Do I Regret Being 'Just' a Software Engineer?

The idea of tech as a tool of oppression is something that increasingly bothers me. I got into tech because I just liked building stuff with computers, and at the time I naively thought it seemed democratizing. Looking back I think this was largely because of the general public’s cluelessness about computers and the internet, so technically minded people with a little bit of access had a huge amount of power in shaping those early online spaces. I thought the future of tech would reflect the ideas of the builders, but I learned that’s not how it works. If something has potential as an instrument of power, that potential will be developed by those with power. Tech, especially the global internet has proven to have incredible scaling characteristics that can be harnessed for massive profit and control. AI is now promising a similar return in kind for whoever controls it. I’m not sure how to counterbalance this consolidation of power, but I do think it should be our major political project of the next 20 years or things are going to get ugly.

I think a big reason why a lot of people in tech feel like this is because tech has been reduced to getting a job and optimizing for total compensation.

If you look at employees at Google, you can see that they are there to coast. Intelligent, sharp folks, reduced to mere optimizing for compensation while tweaking an algorithm here and there.

Instead what devs need to do especially those who are new to the industry, is to think like hackers of yore. Have total disdain of big tech and organizations.

I remember early 2000s and if you asked anyone who was a good hacker if they want to join IBM they would laugh in your face.

That culture needs to return. Where is the Napster of this era? That would give people the fulfillment they want and make them feel useful. A simple way of doing this is to take any popular piece of software and think what the "out there" version will look like and start building it.

Maybe punk rock and the hacker culture both need to make a comeback into the mainstream, otherwise FAANG and Leetcode will eat the soul of tech.

Lots of respect to Jacky for writing this. The tech industry truly pays enough money that you can lose sight of solidarity with other workers. Even as shit gets worse and more human rights are privatized you can stay insulated. I once had a coworker brag about how he paid 10k a year for a special medical service to see the doctor faster. Public transit sucks? You just Uber from your condo everywhere. Housing crisis? Idk I got my fully renovated 3-bedroom house downtown.

If you're reading this, just on a tactical level for job hunting one thing I would say is to remove the (+/-) part of the resume. People can do the math on the duration if they care. Maybe even just put the years. I hope you're able to find something that isn't quite as dismal as 99% of tech jobs

Tech is much like the fission bomb. Perhaps necessary, but the industry doesn't stop there. It must create bigger. Returns, investment, power, being a have and not a have not.

"Dr. Oppenheimer, when did your strong moral convictions develop with respect to the hydrogen bomb?"

"When it became clear to me that we would use whatever weapon we had."

I realize it's kind of a game of musical chairs when companies work so hard to shut down various forms of {labor,equality,ethics} activism in tech, but I found myself wondering at the end of this whether there are groups that are active now, and how to find them. Organizing anything is a coordination problem, but organizing in a context where one is opposed by companies who have positioned themselves as bottlenecks to organization and communication for humans in general seems a uniquely difficult task with unique challenges, and while perhaps financial motivation is prevalent, I like to think many technologists can still be motivated by a challenge

The tech enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and many became super rich between 2010-2020.

Now economy is going through a downturn, things are expected to be bad.

Economy rebalances. Things will get better eventually. But the shockwave will leave some remnants behind. Just need to hold on for a bit.

Thank you for writing this, Jacky. It's hard to read and really important. I learned a lot and am going to reread it.

i think this is expecting to much from corporate america. i dont think these problems are unique to tech companies. maybe i missed the point, the post kind of went all over the place at times

Are we selling our selves and authenticity to companies? i guess in a way, but we try to get as much as we can out of companies too

As far as separating your self from tech and being technologist. I think its like music, the pop stuff sucks and is mass produced. tech that used to be cool is mass produced, im sure there is cool stuff out there if you put the work into finding it. like underground music. i think trying to label your self is a mistake in general.

Do what everyone else does. Get into craft beer or coffee as a hobby and slip into a deep depression. It’s well documented.

> I'm looking for work as a senior software engineer.

Pairs well with

> I don't know how much longer I can comfortably call myself a "technologist"

> get a Dell PC, ones I've read online that were serviceable

When I "repaired" a Dell PC, I destroyed the machine.

Dell power-supplies looked like standard PC power supplies; they connected to the motherboard using the same Molex plug. But Dell's Molex connector wasn't wired the same as normal ones. Dell power supplies only worked with Dell motherboards, and vice-versa.

Things may have changed, but that experience blew away my illusions about Dells being repairable.