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I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

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281–290 of 336 posts

Re: I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

#281
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don't bust your ass trying to make a difference and change minds that don't want to change. Exactly. Either leave or just coast by doing the necessary minimum and keep your stress buffers and brainpower for interesting personal stuff

I am not sure if the "just coast" advice would work. The source of stress is still there, still sapping away all the mental power, still occupying your brain during shower.

Ideally it would probably be just coast while looking for a new job in your spare time.

Re: I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beginning was good, but when you claimed that smart people are certain to not get along with authority you went way out on an unsupported limb. I personally think passion and drive correlate to conflict a lot stronger than intelligence does; plenty of smart people know how to choose their battles and bite their tongues, and the suggestion that if they do they must not be super smart is just outrageous.

Around 130, you start to question and dislike authority, but you can still hold back. At 150, authority comes to you looking for fights (even if you don't do anything to it) because you make it insecure about its inherent illegitimacy and moral emptiness. Actual 150s are pretty rare: about 43 per 100,000 people. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3.333+sigma

Incompetent authority may come looking for fights. Any competent authority figure is going to hire the smartest people possible.

I have a high IQ and have never had regular "fights" with competent authority figures (management, government officials / LE, etc). I'm also very libertarian and don't like working for others but when I do I don't have problems.

I also have good social skills so that probably plays a part too.

Re: I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

#284
post #84

Although this is an extreme example, I sympathize and often have feelings like this. But it's not about the amount of work; it's about the constant internal struggle. Let me explain. I have never had a problem about the volume or difficulty of work in any job I've ever had. In fact, some of my favorite memories of work have been sprints to finish something, whether in software, retail/distribution, or food service. I…

Have you sought out a mental health professional? In my experience, most incidents like the one linked have little to do with the amount of work or the politics involved, and everything to do with an untreated emotional condition. A lot of your writing above rings true in the same fashion. Please be careful.

Yes, being annoyed by unethical people is a mental condition.

Re: I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

#285
post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like a lot of what bothers you about VC startups is that they've become a way for megacorps to outsource risky marketing experiments (aka "convex work") and buy the winners while discarding the losers. But through the usual avenues of corruption it's become a rigged game where the sociopaths inside the megacorps are working with their sociopath friends in the VCs and actually picking winners instead of only…

Is there a such thing as a corruption-repellent, paychopath-kryptonite system, and if so, what is it? I doubt it. I think we have to just keep reinventing. There's no system we can set up and have it run on its own. I like the way the Scandinavians think: they hybridize between the socialist welfare state and a capitalistic market for innovation in a way we could stand to learn from.

I don't think there's a set-and-forget model solution.

But that's not what the US Constitution is, either. It was a legal framework and social contract that set up an elaborate system of checks and balances to prevent psychopaths from amassing too much political power. The democracy still running on that framework is a living, evolving thing, that has struggled to adapt with changing times, but it's done a pretty good job of keeping the psychos out of supreme ruling power (or at least keeping any one particular psycho from holding onto it very long) since 1787.

Meanwhile in the corporate world, we don't have that. Most private organizations are not even remotely democratic in nature. I think that's the core essence of what needs to change. And I think that's sort of what you're getting at by advocating open allocation and profit sharing.

Either that, or we need to at least strengthen the welfare state enough to decouple employment from basic livelihood, so that business failure doesn't impose the risk of homelessness/starvation, and most people aren't compelled to become MacLeod Losers, selling all their economic upside risk off in exchange for stable shelter, food, and medical care.

Re: I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

#286
post #124

If you're feeling similarly, or have in the past, and are looking for an alternative then you might want to consider teaching. I used to do cubicle work at a couple of tech companies and fucking hated it. I simply cannot stomach office politics, and I can't tolerate others that do the whole ladder climbing, brown nosing thing around me. The straw that broke the camel's back was when my line manager took credit for my…

I'm a high school student, who is considering teaching as a future career path, and I have a few questions.

1. What subjects do you teach? Would you recommend teaching them?

2. Did you find any value in working at a non teaching job first, then going into the teaching career? Put another way, if you were doing this all over again, would you go straight to being a teacher, or would you have a non-teaching job for a little while, and then teach?

Thanks.

Re: I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

#287
Sad story, but he needs to set aside time for himself to recuperate and recover from a work week. The old saying that many people have said time and again, that they will go crazy from working, literally happened to him. Why work yourself to the brink of insanity when the people you work for do not honestly care.

Re: I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have only 1.5 years of work experience as software engineer. Maybe I am wrong, but aren't most of these quirks just a part of working with others? Regardless you are working for yourself, a company or organization, you have to deal with people. And people can be unethical, apathetic, incompetent, rigid, inexperienced, inappropriate. And when your company become large, it will have processes to limit your reign of p…

You learn well, grasshopper. Indeed, whatever your occupation you will balance imperfect choices of what you will do, who you will work with, and the outcome of your efforts. Humility and acceptance of your limits go far in preserving sanity, whether you lead a multibillion dollar corporation, write software with a team, or sweep the floors alone after hours. You don't have total control, but that doesn't mean you do…

That's why I adore small startups where you can grow with others while being pushed to innovate. And people you work with likely to have the same mentality. The fact that the limited resource presents such challenge it's actually exhilarating! Well, my current job though hits almost all items on that list. It sounds depressing, but it has been a great learning experience! I like challenges and I don't believe in complaints, always make the best of the current situation. (really, I'm just squeezing every bit of learning opportunities out of it... big organizations got huge resources. Ha! =D)

Re: I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have fought the hydra bravely, and I commend you for that. May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. What do you suppose we do? For the long-term, here's the financial structure for the solution that I see: http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/gervais-macle... . Essentially, I think VC-istan and MegaCorps are both dead ends when it comes to genuine technical excellence (whic…

I submit Fargo, ND for your consideration. We have oil money, cheap cost of living, and a decent tech community.

I would say SD would be friendlier. They actively advertise in the Minneapolis area boasting of their business friendly government. They'd completely go for something like this, but then, nobody'd want to live anywhere in SD. Ever.
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