old hacker...low tolerance

[Kent-Dorfman]

So where do old school hackers go to find unicorn companies to work at when we've become disgusted with the way companies are run in the 21st century?

Gripes:

• offices became shared offices became cubes, then the cube walls got lower and lower, and then became shared banquet tables. WTF!?

• computer departments were once managed by engineers and accountants: those who understood black and white, right and wrong. Now they are run by revenue driven unethical marketers.

• Any manager who says "I used to be an engineer so I understand" is a freaking joke...Am I wrong? There is a reason you are a manager. You couldn't hack it technically.

• computers were "workstations" and then became laptops, and then IT decided that programmers are a security risk and they don't deserve admin/config capabilities on their assigned computer resources

• telephones at desks went away in favor of "conference room phones" and when that proved inadequate (go figure) sheeple were naive enough to accept that they should use their own personal phones to do company business...then companies had the gall the expect employees to install company apps on their personal devices and the dumb-a$$ employees actually tolerated that. WOW!

• then the workplace focus shifted from "we are all here to provide a work related to function and to provide for our families" to "we are here to participate in a tolerance and diversity social experiment"

• "And another thing, Bob. I've got FIVE bosses. so when I screw up I get to hear about it five times." Anyone remember that classic truism?

• retirement? Well son, that was connected to a thing called a pension...before the Reagan "greed is good" era folks looked forward to living off of money their employer put away as an investment on their behalf...Then govt and business figured out how to legally steal that invested money that was held in trust.

But I digress because I firmly believe we are living in the beginning of the modern era dark ages, similar to what happened after the fall of the holy roman empire. In 50 if folks are still around they will be riding horses again.

[SGaist]

Sounds like something for https://devrant.com/

[Kent-Dorfman]

But I already have a logon here. Thus another rant...Too much stuff requires invasion of personal info to "sign up". That wasn't the original "internet way".

[JonB]

@Kent-Dorfman
Lovely post. Are you having a good day today?

[Kent-Dorfman]

@JonB A lovely year. I've lost the faith and am at a stage where any self-respecting company would show be the door, based on my state of disgruntlement...but they won't, so unless someone offers me a better gig I will just become more and more angry...which is not a state I want to exist in. If I were only concerned about a paycheck then I would stay where I'm at until they run the company into the ground, but I'm one of those rare old school hackers who cannot stand "kobayashi-maru" exercises.

[macfanpl]

@JonB said in old hacker...low tolerance:

@Kent-Dorfman
Lovely post. Are you having a good day today?

No need for dacing DCXZ.........

Many ( if not most ) coworking space owners triesa to do the following:

• lure people ( usually novices ) into their shitty quality space,
• STEAL their money by applying many shady tactics.

Although @Kent-Dorfman post can be taken as rant, many points he merntioned still stands.

[Chris Kawa]

Well, I'm down to only two bosses currently, management retreated from the spectacularly failed open space office experiment and I have admin privileges on my beefy stationary work PC. Not so hot on the other points though.
My faith in the industry is quite shaken too, but I guess there's some light in the tunnel shining here and there. Here's hoping it won't turn out to be a train.

[SAbadshah]

I've lost hope and have reached a point where, given my dissatisfaction, any self-respecting company would show me the door. However, they won't, so unless someone offers me a better job, I will only grow angrier—a state I do not want to be in. I would stay in my current position until they run the business out of business if all that mattered to me was my paycheck, but I'm one of the few remaining old-school hackers who cannot stand "kobayashi-maru" exercises.

[Anonymous_Banned275]

@SAbadshah said in old hacker...low tolerance:

kobayashi-maru" exercises

I often wonder if it is a time to "update " "Inmates are running the asylum" ...

In my days of "gainful employment" I had very few jobs which did not end by "jumping the ship" before it sunk.
Mostly because "bean counters AKA marketing" took over the "mismanagement" of the outfit.
Cheers

[Kent-Dorfman]

@AnneRanch said in old hacker...low tolerance:

I often wonder if it is a time to "update " "Inmates are running the asylum" ...

If it were only that simple. At this point I'm convinced of a multi-generational alien conspiracy designed to dumb down the race to the point where they can take over without firing a shot. LOL

[Chris Kawa]

@Kent-Dorfman said:

At this point I'm convinced of a multi-generational alien conspiracy

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

[mzimmers]

I'm convinced of a multi-generational alien Democrat conspiracy

Fixed your typo for you...

[Kent-Dorfman]

@mzimmers said in old hacker...low tolerance:

'm convinced of a multi-generational alien Democrat conspiracy
Fixed your typo for you...

There is a distinction?

[JoeCFD]

@Kent-Dorfman It is time for Hollywood to make another Tom Cruise movie to kick out the aliens.

[Chris Kawa]

@JoeCFD You know that Tom Cruise is part of a cult that believes multiple ancient aliens live in every cell of everyone's body, right? ;)

[JoeCFD]

@Chris-Kawa Good to know. Thanks for your info. I was kidding. But I do share what @Kent-Dorfman wrote.

[mzimmers]

@JoeCFD outsourcing is OK as long as you don't give it to democrats aliens.

[JoeCFD]

@mzimmers I read someone's story. He trained someone in a foreign country and was then laid off. This is insane. A manager should never do that.

[fcarney]

@JoeCFD I know a company that trained people in a foreign country as partners. The people there spun off a competing company using their tech and all the sales from the partnership dried up. You can probably guess which country that is.

[TomZ]

Its actually nice to read this thread because the "software dev" profession has been so overrun and the 'if its not solved on stackoverflow, its not possible to fix" mindset, that its depressing. So, reading that actually good devs are hanging on, laying low, that is positive as that means that the profession isn't forever doomed :-)

Nearly a decade ago I joined a cpp company in Oslo which focused on financials, trading and that kind of stuff. I learned about that stuff as a matter of course and am forever changed. In short, the financial system we use is in great part responsible for a lot of problems in the world today. Understanding basic economics has been insightful, to say the least. (mandatory reading).

As systems like the financial system extract more and more value out of the hardworking people, the companies are having a harder time actually making a profit. First to go is longer term planning and investment in tech. If it doesn't produce results the next week, its not a priority.

Then the forever dropping interest rate (well, they went up slightly recently, but remember in your youth you'd get nearly 10%) means that companies that are really not making a profit can get loans to keep them afloat longer than they really should be.
This looks like its not a problem at first, less people fired, right? But good and honest companies are fighting those non-profitable companies for good people, so it actually is really a boon to the entire ecosystem if the bad companies go bankrupt. It allows a new one to start.

There is light, though. I'm optimistic about possibilities and ways forward. Society is darn close to rock-bottom as a whole. It can only go up from here.

In the mean-time I'm happy working on open source software on my own terms, building fun stuff for real use. Though figuring out Android for the first time is harder than I expected.