Re:Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple
by devjab on Monday May 22, 2023 @01:49AM
(#36027874)
> You can work with passionate people. You can work for a large corporate, for a huge paycheck and stock options. Pick one.
I’ve spent most of my decades in SWE in large organisations, working with passionate people. So you definitely can do that. There is no recipe that I can share with you other than to not stay in jobs that you don’t want if you don’t have too. Oh, and don’t be afraid to take a little pay cut, as long as you’re going from well paid to well paid. I don’t buy the fact that you can’t be passionate and still clock-out however. People with children should frankly always do this, at least until you can somehow involve your children in the joy of making the machine go boop. Anyone should clock-out really, if you’re doing work on your own time you’re doing work for free. I know this is an area where European and American mindsets tend to clash, but unless you really, really, really, really, love React then why on earth would you be fiddling with it on your own time? Anyway, I think it’s usually up to you to find a good place to work. It hasn’t been hard for me, and SWE being as in-demand as we are in my area has definitely helped, but you still need to make the moves when your current place becomes a bad fit.
That being said, I think it’s perfectly fine to find a nice well paid job and just work it and then live your life on the side. In my experience people who don’t really care about CS on their own time can be just as excellent as co-workers as people who nerd away.
I’ve spent most of my decades in SWE in large organisations, working with passionate people. So you definitely can do that. There is no recipe that I can share with you other than to not stay in jobs that you don’t want if you don’t have too. Oh, and don’t be afraid to take a little pay cut, as long as you’re going from well paid to well paid. I don’t buy the fact that you can’t be passionate and still clock-out however. People with children should frankly always do this, at least until you can somehow involve your children in the joy of making the machine go boop. Anyone should clock-out really, if you’re doing work on your own time you’re doing work for free. I know this is an area where European and American mindsets tend to clash, but unless you really, really, really, really, love React then why on earth would you be fiddling with it on your own time? Anyway, I think it’s usually up to you to find a good place to work. It hasn’t been hard for me, and SWE being as in-demand as we are in my area has definitely helped, but you still need to make the moves when your current place becomes a bad fit.
That being said, I think it’s perfectly fine to find a nice well paid job and just work it and then live your life on the side. In my experience people who don’t really care about CS on their own time can be just as excellent as co-workers as people who nerd away.