Re:Ask HN: How do you suggest we technologists get our indus...
by tptacek on Monday May 20, 2013 @10:36PM
(#5741577)
The comment you're replying to was implying that the median job in software development tends to be significantly better than most other available jobs. Software developers are alone among professionals in the control they have over their own schedules. They're in far more stable demand than lawyers are. They work vastly better hours than doctors. And, obviously, software developers don't come home every day barely able to move from the physical toll of their job.
It seems like what you did with your comment was to reframe his comment, without his consent, so that instead of the median it referred to some platonic ideal you have regarding the role software developers should have in the market.
What do you think line of business devs at Global 2000 companies do all day? Hew nuggets of C#/ADO code out of solid rock in a dank tunnel with only the lamp affixed to their helmet to see it with? No, they lead exactly the life the parent commenter said they do.
For that matter, how many 40 year old developers do you know? The last 8 years of my career have been a tour of every conceivable kind of software developer, and I've met lots and lots of 40 year olds, and 50 year olds, and (gasp) older. I do not know a lot of 40 year old developers who think of their lot as "dogshit". Your ageism assessment isn't even valid in startupland! Look at the stats on tech entrepreneurship. The only place 40 year olds are disfavored is on message boards, and (if we want to stipulate any part of your argument) on the small subset of startups that are important primarily to message board nerds.
No (P)rofession has an easier time raising children than software developers. Corp lawyers have 50%+ travel burdens and work 60-70 hour weeks. High-paid accountants work for firms that similarly keep them on the road half the year. Doctors? Heh. I raised 2 kids while starting two startups and working for a third and saw my kids all the time. And that's startupland. Most developers do - not - work - for - startups. Line of business software developers at State Farm do not work 70 hour weeks.
Re:Ask HN: How do you suggest we technologists get our indus...
by glurgh on Tuesday May 21, 2013 @12:10AM
(#5741867)
Dude! I was just browsing and upvoted this for the talk of onion-parody-level sense of entitlement and the all-caps reminder the OP is not, in fact, Gavroche. Edited for butchery!
It seems like what you did with your comment was to reframe his comment, without his consent, so that instead of the median it referred to some platonic ideal you have regarding the role software developers should have in the market.
What do you think line of business devs at Global 2000 companies do all day? Hew nuggets of C#/ADO code out of solid rock in a dank tunnel with only the lamp affixed to their helmet to see it with? No, they lead exactly the life the parent commenter said they do.
For that matter, how many 40 year old developers do you know? The last 8 years of my career have been a tour of every conceivable kind of software developer, and I've met lots and lots of 40 year olds, and 50 year olds, and (gasp) older. I do not know a lot of 40 year old developers who think of their lot as "dogshit". Your ageism assessment isn't even valid in startupland! Look at the stats on tech entrepreneurship. The only place 40 year olds are disfavored is on message boards, and (if we want to stipulate any part of your argument) on the small subset of startups that are important primarily to message board nerds.
No (P)rofession has an easier time raising children than software developers. Corp lawyers have 50%+ travel burdens and work 60-70 hour weeks. High-paid accountants work for firms that similarly keep them on the road half the year. Doctors? Heh. I raised 2 kids while starting two startups and working for a third and saw my kids all the time. And that's startupland. Most developers do - not - work - for - startups. Line of business software developers at State Farm do not work 70 hour weeks.
edited for brevity