Good post, thanks for sharing it and the author for writing it!
I liked very much the observations in the first half of the post, however I don't agree with the conclusions. For me the reason for the state of software engineering (and well, many other industries really) is the problem with leadership. We as society often choose wrong leaders[1] and these leaders have very detrimental effects on processes and quality. However, it doesn't mean that what we do in software engineering is intrinsically meaningless, it's just very inefficient. The majority of web and mobile applications do solve a problem people have, because people do need to eat, shop, dress, play, organise their documentation, learn, do sports, connect to other people, share things with each other, etc. More often than not these applications are developed not because of great leadership but despite of terrible one, because the people who write code still manage to do their job despite of it. And the same thing happens in hospitals, you don't think that hospitals' management is much better, do you?
So, basically, the problem with the first approach (Gratitude) is that it ignores the problem. Often ignoring the problem is contributing to it. And the problem with the second approach (Cynicism) is that it exacerbates it, because it essentially promotes the lack of integrity and the same problematic egocentric attitude that's responsible for this problem in the first place.
Being angry is a very natural reaction to this problem, and I do agree it's necessary to a degree. However I don't think it's the solution. I guess the solution is to accept the current situation for what it is, and do your part to change it. You don't need to be angry to do that, but you do need to ditch the wrong expectations about our society and how it works.
People get motivated in different ways, but I definitely would be worried if I saw someone waste $1M to further their own career and didn't feel any anger at all. That doesn't mean hauling off and punching them in the face, but there's no way I'd bother starting a business to tackle these problems if I wasn't deeply emotional about it.
Wow, great piece, thanks for sharing it!
While reading it I was absolutely sure I've already heard it. For the first part I thought it's the transcript of the text they read in Vipassana retreat, and for the second I thought it must be from Alan Watts. But from the rest of the blog and from the comments here I understand that it's neither, and that it's just your thoughts. It reads really nicely, like a river.
I also noticed that your previous blog's name (stormrider) is somehow similar to mine (cyclinginthewind) haha.
Thank you very much for writing this! It's very well formulated and expressed. I especially liked
> Unfortunately, it's very difficult to convince suffering patients that they have some control over their situation without also implying personal blame for their problems
I also see it as a big part of the problem, that it's difficult to convince people that they do have control over their lives. In many psychotherapy books, when therapists describe various cases, this is a corner stone of a therapy success: a patient understanding that they do have control over their situation. That it's not the outer world that is so demanding that it leaves them no choice, but them choosing to cope in a particular way, and that there are other ways to react and cope.
A star like Sun is in a state of an equilibrium between gravitational forces that want to collapse the star and the fusion energy. Gravitational pressure helps atoms to collide and fusion takes place. But it doesn't sound right to say that the heat is from the pressure.
Once the fusion energy isn't enough to counteract the gravity, the star collapses into a white dwarf (or a super-nova later).
Hey, great answer, totally on the same page with you. But at times the boredom voice is just so loud, that even understanding that this voice is also just a part of grand happening does not help.
Although I do agree that the percentage of people on the spectrum is higher in tech industry than in other industries, I think it's not higher than some 5-15%. When you ascribe to every introverted person being on the spectrum, you neglect the significance of it in people who really have it. It's like you're saying "yeah, we're all like this, so don't pretend you can't do this or that".
On one hand it's true and people will apply their preconceived interpretations, on the other hand if nobody talks about it these interpretations and biases will never change. People have these biases because they don't know anybody with autism/schizophrenia/depression personally, but once they know and realize that it's a human just like them, they could understand it better.
New York, currently in EDT. We're not currently hiring at the moment but it's possible we'll post in the monthly who is hiring thread at some point in the future.
I liked very much the observations in the first half of the post, however I don't agree with the conclusions. For me the reason for the state of software engineering (and well, many other industries really) is the problem with leadership. We as society often choose wrong leaders[1] and these leaders have very detrimental effects on processes and quality. However, it doesn't mean that what we do in software engineering is intrinsically meaningless, it's just very inefficient. The majority of web and mobile applications do solve a problem people have, because people do need to eat, shop, dress, play, organise their documentation, learn, do sports, connect to other people, share things with each other, etc. More often than not these applications are developed not because of great leadership but despite of terrible one, because the people who write code still manage to do their job despite of it. And the same thing happens in hospitals, you don't think that hospitals' management is much better, do you?
So, basically, the problem with the first approach (Gratitude) is that it ignores the problem. Often ignoring the problem is contributing to it. And the problem with the second approach (Cynicism) is that it exacerbates it, because it essentially promotes the lack of integrity and the same problematic egocentric attitude that's responsible for this problem in the first place.
Being angry is a very natural reaction to this problem, and I do agree it's necessary to a degree. However I don't think it's the solution. I guess the solution is to accept the current situation for what it is, and do your part to change it. You don't need to be angry to do that, but you do need to ditch the wrong expectations about our society and how it works.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Oab42VZRE