Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess another bit of advice is to do whatever you need to do to avoid ending up talking like this.
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.
Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
131–140 of 187 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The only people who gain from calling engineers lazy and privileged are executives also commies and alternatively-minded people
Who says commies these days in all seriousness? Alternatively minded people sounds like something out of a Facebook boomer fever dream.
Conservatives. And commies.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#133I'm nearly done after seeing the nonstop indianization of my topics on google. Niches from motorcycles to tech to music have become a punjab yellowpages and no one is even talking about it. Google the most popular korean boyband in the world "BTS" 6/7 of my results are indian domains. What's the point of even trying anymore when ESL slop like that gets a massive SERP advantage for years now and is only getting worse?
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#134Earlier 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.
Uncritical “this is great, that is awesome, things are wonderful” posts get a pass here and are not held to some high academic discourse standard, while “things are not so great, life is not that good” posts get responses like we’ve seen in this thread.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I don’t think it’s specifically Reddit, but more like “normal life” bleeding into HN. The tech industry (and therefore, HN) has this weird “positive thoughts only” vibe where everything negative is considered whiny and curmudgeonly (as the newest HN posting guideline puts it). Uncritical “this is great, that is awesome, things are wonderful” posts get a pass here and are not held to some high academic discourse stand…
One doesn't have to subscribe to toxic positivity to see the childish absurdity of a statement like "It’s difficult to keep moving knowing that we don’t have the ability to opt out of the way our whole society works."
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do those cycles happen to correspond with the tech market crashes? =)
No, my last one happened at a market peak.
Everyone technical has their "Did I just hear someone say that with a straight face?" limits.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#137Earlier 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…
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#138If you have the money, there's nothing wrong with quitting and doing your own thing for a while. Alternately, working for a fundamentally different kind of company can be rewarding. I found working at a small business (a sales company where tech was an afterthought) to be delightful and weird; everything was non-standard and many roles were just not hired for, but everyone's door was open and there's no bureaucracy,…
I wish I had "do my own thing for a while" money. Sounds like you found a nice place to still do something useful but catch your breath. I'm hoping I can find something similar.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#139Blind people have taken hold of the reigns, and they believe that they can do whatever they want because you don't have a choice. This continues right up until it can't, and they learn the hard way that there is always a choice.
Quite a number of us feel this way, and its not just dev work either.
Many SA's, SREs, IT Architects etc all feel these things, and there is a lot of nonsense across the board both with and without AI.
The borderline coercive exploitation, and market manipulation of factor markets, are driving a lot of people to other areas disruptively at great personal loss.
This transition naturally happens anytime the personal costs of work involved exceed the pay being provided in a workplace or business sector, and these blind people believe they can get ahead, and continue full steam ahead by imposing costs on others through chaotic distortions, without any real consequence.
Someday they will the consequence that shows they are wrong, but they won't recognize it, and those consequences are real.
Let them get what's coming to them, and just step out of the way. Do what's best for you.
It sounds like you should look at taking a break/breath then begin retooling so you can do something that you can support yourself with, and just let those people who are exploiting others burn themselves down. Karma can be a bitch.
Goodwill in such environments inevitably runs out, and people quiet quit and just collect a paycheck. Any intelligent person rolls back their individual production as the pay gap vs. personal cost increases. It is not your job to educate these suka people, and they wouldn't listen to you if you tried.
I would suggest meditating a bit on what exactly drives you and aim towards productive activities that follow that path, and finding like-minded people who do listen, this is quite hard today given Ahriman's influence but is still doable.
Inner clarity is inner strength.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?
#140Do you have any friends who work minimum wage jobs? If not, find some and talk to them. I find it's EXCELLENT motivation to stay in this industry no matter how crap it seems. I absolutely resonate with how you feel and what you have written though.
I moved from software to a minimum wage job. The jobs themselves were similarly enjoyable but software had better management and people treated me better when finding out what I did, while the minimum wage job gave me more exercise and a better connection with customers.