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"Computers enable you to waste time that would otherwise be very difficult to waste."
-- attributed to Richard Stallman
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I don't think it is limited to the tech industry, maybe not even industry in general.
A lot of this I believe is a side effect of today's society being lazy, complacent, greedy and used to getting everything it wants right now. If you can't give me what I want for the price I want and give me a result now, I will go get it somewhere else.
The results of today primarily being driven by technology though; so I guess technology may be a necessary evil. I just have mixed feelings to it as I see how de-evolving the effects are on people. And if tech can't fix it, I am sure that some legislative body will find a way to fix it and make it even worse.
The automobile is a showcase of all of this. We have tech that can determine if you should turn your lights on, and as a result people no longer know how to manually turn them on. I used to do my own oil changes as the seasons changed. Now I take it in when the light comes on (Honda actually says every 12 months if a light does not come on). How many people can use a map and figure out how to get where they are going today?
Director of Transmogrification Services
Shinobi of Query Language
Master of Yoda Conditional
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With 30+ years in this business I guess I qualify as an 'old timer' or just simply 'old'.
Here is my take on it Jeremy:
* I love my work.
* I hate my job!
The 'why' to both of these are nested in the corporate structure so many of us work under.
I enjoy nothing more than being presented with a set of challenges and being allowed to accomplished them in the most expedient manner I can. Once they have been accomplished I like to hone that solution so that it is as optimized as I possibly can make it. This is what I love about my work.
What I hate about my job is that fact that while typical management will declare till they are blue in the face that they not only endorse the position in the paragraph above, but that they also will support it and nurture the 'team' as they like to call us (which typically amounts to a few producers and a some peripheral butt kissers) to accomplished the goals set forth; they are all too eager to do exactly the opposite and will throw every obstacle to progress in the path of the 'team' that they can muster as they chase some illusive corporate fad that they are certain 'IS THE SOLTION'! In the meantime, ignoring the goal that was set, leaving the priority of that goal the same, insisting that 'the team' buys in to their madness not only with a hardy cheer, but to provide documented evidence that they indeed are buying in with their time. ONLY to at some point want to have a progress report on the that 'goal' back there that they now REALLY need completed!
That is the BS that I see. So I resign myself to do the best I can with the moronic direction given from above with the limited tools they are willing to provide (despite their claim of being vested in your success).
As for the percentage.. think it is more like 99.75% from where I sit.
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Hmm. I'm not jaded about the work I do: UI's for commercial ink-jet printers. I know I'm sick, but I like doing UI stuff. I don't even mind (too much) the stuff I do as the DSJB(*), admin'ing our source control and build servers, backups, and so on.
(*) Departmental Sh!t-Job Boy
The thing that has me burnt out though are the politics, the nonsensical re-organizations, and the layoffs every six months for the last five years. At last count I now have the responsibilities previously held by eight separate people. Admittedly some of those weren't full-time, but my workload is easily 4-5 times what it was in the early 2010's. Of course I haven't become all-powerful and 100% efficient since that time, so there's a lot of stuff that simply doesn't get done.
Here's an example. Our bug list classifies items as enhancements (it would be nice), cosmetic (wrong color), minor (hey, it might cause a fire), major (it's on fire), and critical (we're on fire). My boss has explicitly instructed me to not work on any item classified minor and below. There's a whole lot of low-hanging fruit there that could improve customer satisfaction that won't get fixed. It's frustrating as hell.
I compensate by running long distances (up to 10 miles last Sunday) and riding my bike to work every chance I get. Keeping my brain saturated in endorphins seems to help.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I feel the same way but haven't figured out how to regain the passion. I still love it just don't want to do it any more. If that makes since. Been struggling with that for 2 years now. For a week or two I have a surge where I am really hyped to work on something. Then after that wears off I spend 3 or 4 months dread doing it. The really hard part is programming is the only thing I know. I have been doing it for most of my life and would be lost with out it.
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Can you find a piece of it which ignites (or keeps going) the fire while dealing with the rest of it?
I think I'm much in the space you're describing.
What I've found is that it's the problems which are interesting, not the technology to solve those problems. The analytical part, like looking at thing X and thinking about how to refactor, or how to add new functionality Y is more interesting to me than the actual implementation.
So, if I can do some of that mixed in with the day-to-day drudgery, that keeps me going. For now.
Of course, sitting in useless meetings, wasting time listening to idiot managers jibber-jabber brings me down. But, that's going to happen anywhere. All we can do is try to minimize those things.
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I'm a lawyer but program for a living, if that tells you anything 
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I've lost and regained the passion for software development a couple times in my 30 year career, mostly due to the company I was working for at the time being too damn cheap to invest in the tools needed to move the product forward or provide the needed staffing or the manager(s) getting caught up in the latest buzz words and thinking they knew better than the developers how to create good software.
The last time this happened I resorted to building auto-cross race cars in my off time to stimulate my creative needs. Resulted in me now owning 2 very fast "race" cars plus I learned to weld, spray paint, tune suspensions and rewire modern fuel injected engines. Exploring the engine control systems I came across a DIY fuel injection system (Mega-Squirt), built one and end up modifying the open-source firmware to provide capabilities I needed. Rekindled my passion for software and got me more involved in low level embedded work.
So, there is hope in the tech related world if you get too jaded/burned out by all the BS involved in the day-to-day grind of corporate software development.
Ken W.
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I'm in jaded mode at the moment. I use to love programming - I've been doing it for 45 years; but it has become commoditised. Agile / scrum means we are interchangeable components, effectively code-monkeys, small cogs in large wheels. We no longer 'own' our work; no-one cares about elegance and beauty in the code; there is no sense of achievement - it's just a case of getting a small piece of work done and then doing the next small job. Even my home projects have languished as my disillusionment with work tasks has taken the shine off my home programming. Would moving to another job help? Probably not - it could be out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I know that I am fortunate - if I had been a few years older, there is no way I'd have made the grade of those hype intelligent pioneers of the computing world. If I had been a few years younger, I would have hated 'Computer Studies' being all about business and infrastructure and very little about programming and design. Modern programming has simultaneously 'dumbed down' the skill set (I'm from the generation that did not see the need for compilers - they only do what you you've already done in your head) and has complicated everything - you no longer just write a program that does something; you have to know dozens of frameworks, technologies, design patterns etc even to do simple tasks.
I used to write large systems / applications; now all I do is fix figures in reports and add views in databases. Job satisfaction? You decide.
I suppose it is the same in all maturing industries. We were metaphorically exploring the uncharted wild west, now we are cruising in air conditioned cars on a motorway. Yes, you get to the destination quicker and more comfortably; but where is the sense of adventure, danger, excitement and achievement?
Give us a meaningful, significant project that is challenging and rewarding (intellectually) where we can use our unique insights and innovations and we will stop being jaded. Treat us as unskilled production line workers and we will stay depressed.
Despite all that, I love programming, I love the folks around me in the office. I am living in the best possible time in history being paid for being involved with something that I am passionate about. So why am I still jaded and miserable?
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jsc42 wrote:
Despite all that, I love programming, I love the folks around me in the office. I am living in the best possible time in history being paid for being involved with something that I am passionate about. So why am I still jaded and miserable?
That encapsulates so much of what I feel day to day. Nicely articulated.
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
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Jeremy Falcon wrote: And yet, we do this because we're creators.
You nailed it. I started in software development in the late 90's because I was striving for a means of fullfilling creative expression. I've made it a point over the years ensure the products I engineer are clean, visually unique, and expressive of my personality.
A few years ago I really felt like I had arrived. 15+ years of experiences in a very diverse product environment gave me great satisfaction and gratitude. Since that time I've watched the technologies I'd devoted so many late nights studying and mastering basically die (GDI/WinForms, ASPNET WebForms, etc) and be completely replaced by newer (presumably better) frameworks (WPF, MVC, Store Apps, etc).
Its a crushing feeling having to endure the thought of starting all over again every 5-10 years having to learn the latest framework (or hotness). Sometimes I just wish I had gone into pure engineering or some other industry. After all math doesn't change often, nor do most of the principles and tools in use in most other industries.
I seem to spend most of my times these days porting code for problems I solved years ago in one platform over to whatever the newest platform is since the youngsters demand everything be written in whatever is the flavor of the month happens to be.
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Is a boycott when all the girls stop dating?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Yeah, the only remedy is to climb higher on the ladder.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Sounds like a 'dry spell' to me, but let me first base this on hard facts.
We can assume when judging the truth: it's not part of a phallux-see.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Also if true they're all just dating each other. Then you have to asks for pitte' dates as long as you keep your seed to yourself.
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...and a mascot is when everybody goes home.
Sin tack
the any key okay
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What is an "asset"? A small donkey.
What is an "ascot"? It's where the donkey sleeps.
- Benny Hill
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Is it still Netflix and chill if the Internet freezes?
Jeremy Falcon
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No! Boycot is what Lorena did to John Bobbitt! 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Out of morbid curiosity, what range of up/down speeds do you guys work with, globally?
Here in Brisbane, Australia, I've got decent download but comparatively terrible upload (due to severe ISP rate-limiting) http://i.imgur.com/rNF0q5A.png[^]
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.
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I have 20 Mbps - symmetric, and it is fairly enough to everything I need...
Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results[^]
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Most results are quite meaningless,
I get 120 D / 60 U to my own ISP (this PC connected to router through concrete wall via WIFI - wired would be higher - 1GB to the ISP).
But connecting from here to say OG's ISP (Fasthosts Internet) I get about 10 - 15 each way - much more realistic usage rates as my own ISP has nothing that interests me - the rest of the world is where I look around.
But the OP is correct, he has severely throttled upload.
Why? Because that's Australia and that's the way it is there.
(supposedly Aus has full open competition, except that Aus telecoms and it's 'independent' authorities are dominated by a govt protected telco that's about 50 years behind the rest of the world ... but to be fair they are catching up ... albeit slowly, really slowly.)
Sin tack
the any key okay
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Quote: except that Aus telecoms and it's 'independent' authorities are dominated by a govt protected telco that's about 50 years behind the rest of the world
That sounds SO Australian! 
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Mitchell J. wrote: decent download
88 Mbps is more than decent. I usually have 25-30 Mbps and I can work from home, have one son gaming online with his 360, and 2 netflixes all running with no issues.
But your upload is pretty terrible. I get about 6 Mbps.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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