ragnardan
"...we are not designers or knowledge workers solving issues, we handle data!"
The second sentence is what got me.
I know it's implied as the author's perspective, but speak for yourself.
I am a developer, designer, knowledge worker, and my products are used to solve business issues. There would be no point moving data around and making dashboards, products, automation, except for solving business problems or pushing the bottom line up through innovation.
The whole point of our jobs is to facilitate the needs of the business.
I agree with the general thrust of the article, that in person routine working isn't needed. I work fully remote and collaborate better in many respects that way.
There is also value in having face to face meetings and conversations, body language, microexpressions, aspects of tone are all significantly more palpable in person.
BUT, that doesn't mean we should be in the office all the time, just for occasional face to face meetings. My employer is in another state, I visit for a bit every quarter or two.
It also doesn't change the fact that the return to office is motivated by micromanagement and stop losses on real estate.
There isn't another industry I can think of in which you can become top of the heap without formal education like you can in tech.
If you have questions, ask them. If you have suggestions, try to pose them tactfully but confidently.
If they look down their nose and scoff based on school status, you know exactly who is placing emphasis in the wrong things, and you can somewhat discount their perspective.
The best teams are the ones in which the intern can pipe up in a senior meeting and be taken seriously based on their merit, not social standing.
I don't know if I'd go that far, more like the middle way or Aristotelian golden mean.
I think to an extent there is some inevitable pain in wanting for something that is not yet there, but that doesn't have to be the primary emotion. It's like in relationships or flirting, if there's no friction at all, it's not compelling, it's boring.
But the underlying thing that makes these relationships worth it, just like pursuing your aspirations, is less about the outcome and more about the process of growing and learning. Or optimally, it should be. Paradoxically, a focus on the process and engaging with it sustainably will oftentimes get you closer to the end goal than excessive goal focus and beating yourself up for the whole time you have not yet reached your goal.
The tragic part of aspiration is that often those that are ambitious are also incredibly critical thinkers, and are thus not as able or willing to count the small wins and gradual progress that comes from a sustainable approach.
We also have a tendency to move goalposts, so that by the time we achieve an original goal, we already have the next ones lined up. So the feeling ends up being inadequacy and disappointment.
"Why am I never meeting all of my goals? There must be something wrong with me..."
"There's always something left to try to crack at the end of the day, and until I figure it out I can't let myself off the hook."
This can lead to burnout, cynicism, and frankly a pretty toxic social life.
It's been a process to be in the paradoxical state of constantly wanting to improve and realizing the human constraints I have aren't typically existential flaws, they're just parts of the experience.
Pausing to assess my progress, optimally with objective data, to be able to come to a conclusion and adjust if needed allows me to "give it a rest" with the constant cross examination of self.
Over time, it becomes less constant. Over time, I've learned to appreciate my progress.
One of the big things recently is learning to appreciate myself for WHO I am rather than what I can do to "create value".