this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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I often wonder about this. Does capitalism impose so much emotional freight that it makes coding intimidating? Does having it attached to ideas about working hard and getting a job drain the fun out of it?
I'm beginning to think that I would actually get more coding done if I abandoned it as a career path.
Makes sense. When I was starting up, you couldn't keep me from it. I just hacked for the joy of making things and seeing what would happen. But now it's all tied up in work, performance, marketability, ROI, etc.
Even when I think about doing some hobby video game dev, there's a voice at the back of my head telling me it would be more profitable to brush up on OpenTofu or whatever.
Whenever I meet another web dev, they either have a job as a web dev, they're looking for a job as a web dev, or they're trying to create a startup. There are no hobbyists.
I actually know one web dev (experienced, front-end) who has two kids and is transitioning to driving truck after getting laid off earlier in the year.
He's got his straight-body license, and is working up to tractor-trailer. He just fixes things under the table and drives around, plows snow, etc. I've never seen him happier.
One of us got out 😌 he's free now
I was happy running my own successful website - did full stack, had a visual designer but I did everything technical from maintaining the webserver to the database to all the html, css, sql, python, PHP and JavaScript… but in retrospect it was a ridiculous amount of work for what I got paid, compared to what most people make for a tech job. I got burnt out and went back to an art career, but that wasn't very profitable or easy. At this point I wish I maintained my tech skills but fuck, being an electrician or something would probably be way more lucrative and not more difficult.
Probably. I hate coding now. I abandoned all my passion projects and can hardly even play video games now. I'm so sick of sitting in front of a computer all day every day.
If it's not too late, get into a trade instead.