I recently read a novel called "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. One character, Ashraf Chacha, is a man who works as a tailor. He is extremely grieved by the death of his wife. He talks about how when she was alive it never bothered him to spend all of his time reading or sewing - just knowing she was there in another room was enough. But after she dies, he regrets all the time he foolishly spent away from her.
I don't want to look back on my life with that feeling. As adults, we have very little free time and spending it on software seems like a gross misallocation of resources, even if our careers would benefit. There's more to life than work.
I used to agree with that, but competition for employment has gotten so cut-throat that when you spend time not being productive, not learning, not building your network, not adding to your resume, you can be assured that your competition (people wanting your job or the job you also want) ARE doing these things. Thanks to AI and robotics, we can expect things to get more and more cut-throat as time goes on. When you're out of work and a few months from insolvency, you're not looking back and saying "Man I wish I spent more time slacking off with my friends and family".
Sounds like you have a great life and great network of people around you so maybe telling someone what they love is a waste of life is probably not a good use of your life.
Maybe realize that some people struggle to find happiness and will constantly be struggling. Not everybody can have a family. Not everyone can find a job after school. Not everything is easy.
> competition for employment has gotten so cut-throat that when you spend time not being productive, not learning, not building your network, not adding to your resume, you can be assured that your competition (people wanting your job or the job you also want) ARE doing these things
That is not a life I want to live in the slightest. I mean it: I'd rather kill myself than live that kind of life. I only work so I can fund my personal life. No personal life, no reason to work.
I'm just an inherently noncompetitive person, and I'm not career-minded in the least.
I've been like that my whole life. When I was in high school, people told me I had to take a ton of AP classes and do a ton of extracurriculars if I wanted to get into a good college. I refused. I took a tiny handful of honors classes -- just the ones that interested me, I coasted through all my regular classes and made more As than not with minimal effort, and I was involved in exactly one club which had very little time commitment. In the yearbook, all the other seniors had this long list of clubs below their pictures, my entry looked almost empty because I had exactly one. After high school, I went to a state university, got my CS degree, and got a job out of college at a fairly conservative B2B company.
TBH, even though I'm lesbian, solidly aromantic, and an extreme introvert, I wish I was straight and able to tolerate living with other people so I could eventually marry a man and spend the rest of my life as a housewife. I'm like the total opposite of career-minded.
But, really, I think you're overstating it. There's a certain segment of the industry that's really competitive, and the rest of the industry isn't like that. Yeah, sure, you need an impressive resume to get into the Big Four or to join some Silicon Valley startup that's pioneering emerging technologies and has dreams of changing the world. But for every company in that mold, there are dozen conservative, enterprisey corporations with headquarters in "flyover country" (I hate that term) that just want interchangeable fleshy cogs to maintain 20-year-old legacy software or a colossal J2EE stack filled with FactoryFactories and the most enterprisey enterprise piles of code you can imagine (or both, with a legacy backend and a J2EE portal). And a decent chunk of them aren't tech companies but are banks, healthcare companies, local governments, etc. You're not going to find them automating software engineering with AI; the managers probably think AI doesn't exist outside of Terminator.
I appreciate your thoughtful comment. I don't think any sane, well-adjusted person _wants_ to live that life. But I think the unstoppable forces of globalization and automation are slowly forcing that kind of life onto everyone.
I read about those laid-back enterprise shops, and think about the coal miner who just wants to live his life, mine some coal, and retire, all the while not competing with anyone. Or the factory worker who just wants to put in a solid 8 turning a wrench and go home to get on with her life, not worrying about the robot that will do the job 25% more efficiently and with 85% fewer errors. Or (very soon) the truck driver. Or (also sooner than we think) the generic white collar paper pushing office worker... Fortunately, so far software has been safe. Software does not yet write itself. But it's only a matter of time. We are all slowly being forced to compete ever more fiercely, with more people, for fewer and fewer jobs. The trend is inevitable and irreversible.
I'm not naturally a competitive person, but over the years I felt I have had to train myself to be so, and I will teach my (now infant) daughter to be _ruthless_. It's a matter of career security for me--it will be a matter of survival for her.
I'm not trying to be dismissive of your concerns, but do you think the truck driver will keep his job when automation comes because he spent every waking moment trying to rise to the top of that industry? The world's best buggy-whip makers probably did not make a graceful transistion to more modern transportation.
Maybe your github contribs are different from mine, but all the projects I can see myself working on now would just make me a better buggy-whip maker.
I have a strong suspicion the so-called tech shortage is just an excuse employers use to justify their own shortcomings.
Programmers generally want, in no particular order:
- a good work environment
- good pay
- interesting things to work on
If you don't provide one you'd better make sure you well compensate with the other two. In practice, employers just say "meh, tech shortage" instead of taking responsibility and admiting "yeah, we kinda suck, the people we'd truly want working for us don't even consider applying so we're stuck with the rest".
> As adults, we have very little free time and spending it on software seems like a gross misallocation of resources
Well programming is one of the most entertaining thing that exists. It can be a great hobby, just like some others will do wind surfing, build RC vehicles or go to the club. Even if you are already paid for it during the day. Contributing to common goods and exploring new stuff is very fulfilling.
I used to feel like that. But now, 10+ years into my career, with a wife and 2-year old son, plus a full time programming gig, I just don't have the time or energy to dive into new projects after work or on the weekends.
I don't want to look back on my life with that feeling. As adults, we have very little free time and spending it on software seems like a gross misallocation of resources, even if our careers would benefit. There's more to life than work.