Software engineers hate code

Depends on what I’m writing. For anything vanilla I use the chatgpt site Ui. For anything that maybe censored like smut I use prompt engineering and gpt 3.5 turbo via api to get past the censors, although they just announced this model is to be deprecated in January so I’m playing with local language models to some success. For now been using gpt4all and it’s surprisingly good, although slow on my hardware.

Only junior software engineers hate other peoples code. The progression of a skilled software engineer starts with writing code, then reading code, then writing code in the context of others code. The more you work the more crucial it is to be able to operate in a zone of non ownership in the code base, your value really unlocks when you can sniff code and improve it without rewriting it. At this stage 30y into my career I can step into a completely foreign code base and make material improvements quickly in situ, and sometimes have to do it several times a day. I don’t mind other peoples code - in fact I learn an awful lot of cool things spelunking!

I tend to avoid the “let’s rewrite it” engineers - they’re usually going that route due to lack of practice and skill in developing software. There are times for sure a rewrite is necessary, but IMO it’s sort of like blaming the compiler for build errors. Usually it’s not the compiler, it’s you. But rarely there’s a compiler bug and you’re justified in asserting it as such. Likewise, rarely does code need to be rewritten, you are just unskilled at code surgery - so practice. When you have practiced enough you’ll see that the initial revulsion you felt at their code was mostly your brain reacting to the unknown. The people who wrote that code are often as good or better than you, and understood the domain a lot better if you’re new to the code base. Show a bit of respect for those who came before and learn to learn.

68% of all random-ass percentage laws are crap.

By that logic Nietzsche was also a lazy bum.

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_return

That's the dream! I think it won't work at most public companies unless you end up in a department with a dead-end product whose raison d'être is to keep one or two whale customers happy.

I have a friend who does migration tools that help businesses move their data from ancient versions of software that the big players don't support any more. It's a niche, but it's a niche that banking/insurance/etc customers are willing to pay for. I've applied for jobs like this and never even made it to the screening call. When I asked how she got the job, it was through a former colleague of hers. I actually interviewed with that colleague at a different company several years prior and I heard from her that his impression of me was that I would be bored in the role. So I think it's really important to emphasize to the hiring manager that it is exactly what you are looking for, especially if you have a background in more "hip" companies.

If the "boring" companies don't call you back, my recommendation would still be to look for B2B software, or an internal/tooling-focused team where your customers are your colleagues. It has to be on a product that is already profitable (or seen internally as valuable) so that you don't get pressured into adding new features or having the whole product killed from under you. Ideally a company that is not on the IPO track. There are some maintenance roles to be found in these "hip" companies, but they're rare, and I think you have to accept that you might only be able to fly under the radar for a year or two until an ambitious executive comes along who wants to reorg the department into a boondoggle production line.