilled. It may require changing jobs but it's better than slowly pissing your life away.

Absolutely, if you are unwilling to take the helm and steer yourself to happiness you might as well grab a shovel and start digging your grave. Happiness is not granted by existing. Happiness is created through deliberate effort.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#104

Post by sverige »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #83
sverige wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect many people's exhaustion may come from the suppressed awareness that the work on which they're spending so much time and energy is ultimately futile, ephemeral, and perhaps even harmful. I felt the same way some years ago and decided to completely change my life to focus on family time and work that provides a sense of real accomplishment. I'm a few steps lower on the social ladder, I suppose, but my life i…

Do you mind sharing your before and after job role?

To avoid the risk of seeming to be prescriptive, I'll just say that I had a reasonably sound resume with mostly middle management experience in litigation, insurance, telephone technology, and operations. (Those fields seem unrelated even to me when summarized, but there was a logical progression.)

I am now working my dream job, which is solidly blue collar. It pays well enough, I still use my mind, and it is mostly not dull or repetitive. (I've worked a few of those, too, both white and blue collar.)

There are a lot more of those kinds of blue collar jobs than many middle management types realize. Most of my old coworkers are long gone from my social circle, but in retrospect, that always happened when I went from one company to the next anyway.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#105

Post by antibland »

gnulinux wrote: post #9

This resonates with me. I love my work, I really like what I do, I think it's mentally challenging, interesting, and important for our world and civilization and I believe I'm compensated well enough. But it's tiring ok? And all I can ever do on weekends is lying on my bed watching netflix. I work 9 to 6 and work out intensely for 2 hours every week day. By the time it's saturday I'm both physically and mentally exha…

Unsolicited advice usually makes me feel worse about a given discomfort in my life. Do others really think I haven't considered these simple remedies? Most people assume that, if someone is in a bad way and sharing their experience, they possess the armchair wisdom to save them.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#106

Post by hhw3h »

If the OP's post resonates with you and you are a software engineer, consider hiring a part-time personal / virtual assistant.

I haven't heard of software engineers in VC startup land or corporate world hiring personal assistants but in the freelance / consulting world it's very common and an amazing way to "level up" yourself as a professional. It's ok to need help and it's ok to hire someone who enjoys helping with personal or professional admin tasks.

You can start out with a virtual assistant for a few hundred bucks a month and can find one on Craigslist or a branded service like Zirtual.

I have a VA help with routine marketing / admin tasks in my business and then impromptu one-off personal tasks like booking flights, hiring task rabbits, booking doctors' appointments, etc.

I know not everyone is in a place to afford this but I think most engineers are if they are thoughtful about their finances. I'd highly recommend trying it out.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#107

Post by raamdev »

jlg23 wrote: post #88
rb808 wrote: post #36

Honestly I hate these self-absorbed, live-is-tough posts by Software Developers doing creative work in a nice air conditioned office. Get a real job, try milking a few hundred cows at 6am, work as a cop in a bad city, or outside in construction when its freezing or scorching hot. Not to mention doing it on a 20k wage with a few kids. I get it, figuring out how to get our software working can require a lot of thinking…

> I get it, figuring out how to get our software working can require a lot of thinking, but compared to most of the people out there its a sweet gig. Stop complaining. "The worst part is there is hardly any time for resting the mind and body. Our jobs can be mentally and physically demanding." I don't see how any other "too much" job is excluded; you are blaming the author for his background alone. For your example:…

I have done a lot of both worlds and find an incredibly noticeable difference in my private life.

Manual labor that has my body feeling ‘used’ at the end of the day makes me feel that I’ve somehow accomplished so much more than if I’ve only used my mind all day and I find myself generally happier on a day-to-day basis when I’ve been doing primarily manual labor all day. But I can’t seem to justify doing manual labor over the long term when I can make so much more money as a programmer using my mind.

Since becoming a father, it also seems to have become harder to be willing to make less money for more general happiness, knowing that I can work remotely, have more free time for my kid, and make a lot more money in the long-run making money with my mind. It’s also hard to find manual labor jobs that don’t expose your body to something that is usually bad for your health over the long term.

I try to find a balance by taking on, and volunteering to help with, major home projects whenever the opportunity arises, and exercising outdoors as much as practical, but I constantly feel like there’s a huge imbalance (I spend ~40 hours a week at my computer).

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#108

Post by Narushia »

_mqpu wrote: post #12

I used to work a 4-day week (a true 32-hour week, not 4 x 10 or something) and it was the greatest thing I've ever done. All the "weekend stuff" you can do on your extra day, and get two full days off. I can't believe how great it was.

Though I’m young and have little work experience, I’ve already started to think that a ~30-hour work week would be optimal for the rest of my life. My current work place is very flexible in work hours and days, so I decided to do 6-hour days. I think it leaves me enough time to get daily activities & hobbies done and relax.

I really enjoy my work. However, I still occasionally think to myself “man, this kinda sucks”. I think it’s because I feel the need to put my productivity in something original, something that is born from my personal passion only.

After I graduated from college, I actually kept a year-long “break” and just stayed at home. On this “break”, I set up daily tasks for myself to see what I could accomplish on my own. I did creative, productive stuff from 5 to 7 hours a day. I was learning Spanish. Programming. Piano. All on my own. It was a really awesome year. The problem in the long run, of course, is that I don’t get any money from those. It was only possible because I was still living with my parents. I would really like to do all of those activities as often as I could back then, but it’s just not possible now with a job.

I hope to soon have a solution for this: a business. Currently I’m slowly working on a software project on my free time, with the aim of it eventually creating a solid income, with a relatively small need of maintenance. Not overly confident that it’ll work out, but I’ll do my best to be able to do the stuff I want, as long as I want, while also being able to live comfortably. That’s the dream.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#109

Post by kieranmaine »

rb808 wrote: post #36

Honestly I hate these self-absorbed, live-is-tough posts by Software Developers doing creative work in a nice air conditioned office. Get a real job, try milking a few hundred cows at 6am, work as a cop in a bad city, or outside in construction when its freezing or scorching hot. Not to mention doing it on a 20k wage with a few kids. I get it, figuring out how to get our software working can require a lot of thinking…

The post mentions they are mentally ill and medicated. "Stop complaining" is not an effective treatment for mental illness.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#110

Post by rootusrootus »

rb808 wrote: post #36

Honestly I hate these self-absorbed, live-is-tough posts by Software Developers doing creative work in a nice air conditioned office. Get a real job, try milking a few hundred cows at 6am, work as a cop in a bad city, or outside in construction when its freezing or scorching hot. Not to mention doing it on a 20k wage with a few kids. I get it, figuring out how to get our software working can require a lot of thinking…

On the other hand, as with everything else, problems come in two sizes -- mine, and yours. And mine will always be much, much larger than yours. So don't spend too much time trying to decide if it's okay to complain about the difficulty of your life and go ahead and share your perspective. Someone else definitely has it harder, and someone has it easier, too.
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