I admire this man for the honesty and courage to do something different. I read the companion post and got to this:
Today, however, I sit here writing this post as a 32-year-old man with a head of gray hair, a mind that cannot stop thinking a million miles a minute about a million different things, and eyes that have only been open to the digital world. I am burnt out on writing code. I am burnt out on configuration. I am burnt out on automating monotonous tasks. I am burnt out on completing tickets. I am burnt out on completing tickets that undo what those other tickets accomplished. I am burnt out on debugging third-party advertising code. I am burnt out on having 16 terminal tabs open. I am burnt out on contributing to the “connected” culture. I am burnt out on having a “40 hour” work week that actually occupies the majority of my mental time. I am burnt out on sitting at a desk. This state of being burnt out has invaded so much of my out-of-work life that I have decided to take my Life back.
So much of that is congruent with my experience as well. Yet, for reasons that seem hard to explain at first, I go deeper into the beast rather than move away from it (and my choice is in no way superior). I love what technology can do-- liberate humanity from drudgery, improve the human quality of life, make interactions and knowledge and discovery possible that wouldn't otherwise be-- and I enjoy the intellectual challenge. I hate so much of what it's actually used to do: serve the short-term economic interests of power-holders who are incompetent but don't want to give up their seats.
As much as I love being in the forest, I must be a natural urbanite because I have a natural draw toward being in the main fight. Even with the risk and clamor, I like carrying a sword (metaphorically speaking, since my chosen war is cultural and therefore fought by typing rather than swinging a blade). I feel like it is my destiny to be in the fight to take technology back from the current crop of useless power-holders. I want to be in this war, and I really fucking want to win it, but I can't blame anyone for wanting to get the fuck out of it and work on a farm. It's an appealing idea.
I'm not anti-farming (I mean, I like food) but I also recognize that, without technology, life would be a lot worse than it is right now. Not all of us can be farmers, not anymore. Munching Jira tickets to appease some middle manager may be a waste of life (nay, it is) but I still feel like what we do as technologists (or, at least, what we can do) is important. We're a part of evolution and progress... even if many of us get drawn down into nonsense.
Reading the OP, I'm really glad that he found work that enjoys and that gives him a sense of purpose, and I hope that that never changes for him. I also find it sad that technology gave him such a useless, negative experience (munching tickets instead of driving forward progress) and see fit to take that as a warning.
I caught on to the ticket comment as well - it certainly makes development less joyful and more drudgery to me. I guess any attempt to turn software development from a joyful, creative process into "Modern Times"-like drudgery is saddening to me. Unfortunately, the world seems to be going the way of making developers and their work a commodity.
Today, however, I sit here writing this post as a 32-year-old man with a head of gray hair, a mind that cannot stop thinking a million miles a minute about a million different things, and eyes that have only been open to the digital world. I am burnt out on writing code. I am burnt out on configuration. I am burnt out on automating monotonous tasks. I am burnt out on completing tickets. I am burnt out on completing tickets that undo what those other tickets accomplished. I am burnt out on debugging third-party advertising code. I am burnt out on having 16 terminal tabs open. I am burnt out on contributing to the “connected” culture. I am burnt out on having a “40 hour” work week that actually occupies the majority of my mental time. I am burnt out on sitting at a desk. This state of being burnt out has invaded so much of my out-of-work life that I have decided to take my Life back.
So much of that is congruent with my experience as well. Yet, for reasons that seem hard to explain at first, I go deeper into the beast rather than move away from it (and my choice is in no way superior). I love what technology can do-- liberate humanity from drudgery, improve the human quality of life, make interactions and knowledge and discovery possible that wouldn't otherwise be-- and I enjoy the intellectual challenge. I hate so much of what it's actually used to do: serve the short-term economic interests of power-holders who are incompetent but don't want to give up their seats.
As much as I love being in the forest, I must be a natural urbanite because I have a natural draw toward being in the main fight. Even with the risk and clamor, I like carrying a sword (metaphorically speaking, since my chosen war is cultural and therefore fought by typing rather than swinging a blade). I feel like it is my destiny to be in the fight to take technology back from the current crop of useless power-holders. I want to be in this war, and I really fucking want to win it, but I can't blame anyone for wanting to get the fuck out of it and work on a farm. It's an appealing idea.
I'm not anti-farming (I mean, I like food) but I also recognize that, without technology, life would be a lot worse than it is right now. Not all of us can be farmers, not anymore. Munching Jira tickets to appease some middle manager may be a waste of life (nay, it is) but I still feel like what we do as technologists (or, at least, what we can do) is important. We're a part of evolution and progress... even if many of us get drawn down into nonsense.
Reading the OP, I'm really glad that he found work that enjoys and that gives him a sense of purpose, and I hope that that never changes for him. I also find it sad that technology gave him such a useless, negative experience (munching tickets instead of driving forward progress) and see fit to take that as a warning.