Hamlet42

“They equate the software they built with the entirety of their product.”

The irony is that customers often exhibit the same way of thinking: “If only I had the perfect to-do list app I would be much more productive.” - they equate the solution to their problem with some product.

Some math problems seem uselees when first encountered until they become useful some dacades later. An example of this is knot theory and medicine[1]

[1] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/255/5043/403

Thanks for saving my time.

I have a wife and two kids, we rent an expensive house on the countryside. I struggle to find enough work even though I have a university degree and I taught myself programming (R). I feel totally constrained every day. I guess that is living by other peoples rules.

So my own rules (which I am working towards) would mainly be decreasing our minimal monthly expenses. This is hard in a country where the norm is to earn a lot, spend even more, pay the highest taxes in the world and where the government wants to make everything even more homogeneous.