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I am retiring from tech to live offline

openpath.quest

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Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#181

Post by ungovernableCat »

moralestapia wrote: post #95

Very nice performative piece. The reason he, and others, are "retiring" from tech now is because they have the wealth to do it, in big part due to being at the right place at the right time in life. That’s it. AI has nothing to do with it, they just want a small ego stroke.

Nah, I think AI has fundamentally changed the perception of the value of most tech labour in the eyes of the people running the show.

The end result of it is that the average dev position becomes seen as dispensable, competition goes up, workload goes up, compensation stagnates.

Being able to escape the rat race and retire is a privilege though. The rest of the rats gotta keep running faster and faster just to stay in the same place.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#182

Post by simonw »

japhyr wrote: post #175
simonw wrote: post #121

Am I the only person in this thread who thought this might be a joke? The job at Home Depot in particular, and this bit: > I haven't used a phone or the Internet in my personal life since February 6. To communicate, I use the USPS, or maneuver my body into close proximity and vibrate air with my throat. I love it. I want to be part of a society of people likewise inclined. I'm not at all certain though. Chad posted i…

Have you ever met Chad? I have no doubt this is sincere.

I have, and he struck me as someone with a quirky sense of humor.

Hence my uncertainty - I'm not saying "this is obviously a joke", I'm saying "is there a chance this could be a joke?"

(See updates to my original comment, I now suspect it is not a joke having watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCC76jmmzkc )

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#183

Post by skeeter2020 »

hylaride wrote: post #137
pyrophane wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've realized that the things I don't like in tech have everything to do with the culture and politics. When I've been able to work with a small team of people I really like and respect, I've generally been quite content.

I've rekindled by passion by working for a startup again. My previous employer (which I also joined as a startup) ended up in a situation where the head product manager became VP of engineering (it's a complicated story - don't ask). We also had a yes-man director of Eng and together they went all-in on very orthodox scrum, where they sat in the sprint planning/point meeting and overrode every decision of what to tak…

>> they went all-in on very orthodox scrum

do you mean "unorthodox"? What you describe sounds both terrible and not very scrum-like, at least ideally (I too have experienced when whatever terrible approach you use is labelled "agile" by leadership...)

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#184

Post by coldtea »

gonzalohm wrote: post #142
speff wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the management. Mine asks that, but others within my company get "this is going to be done by [DATE]".

And no one argues about unrealistic deadlines?

A few firings of those that do under this job market convince the rest not to.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#186

Post by toast0 »

azangru wrote: post #32
kamaitachi wrote: post #7

I just retired after 40 years writing code. The last year or so wasn’t fun - battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted. For a long time, I thought I’d do a lot of hobby or open source coding when I retired. I haven’t even tried. I’m not burned out, but find I’ve lost the passion for coding I once had. Is that AI? Or is it me? Maybe as my retirement progresses, I can rekindle that passion, but as of now, I d…

> battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted What I am selfishly curious about is: is it possible to remain a software developer, and ignore AI? To write code the same way we did before 2022? I understand that there are many companies in which managers demand more of workforce — but are there still places where people are satisfied to not rush ahead and do business same way they did three or four years ago?…

My personal situation is unusual, but I don't see my coworkers being forced into AI. They also don't seem to be ignoring it, but they're also not using it very much afaik.

Some do try feeding it log based mysteries, which sometimes spots problems but usually not the one that was being investigated.

So far, all their attempts to write code with AI don't seem to have been worth the time. Although there's one report of good unit tests being generated.

I don't get much feedback on my open source projects, because the audience is limited, but I did get an annoying report recently where the reporter was using AI instead of their brain. AI took them (and me) through a pretty wild goose chase over a very simple reported error (unused variables in a couple places). Just remove them and carry on.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#187

Post by nocman »

mikeyinternews wrote: post #102
adamddev1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: if you didn't enjoy using AI, why not just write code without using AI?

As Eric Schluntz from Anthropic put it (not verbatim): If you're not using AI (I believe he was specifically referring to Vibe Coding), then you are the bottleneck.

Yeah, because someone who is trying to sell you something would NEVER try to convince you that you can't possibly hope to compete without buying their product. /s

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#188

Post by [deleted] »

pyrophane wrote: post #40
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I retired, after 30-some years. Actually, I was forced to retire, by folks that don't think us greyheads should be working. Fortunately, I had the means to retire. Those means had nothing to do with a FIRE strategy. I just saved, lived humbly, and stayed at a job for a couple of decades. But I have been doubling down on my tech work. Once the knuckleheads were removed from the soup, the flavor improved markedly. I lo…

Yeah, I've realized that the things I don't like in tech have everything to do with the culture and politics. When I've been able to work with a small team of people I really like and respect, I've generally been quite content.

[deleted]

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#189

Post by GaryBluto »

While I admire his commitment to his ideals, I find some of this veers into an uncomfortable fanaticism, especially the remarks praising the savage acts of violence committed by the Sentinelese (which I find particularly odd considering the author's professed religion). I doubt the Amish (who apply technology selectively and intelligently) would appreciate being compared to them either; the Sentinelese are not preserving a valuable way of life, they're primitive hunter-gathering barbarians, and anybody can "return" to that way of life any time they want by taking a one-way plane ticket and camping out somewhere where they cannot be found.

Additionally, the fact that this announcement is a scan of a typewritten letter, despite the fact that he has communicated in text-form on BlueSky since the letter's authoring, feels a tad performative to me.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#190

Post by aquir »

I would go offline but never retire from tech, I would miss music terribly. I would also move all my ebooks over to an e-reader and that's it. If I can live somewhere offline with my music player and e-reader that's fine.
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