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Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

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Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#31

Post by Tehchops »

danharaj wrote: post #9

Software development has proven methods for organizing labor by labor instead of by the whims of the owning class. The most useful software in the world is developed by an ecosystem of communities that resembles anarchist, communist ideas of how society at large could operate. Because of the unique capital requirements for software development, cooperative firms are more viable than in any other industry. We could be…

  |Too bad most programmers are allergic to collective labor action.
Because there are plenty of real-world examples in other industries of the end state of "collective labor action", and it's generally not pretty.

We as an industry really do not want to emulate that model.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#32

Post by Tehchops »

iamcasen wrote: post #29
seppin wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This implies the poor are better off under socialism than as lower class in a rich country.

If you know what socialism is, then you would know that they would indeed be better off. It's simple really, eliminate this concept of capital ownership by individuals or corporations. That way, when you work, your boss is not getting a profit on top of your labor. That means your wages go up! Best thing of all, whatever your participating in, you have part ownership in.

It'll surely work this time!

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#33

Post by iamcasen »

In software it is more true than any other industry. The software we develop has the power to be leveraged across all industries. Much like the wheel, it should not be constantly re-invented.

I truly feel like most software development should be done via autonomous software partnerships not unlike law firms. There would be so much less waste, and I imagine it would be a huge boost to the economy. We don't need any more eye-grabbing, social-media-connected, neopet apps people. Software engineers are building useless and inane shit because that's how incentives work under capitalism. It's a shame.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#34

Post by firstplacelast »

bmj wrote: post #8

This article assumes that every developer works for an SV-style start-up that requires 80 hour weeks building trivial things. I work in the medical industry, rarely work more than 40 hours a week, take six weeks of vacation a year, and can generally feel okay about my output actually helping people lead better lives. Of course, yes, sometimes I do a lot of BS things at my job. However, as another comment has already…

As someone that used to work in healthcare and left after my company was bought out by a multi-national pharma, if you’re contributing to the American healthcare system you are likely doing extremely evil things everyday if you account for opportunity cost.

Sorry, raise our bar. There’s no way to “do good” in the American healthcare system unless you are attempting to break it down and re-make it.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#35

Post by mikestew »

PrunJuice wrote: post #7

So sitting AND standing are both out. Now what? Walking desks? Neutral buoyancy fluid desks? Supine desks?

Walking desks?

Missed the treadmill desk fad, did we?

In case you really did, yes, that was a thing. Take a treadmill, put a board across the handholds to hold your laptop, start coding.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#36

Post by Kpourdeilami »

PrunJuice wrote: post #7

So sitting AND standing are both out. Now what? Walking desks? Neutral buoyancy fluid desks? Supine desks?

Anecdotal, but I have been walking to work for the past 2 months and it helps a lot. I get around 12km of walking and 2 hours of exercise out of it.

It has helped a lot to balance my sleep as well since I'm usually too tired to stay up late. I highly recommend it to anyone who works long hours behind a desk.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#37

Post by touristtam »

fileeditview wrote: post #18
bmj wrote: post #8

This article assumes that every developer works for an SV-style start-up that requires 80 hour weeks building trivial things. I work in the medical industry, rarely work more than 40 hours a week, take six weeks of vacation a year, and can generally feel okay about my output actually helping people lead better lives. Of course, yes, sometimes I do a lot of BS things at my job. However, as another comment has already…

I really don't think it's about doing some "BS" or annoying things at work. It's about creating products(in this case software) that are utterly useless to the world. That maybe even make the world a worse place over the long run. It's about products that nobody would miss if they wouldn't exist. It's about the 1000th clone of some app that offers some wannabe feature plus social networking. The problem is not softwa…

> EDIT: Oh and I'm sure not every software dev job is useless/boring/..

No but re implementing the same bit of logic for the hell of it, although it might be satisfying for one, is pretty silly in the long term.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#38

Post by Bjartr »

PrunJuice wrote: post #7

So sitting AND standing are both out. Now what? Walking desks? Neutral buoyancy fluid desks? Supine desks?

Walking[1] and supine[2] definitely exist. Neutral buoyancy almost exists[3].

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006M2PJV0/

[2] https://www.wired.com/2015/10/altwork-desk/

[3] http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/jtpo/

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#39

Post by horsecaptin »

To many people your job looks like BS, but it isn't because someone clearly values the fact that you are where you are and is willing to pay real money for it.

If you think your job is BS, then do yourself a favor and work hard towards moving to a job that you do not think is BS.

Other people's opinions are like the tides and the wind - sometimes they bode well and sometimes they don't.

Re: Most Software Dev Jobs Are Bullshit Jobs

#40

Post by pendar747 »

This article says nothing about how software engineering is a "bullshit job". Her only point that comes close is that she once worked at a job where she was building a pointless website, but that only makes her job in that instance "bullshit".

Look all around you and you see almost endless ways that digital systems are transforming and running our lives, every single one of those needed to be engineered, designed and tested by someone, which could have been a software engineer. I think it wouldn't be an overstatement to stay without software engineers our modern life would be impossible.

I often hear complaining that they are going to leave software engineering because of a flawed list of problems, while the real problem lies in their perception of what the profession should be.

IMO software engineering is about solving challenging technical problems, and not necessarily what is created in the process. A lot of what a software engineer does is not apparent in the end result, but is absolutely necessary to get those programs, systems or applications running.

I think there are far worst professions out there, which in comparison achieve so little to SWE.

Working hours does not make any job a "bullshit" one, and the working hours and the pay grade of a SWE are obviously far better than most job. The parts of the article talks about SWE from a completely biased and personal view, which almost have no value to the reader.

I'm surprised that such article would even be by on HN's first page!

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