The key problem is people pushing themselves too hard. Or working for companies that exploit them. It is OK for a while but psychologically damaging long term.
“The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
21–30 of 53 posts
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#22After Diocletian abdicated he grew cabbages. Maybe high pressure jobs just make people want to be outside and watch something grow. Instead of you know, spending a bunch of energy for little meaningful return in the end. Farming is the acceptance of nihilism without hedonism i guess.
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#23[deleted]
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#24No post body was provided.
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#25I always tell people that I'm going to quit and become a farmer. I might tell the joke enough times that it becomes true.
Yeah, but then you will get burned out from farming some day. It's what you make of it. Lot of stress in farming when your goal is profit instead of a hobby garden. My $0.02: people are at least 60% of what makes your day job good or bad, given adequate compensation that is. Maybe try companies that are not in tech but need your talent? Go where you're celebrated, not tolerated and all that. Good boss+Coworkers+envir…
> Lot of stress in farming when your goal is profit
Aye, there's the problem.
Almost like supporting the lavish lifestyles and endless waste of worthless middlemen sucks whether you're on a tractor, behind a lathe, or sitting at a keyboard
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#26It's Zoom. I'm convinced. Sure there are some people that have always been remote, but I think two years of isolation has caused a cultural infection that is difficult to isolate but absolutely present.
Humans need to be around other humans, and not just their family. At my work we are trying to get team meetups scheduled for roughly April/May. I was worried people aren't ready, but turns out they are actually hungry for it.
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, but then you will get burned out from farming some day. It's what you make of it. Lot of stress in farming when your goal is profit instead of a hobby garden. My $0.02: people are at least 60% of what makes your day job good or bad, given adequate compensation that is. Maybe try companies that are not in tech but need your talent? Go where you're celebrated, not tolerated and all that. Good boss+Coworkers+envir…
> Lot of stress in farming when your goal is profit Aye, there's the problem. Almost like supporting the lavish lifestyles and endless waste of worthless middlemen sucks whether you're on a tractor, behind a lathe, or sitting at a keyboard
On a farm you're alone most of the time. No meetings. Not really any middle management. I grew up on a farm. It's damn hard work and I would never go back to that. But there is appeal in not having to be constantly coordinated, poorly, with other people.
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#28I'm 55 now and I'm working on a side gig that's 'skillful manual labor' and I get a lot of satisfaction from the work and from becoming (let's hope) one of the best in the world at the thing. cf, "Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work" by M. Crawford
The reviews don't particularly look good. Do you recommend it?
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#29Apparently the founder of Heroku went into Olive farming. https://www.wired.com/2012/09/heroku-2/
Re: “The smartest engineers I know are burned out and starting vegetable gardens”
#30Very relatable. I've started to put more of my tech related side projects on the back burner and got into working on restoring / upgrading a old truck I got at the beginning of the pandemic.
What kind of truck?