I hear surprisingly often here on HN that manual labor and working in the trades ruins your body over decades due to over-exertion. But I also read that sitting in a chair staring at a screen for 8-10 hours a day ruins your body over decades due to under-exertion.
So I am left wondering who is right.
A bathroom fitter who wants less physical exertion, though? Ain't nobody else going to haul that 700 lbs pallet of tiles or that awkward ass bathtub up that staircase.
I worked in kitchens for years and as much as I also wanted to hit the gym I didn’t have it in me after 12+ hour shifts. I had several family members in older generations who did various types of manual labor and saw what it did to their bodies.
As much as I bitch about the state of the software industry and some of my coworkers, I know better than to throw that baby out with the bathwater. We have it really good.
Then again, if someone doesn’t have any first hand experience with any of this, maybe it would be good to go get some perspective.
They're both right.
However, "sitting in a chair staring at a screen for 8-10 hours a day" in this conversation stands in for "classic HN programming job". In that context, it still gives you a choice to take bodyweight exercise breaks in brief moments during the day and over noontime lunch (if you follow Huberman Lab's "don't start eating until 2 pm" advice), and working out afterwards.
The other part overlooked in this thread about manual labor beyond the over-exertion already touched upon is many people build overtime into their assumed lifestyle and pay expectations. It is part of the culture, and it accelerates the wear and tear on bodies. Also perniciously schedule traps people into not enough time to work out even assuming they had the energy to do so.
Also, in many industries it is still somewhat uncommon to find employers and employees who take PPE seriously. Welding is notorious for such a culture if you find yourself in a shop that specializes in welding (independents get to set their own standards, but a distressingly high number of them still don't take it seriously). There is even a perverse machismo associated with cavalier PPE attitudes in some shops.
You can work manual labor, get paid a lot, and not wreck your body. In both cases, you have to be very discerning about what to accept is "normal" for your industry and yourself, and accordingly set your boundaries.
There's quite a few engineers I know that are fat and unshapely, and that likely takes a toll on their health, but I doubt any of them encounter daily situations where they're at decent chance of being maimed.
I also miss the social aspect terribly. I would love to have friends around me during the day (although coding would be impossible if they were there all the time). But I don't miss getting off work and drinking for hours, being too tired to do any hobbies. I don't miss watching my friends smoke cigarettes for hours until I gave in and bummed one.
And I definitely don't miss the helplessness and lack of respect I felt in those jobs. The most urgent push I had for learning to program was that I was just so tied of not being able to solve problems, manage my own time, and avoid people just being rude as hell.
All that said, my job is unfulfilling. I think that's a valid complaint. If I had some of the social and physical aspects, I don't know if I'd worry so much about that, but I don't so I do.
You also have to be prepared for a major culture shift from what you're used to. The food industry at least is different than what you're probably used to. It's rough. You have to be comfortable with things not being above board, heavy drug use and heavy alcohol.
Our jobs in tech are so easy compared to what other people go through. The pay is good, and the freedom is amazing. Unfulfilling is really a complaint well off people get to talk about that aren't struggling to survive.