Ask HN: Are you having existential questions about being a software engineer?
3•ronbenton•3w ago
Comments
burnerToBetOut•3w ago
Stuff like…
• Daily standups where coworkers' status updates are ten minutes long
• Bug tickets with nothing but "Thing X doesn't work" as their only description
• Insecure coworkers whose level of self-esteem seems to depend on how big of a douche they can be
• The tendency for so many organization's codebases to be low-quality, technical debt-ridden, big balls of mud
• …
Stuff like that makes me ask myself the question, "Isn't life too short to have to deal with this for ANY amount of money?"
speakingmoistly•3w ago
> "Isn't life too short to have to deal with this for ANY amount of money?"
Those feel like pretty mild annoyances resolved by either taking those as an opportunity to try and drive change (in cases like lengthy standups, lackluster ticketing and codebase quality) or as something you can try to look the other way on 9-5 so you can focus on the parts you enjoy (during or outside of work hours). Taking a step back for perspective, software development is a pretty cozy and privileged career path compared to some others (exceptions apply: I would not wish looking for entry-level roles now to anybody, and I feel for folks affected by layoffs and stuck in the grinder).
mmarian•3w ago
Every time I interview for software engineering jobs, and I think about how much prep I'd have to do to end up passing those interviews.
burnerToBetOut•3w ago
• Daily standups where coworkers' status updates are ten minutes long
• Bug tickets with nothing but "Thing X doesn't work" as their only description
• Insecure coworkers whose level of self-esteem seems to depend on how big of a douche they can be
• The tendency for so many organization's codebases to be low-quality, technical debt-ridden, big balls of mud
• …
Stuff like that makes me ask myself the question, "Isn't life too short to have to deal with this for ANY amount of money?"
speakingmoistly•3w ago
Those feel like pretty mild annoyances resolved by either taking those as an opportunity to try and drive change (in cases like lengthy standups, lackluster ticketing and codebase quality) or as something you can try to look the other way on 9-5 so you can focus on the parts you enjoy (during or outside of work hours). Taking a step back for perspective, software development is a pretty cozy and privileged career path compared to some others (exceptions apply: I would not wish looking for entry-level roles now to anybody, and I feel for folks affected by layoffs and stuck in the grinder).