Software Engineering is not (only) about money
A lot of people jump into coding because they think it's a good way to make a lot of money. Either by working for big tech or by building the next $1 million app. Maybe you come from a third world country and want to support your family, and I respect that.
Maybe you just love money. I get it. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Jobs in this field pay pretty well. Often exceptionally well. But that should not be your first and only reason for becoming a software engineer. It's not about the money. Software engineering is a craft. The world moves fast and we live in a world where it's all about the end result. Not about HOW we got there. Not about how well you did it. Product above all.
Everything used to be better
Everything used to be better. Fewer problems, better and friendlier people, better music, more money etc.
Well, that's not true at all (except for the music). But some things were better in the past. And software is at the top of that list.
I think one of the biggest reasons is: Limitations.
RAM? 128 KB. Deal with it.
CPU? 2 kHz. 4 bits!
There were no shortcuts. You couldn't just throw more RAM or more power at it. You had fixed circumstances and it was about how you used them. Pokemon Red and Blue were 373 KB. Legendary games to this day, more than enough content, polished and soooo much fun. Nowadays every fooking Call of Duty update is multiple GBs!
The result is that software is getting worse and worse and has been for decades. Web development is a big pile of abstractions and Javascript is everywhere. Bugs are already considered normal. “You can fix them later anyway.”
Love your Craft
I love software engineering. I love learning new things, I love looking under the hood. To understand how things work. Valuing resources and not following the mantra “make it work somehow”.
That doesn't mean you should lose yourself in perfectionism.
But how many new programmers start every day, start with web development and don't know how a compiler works? Don't know how binary works. That would be like a craftsman not knowing how to use his hammer. You just bang away at it, maybe using the wrong side of the hammer. In the end, the nail is somehow inside. Success?
What I want to say:
Love your craft. Try to understand it. It should be the least you can do to understand what you use and create every day.
Conclusion
Hardware is getting better and better. Faster and faster. Smaller and smaller. We are at a point where hardware is getting better and better and software is getting worse and worse.
In a world where “vibe coding” is becoming more and more popular, it is all the more important that we take our craft seriously and do it with love. Our world is built on software. Make software great again!
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