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I'm done with coding

neelc.org

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Re: I'm done with coding

#121

Post by eibhinn »

gunian wrote: post #23
eibhinn wrote: post #14

I once worked for a start-up that perpetuated inflated social status symbols in a way I found repugnant. Transitioning to an academic non-profit environment was the best career decision I could have made for my mental health. Less money, yes. Less stress and self-loathing, absolutely and entirely worth it for me.

i once worked for a startup that called me a monkey sadly that was the last time i did python how did you switch if you don't mind me asking? if someone is very unsocial has no network is it doable

Sorry to say, I found the position via networking.

Re: I'm done with coding

#122

Post by medhir »

Thanks for sharing man. I think quite a few of us are fed up with the status quo in tech.

I was also at Microsoft until fairly recently, and although I didn’t feel like my immediate work was “unethical”, I’ve felt for quite some time that leadership is completely out of touch with workers. The copilot push in 2022, coinciding with firing the AI ethics team, is a prime example of actions that felt reckless.

I wonder what it’s going to take for tech workers like us to collectively say “enough is enough” to the grotesque avarice we see from tech leadership. I’m not holding my breath, and have essentially no desire to find another role in the industry.

Re: I'm done with coding

#123

Post by gunian »

eibhinn wrote: post #121
gunian wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i once worked for a startup that called me a monkey sadly that was the last time i did python how did you switch if you don't mind me asking? if someone is very unsocial has no network is it doable

Sorry to say, I found the position via networking.

gatekeepers 100 lowly serf 0

Re: I'm done with coding

#124

Post by nullc »

ForTheKidz wrote: post #57
atomicnumber3 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never worked for apple, but huge companies with established, incumbent cash flows and huge moats can bear a truly, spectacularly, mind-bogglingly incredible amount of internal dysfunction while still generally going forward. This can make it really crushing to be a sensible, well-intended single person inside this beast where you have essentially no power yourself.

Yes. And part of why you're paid exorbitantly at these places is to absorb, manage, and counteract this dysfunction. This can be exhausting and lonely work.

> and counteract this dysfunction

correction: and facilitate this dysfunction

Re: I'm done with coding

#125

Post by Havoc »

WD-42 wrote: post #33

I’d never heard of viva insights. Looked it up. Do people actually use this stuff? Who? Why? It looks like something middle management would use to generate a few plots in order to justify their useless jobs. I’d run from any employer that seriously bought into something like this.

It’s not employer it’s HR. They love this sort of human metrics collection stuff and how giving people access to „insights“ about how they used their time will somehow make things better. Employee wellbeing and all that corporate lingo

Re: I'm done with coding

#127

Post by gcr »

ForTheKidz wrote: post #57
atomicnumber3 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never worked for apple, but huge companies with established, incumbent cash flows and huge moats can bear a truly, spectacularly, mind-bogglingly incredible amount of internal dysfunction while still generally going forward. This can make it really crushing to be a sensible, well-intended single person inside this beast where you have essentially no power yourself.

Yes. And part of why you're paid exorbitantly at these places is to absorb, manage, and counteract this dysfunction. This can be exhausting and lonely work.

this is a deeply insightful comment, thank you.

i worked at a FAANG for six years and this matches my experience. there's a variety of responses:

- to burn out. sometimes the flameout is spectacular, other times it's a quiet, lonely exit.

- to "go with the flow." soft-quit, accept that the dysfunction is there and narrow your own expectations within it

- (rarely) to productively challenge it, and -- through picking battles and careful resource management -- push through and make something truly good for yourself or your reports.

this is situational. all three are often present in one career at different times.

Re: I'm done with coding

#128

Post by ferguess_k »

tombert wrote: post #115
NetOpWibby wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m very much still an Apple fan but being on the inside and seeing how weirdly cutthroat people are (we’re not even in the same teams!!) encourages me to look elsewhere.

I have worked for a fair number of BigCos now, and they all have their own little annoyances. As far as I can tell, pretty much all “enterprise” companies drain your life force. They’re all subtly slightly different in how they suck away your will to live, and some are worse than others, but they’re all kind of horrible in their own wonderful ways. There is almost always cutthroat shit. I wasn’t a huge fan of working…

I don't have the skills to get hired by Apple, but I think maybe for my mental health I should just work on my side projects instead of trying to get hired by the FAANGs.

Re: I'm done with coding

#129

Post by mgfist »

throwaway314155 wrote: post #81
mgfist wrote: post #40

Neel, based on your linkedin, you're 27 or 28. You're a grown adult. Stop following your mom's orders. Quit your job, take some time off to decompress and recover from your clear burnout, then figure out what you want to do. Life isn't Microsoft or flipping burgers. There's a lot of things in between. You have one life, don't waste it trying to please others. But simultaneously, don't assume that your burnout is perm…

You could remove these few sentences: > Neel, based on your linkedin, you're 27 or 28. You're a grown adult. Stop following your mom's orders. And be a lot less patronizing, more convincing. (It appears you mean well though, and I do understand the point you're making in spirit).

You're probably right about my tone. But I genuinely think a lot of 27 year olds don't feel like adults capable of having agency. Not long ago the average American used to have several children by that age, and today most of my friends (of similar ages) would be shocked at the prospect of having kids this young - they're just not ready yet! But that's a mindset thing. No one's ready for kids, you just do it and learn. Neel needs to be told that he's an adult, and has agency as a result of that.

(A child is a placeholder for any hard decision).

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