I've been thinking about this question for a while.
I guess it depends on one's personality etc.
If you did not take massive, non-prudent mortgage, I think it is not even a financial question.
Software Engineering is - as we all know - the most vile, destructive, money-hoarding, egotistical, toxic form of yes-man culture, which made society look the way it is today.
Unfortunately though... for me at least, he has a unique quirk.
If you look deep down, really deep down into it...
There's something in it, that no other fields have, and this something keeps pulling me - at least - back.
This something is... well...
So, when Software Engineering gets really drunk...
I mean really insanely drunk to wasted level...
To the level that he forgets for a second how B.I.G. of a M.A.N. he is, and how many corpo .ppts praise his non-existent genuinity, while prod paints with flames the message "HAPL! Pls haplmeee! Why did you have to put pain-sensors into me?!?!"...
... when Software Engineering gets so drunk, that he devolves back into his younger self...
You remember that he used to be cool af, and you start remembering the day, you first saw him in that dorky LucasArts pirate outfit in that Halloween party.
Strange fella, a hard-to-let-go fella.
Not because of what he is.
But because of what he was.
I guess... I hope... there's a tiny grain of truth in this.
Aka, I'm arguing that maybe there's 1% 'Genuine Reason' behind why it is hard to let go of him, besides the obvious 99% 'textbook Stockholm syndrome'.
And now, in a desperate attempt to fill 24 hours of programming...
Top comments (4)
This hits hard. The tragedy isn't that software engineering changed; it’s that it became a bloated utility layer. We inherited infrastructure that was built by people wearing dorky LucasArts outfits, and we wrapped it in endless corporate powerpoints, JIRA tickets, and performance metrics.
That 1% pull is the ghost in the machine—the raw, industrial dopamine of throwing raw logic at a vacuum and watching something materialize out of nothing, before the corporate "yes-man" protocol intercepts it. It’s hard to let go because we aren't addicted to the industry; we’re addicted to the pure, uninhibited architecture that exists underneath the corporate debt.
For me it is a bit of a mix of 3 major components.
1) I ABSOLUTELY loved that unique dork personality
I personally think that coding used to be about nerds.
And nerds, due to being social outcasts, were really cringe and dorky.
I really truly loved nerds.
Below is a picture of a bunch of dorky unkempt nerds, who made history:
Jocks are cool too, but in a different way.
I don't appreciate our world, because it is actively pushing everyone into polishing CVs, and maintaining coolness, instead of being honest.
And most importantly: I'm 100% sure that people actually yearn for this simple honesty deep inside (simply the current survival strategy does not align with this, so they only talk about it in the kitchenette in the office).
Here's a scene where a poser show took this nerd-level, naive honesty to sell their product
2) Computer Science is a prism through which Math can feel fun for even non-mathematicians
I cannot appreciate Mathematics emotionally.
I get it on my level, but I do not feel its beauty.
I lack the mental capabilities to find the beauty in Calculus for example.
Computer Science is kind of a prism through which my dumb brain can enjoy Math in a way where I do see the beauty.
For example: A list is a function. The derivative of a function exists in Math, and in Computer Science, the derivate is essentially Huet's Zipper data structure.
Also, Math is really insanely posh and self-centered.
Essentially Math is Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development.
Computer Science is Math's dorky nerd little sister.
To illustrate my point, here's a female protagonist, named Laverne, from Day of the Tentacle (remastered):
3) Developers are NOT heroes: End users = Heroes, Dev = Dungeon Master
Software nowadays rocks the market, revolutionizes and challenges old paradigms, and breaks new, never before seen grounds.
It feels to me - personally - that basically we are stress testing society, causing harm by overfeeding people our noise, and we are deliberately destabilizing our end users' lives.
My first shipped software was essentially a dumbotron.
End users were forced to do repeatedly each month a simple, but annoying task.
It was not exciting, it was just crazy grunt work. Zero rocket science. Simply push buttons which derped a 3D design in a deterministic way, rename the constituting 3D model files in order, etc.
So... I did dumbotron in C. You push button -> dumbotron does what you can do, but faster.
There's zero science in it, because it is literally doing what you are doing simply: faster.
So, pretty soon after shipping, end users started to not treat dumbotron as a software, but rather like
cat.Aka just a stupid non-revolutioniznig thing, which just does the thing that needs to be done.
No ads, no internet connection required, no DLCs, no bonus experimental features, no telemetry.
It does the thing, because it knows one thing:
The End User is the Aragorn of the story. We Developers are just DMs.
Software is just a jank tool/mechanism for end users to create their own Hero tales.
A programmer's duty imo is to become a good Dungeon Master, to create an environment in which the actual heroes can find hidden treasures, conquer odds without constantly reminding them how cool the campaign is, because it is pathetic.
Here's a DM who tried to aggressively push Meta's VR campaign, which was imo pathetic:
My end users were not VR-wired social media addicts but...
... automotive engineers who created crazy engine designs etc.
My stupid tool was just a random tiny plugin, which saved them some hours of chore each month.
To illustrate my point:
Did you watch Star Wars, because of Luke Skywalker's robot arm was disrupting the market with innovation?
Overflow) Boy Scout Rule
I did not make this one up.
The profession did.
Here's the Boy Scout Rule, explained in clear terms, voiced in the movie Magnolia.
Are we still the good guys?
Are we still the simple cop who just wants to help people?
Or are we pulling EULA tazer, and insidious data collection shotguns a bit too fast these days?
Here's a direct quote from Okasaki's Red Black tree paper which I really like philosophically:
You can argue with his choice of language.
You can argue with his techniques.
You can argue whether he's still relevant today or not.
But you cannot argue with one fact, imo:
Chris went back, and at least tried saving the kid
I must be honest with you @timevolt
I was... I was... never able to force myself to grind out that Windforce on Pindleskin or wherever.
Yes. I know what you think.
After these many years... I have to face it: I was and I am still just a buriza amazon.
I never had the guts to HC either due to bad internet connection.
Pre 1.10 (synergies ewww), Battlenet, buriza noobazon
Nowadays I can't even load 1.09, without a really dodgy looking powershell magic loader, because of OS and driver issues.
Now given this comment of mine.
And once again my article.
And the fact that I've been here on dev.to asking devs to do a simple programming puzzle and I even got shadowdeleted (funniest was when guy thanked me for my comment in a reply, but my comment was already deleted by dev.to et alumni).
Do you think that your comment feels like honest self-inspection and soulsearching to me?
Well, I think I'm gonna fix that D2 startup issue for myself and see whether my eth titans are still in the stash somewhere.