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The next two years of software engineering

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Re: The next two years of software engineering

#251

Post by stephendause »

hncoder12345 wrote: post #175
johnfn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To put it very directly - if you are OK with being good but not exceptional at your job, this is totally fine. If you want to be exceptional you will probably need to put in the extra work. Not everyone is OK with this tradeoff and it's totally fine to "just" be good and care more about having outside hobbies and a social life and etc.

I had a period of time where I really wanted to be exceptional. I spent many hours studying and working on side projects but it just never really clicked. I think I'm decent at what I do for work but more complicated topics (graphics programming, low level memory management, etc.) just seem to not stick, no matter how many hours I put into studying. Sometimes it feels like I'm forcing this career but after this many…

Your story sounds similar to mine. There are some parts of programming at which I know I will never excel. I also don't have time in my life to spends lots of hours outside of work developing my skills. I think it's important to realize that the median software engineer is probably not doing these things either. Maybe the top 10% are? Something like that would be my guess. It's okay to not be in the top 10%!

Re: The next two years of software engineering

#253

Post by smeeagain2 »

groby_b wrote: post #248
smeeagain2 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Protip: When you consistently present yourself as somebody with a massively inflated ego who will be a constant pain to interact with, nobody's going to hire you, skills or not.

[flagged]

Re: The next two years of software engineering

#254

Post by vrighter »

seberino wrote: post #238
chankstein38 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amen. It's hard to live with hope right now at all. Programmer or otherwise we're constantly told we're all going to be replaced and the economy is a mess (US). Definitely a depressing time to be alive.

Not sure that is warranted. AI will create exciting changes to society for the better. These times are uncertain but certainly not depressing .

it is depressing to me for exactly the same reason

Re: The next two years of software engineering

#255

Post by jpadkins »

megamix wrote: post #83

The most important question is who will get paid the most? I don't think the future of software engineering will be attractive if all you do is more work for same or even less pay. A second danger is too much reliance on AI tools will centralise knowledge and THAT is the scariest thing. Software systems will need to perform for a long time, having juniors on board and people who understand software architecture will…

the people who start successful new companies will get paid the most.

Re: The next two years of software engineering

#256

Post by smeeagain2 »

afr0ck wrote: post #242
smeeagain2 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I created my first Linux from scratch when I was a freshman in college in a third world country (not India). Fast forward few years later, I now write Linux kernel code for a living. Not sure what you did wrong, bud, to end up miserable like this.

[flagged]

Re: The next two years of software engineering

#257

Post by jmyeet »

maciejzj wrote: post #143

TBH, it all feels like a huge gamble at this point. Neither skills, education, institutional ties, nor current employment can guarantee a stable foundation for life. This hits harder depending on how much money, social capital, or debt you accumulated before this volatility began. If you’ve paid off your debts, bought a house, and stabilized your family life, you’re gambling with how comfortable the coming years will…

I say this without hyperbole: we are (IMHO) on the verge of total systemic collapse.

We've had 50+ years of deteriotating worker conditions and a massive concentration of wealth to like 10,000 people. The 1980s crushed the labor movement, to all of our detriment.

The GFC destroyed the career prospects of many millenials who discovered their entry-level positions no longer existed so we created a generation that we're loaded with student debt, working as baristas.

A lot of people on HN ignored this because the 2010s were good for tech people but many of us didn't realize this post-GFC wave would eventually come for us. And that's what's happening now.

So on top of the millenaisl we now have Gen Z who have correctly realized they'll never have security, never buy a house and will never retire. They'll live paycheck to paycheck, barely surviving until they die. Why? All so Jeff Bezos can have $205 billion instead of $200 billion.

I'm reminded of the quote "only nine meals separates mankind from anarchy".

I believe we've passed the point where we can solve this problem with electoral politics. Western democracies are being overtaken by fascists because of increasing desperation and the total destruction of any kind of leftism since WW2. At this point, it ends violently and sooner than many think.

Re: The next two years of software engineering

#258

Post by tibbar »

zipy124 wrote: post #181
tibbar wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but we need to update our definitions of concepts/fundamentals. A lot of this stuff has its own established theory and has been a core primitive for software engineering for many years. For example, the primitives of cloud computing are largely explained by papers published by Amazon, Google, and others in the early '00s (DynamoDB, Bigtable, etc.). If you want to explore massively parallel computation or contai…

This is mostly software engineering not computer science though. That is but a small sub-section of computer science.

I just don't see the distinction. Looking at it from the other direction: most CS degrees will have you spend a lot of time looking at assembly language, computer architecture, and *nix tools. But none of these are mathematical inevitabilities - they're just a core part of the foundations of software engineering.

However, in the decades since this curricula was established, it's clear that the foundation has expanded. Understanding how containerization works, how k8s and friends work, etc is just as important today.

Re: The next two years of software engineering

#259

Post by tayo42 »

smeeagain2 wrote: post #256
afr0ck wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I created my first Linux from scratch when I was a freshman in college in a third world country (not India). Fast forward few years later, I now write Linux kernel code for a living. Not sure what you did wrong, bud, to end up miserable like this.

[flagged]

This account can't be real

Re: The next two years of software engineering

#260

Post by bovermyer »

seberino wrote: post #238
chankstein38 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amen. It's hard to live with hope right now at all. Programmer or otherwise we're constantly told we're all going to be replaced and the economy is a mess (US). Definitely a depressing time to be alive.

Not sure that is warranted. AI will create exciting changes to society for the better. These times are uncertain but certainly not depressing .

Prove your assertion.
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