<story><title>I don’t want to be a software developer anymore</title><url>https://medium.com/@melissamcewen/i-just-dont-want-to-be-a-software-developer-anymore-a371422069a1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jameskegel</author><text>I read the article; I&amp;#x27;m not sure this is so much a criticism of the industry as it is an examination of this developer&amp;#x27;s personal anecdotal experience.&lt;p&gt;As developers, we lead a very charmed life that others sometimes aren&amp;#x27;t even born with the chance to intellectually compete for; the author neglects to address how lucky we are to be able to do this at all, let alone to then find employment in it. If it&amp;#x27;s not an industry that benefits you holistically, find something you love that doesn&amp;#x27;t strain your neck or involve gender-politics- dentistry for example, or maybe upholstery or culinary arts.&lt;p&gt;Personally, it&amp;#x27;s the hundreds of days spent in a dish pit, and burning my hands on a hot grill for 12 hours every night that gives me the ability and patience to appreciate this opportunity we have, and all of the different elements of it. I&amp;#x27;ve had very few experiences in life that afford me this type of luxury or time to examine my surroundings and then have time to compose them in words for others to read. This doesn&amp;#x27;t make the author wrong, this makes our perspectives different, and perhaps a tour of duty in other professions would benefit the author.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>aphextron</author><text>This one hits hard. As a front end developer, when people ask what I do, I say &amp;quot;I make buttons&amp;quot;. Red buttons, blue buttons, big buttons, small buttons. Any kind of button you can imagine. I spend my life making buttons light up on a colorful screen. And then people click on those buttons and I get paid an obscene amount of money for it.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not sure if this is how people are supposed to live. It&amp;#x27;s driving me mad.&lt;p&gt;But then I get home, order a burrito on Postmates, and am horrified at the thought of ending up as this guy delivering me a burrito at 3AM to make his rent. So I wake up the next morning to do it all over again. As a mediocre self taught developer without even a high school degree, I know I&amp;#x27;ll be right back there once the market turns down, so I don&amp;#x27;t really have the luxury of considering anything else.</text></comment>
<story><title>I don’t want to be a software developer anymore</title><url>https://medium.com/@melissamcewen/i-just-dont-want-to-be-a-software-developer-anymore-a371422069a1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jameskegel</author><text>I read the article; I&amp;#x27;m not sure this is so much a criticism of the industry as it is an examination of this developer&amp;#x27;s personal anecdotal experience.&lt;p&gt;As developers, we lead a very charmed life that others sometimes aren&amp;#x27;t even born with the chance to intellectually compete for; the author neglects to address how lucky we are to be able to do this at all, let alone to then find employment in it. If it&amp;#x27;s not an industry that benefits you holistically, find something you love that doesn&amp;#x27;t strain your neck or involve gender-politics- dentistry for example, or maybe upholstery or culinary arts.&lt;p&gt;Personally, it&amp;#x27;s the hundreds of days spent in a dish pit, and burning my hands on a hot grill for 12 hours every night that gives me the ability and patience to appreciate this opportunity we have, and all of the different elements of it. I&amp;#x27;ve had very few experiences in life that afford me this type of luxury or time to examine my surroundings and then have time to compose them in words for others to read. This doesn&amp;#x27;t make the author wrong, this makes our perspectives different, and perhaps a tour of duty in other professions would benefit the author.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>claudiulodro</author><text>I was a furniture upholsterer. It was super interesting, good exercise, and really required a lot of analytic thinking. I loved upholstery. However, I wasn&amp;#x27;t able to support a wife and kid on an upholsterer&amp;#x27;s paycheck. An employee upholsterer starts at $10&amp;#x2F;hour for a junior up to a high-range of $20&amp;#x2F;hr for 10+ years experience. Now I&amp;#x27;m a software developer making multiples higher more income. I like it OK and I can provide a cushy life for my family.&lt;p&gt;Upholstery was the best. I miss upholstery. I don&amp;#x27;t see any way I could feasibly switch back to it, though.</text></comment>