Re:Ask HN: Is low level progarmming job more satisfying?
by erickj on Sunday January 24, 2021 @06:11AM
(#25891092)
OP made a judgement call and ranked his/her preferences. So be it. I understand the sentiment.
Comparing work I do, the higher up I go the less it can feel like coding. Javascript, Python, and Ruby frameworks at times can feel like a paint by numbers puzzle - and I don't mean that to be complimentary under any interpretation.
That doesn't make good web development "easy", nor does it diminish the value of good ideas and fast product development.
For what it's worth, as someone who's done both (Linux kernel maintainer and web developer), this sentiment reads as a kind of chauvinism to me -- the implication that higher-level work isn't real coding.
If I had to choose which was more difficult, I'll probably go with web development: the kernel simply had much less that you had to know to be effective, compared to the massive stack of protocols and frameworks that even a simple web app runs on top of and demands competency with.