>> I sincerely feel bad for people who have to stay in it
This seems a really sheltered perspective without a real idea of the kinda struggles that exist for a lot of other careers. Not unlike some doctor/lawyer/scientist/executive talking about the profession as a "train to hell" because it doesn't satisfy some sense of technical purity.
Before building software, I was stuck in dead-end sales jobs with a humanities degree that had no career prospects. Switching to software development has required a great deal of sacrifice, and I'm genuinely thankful every day I get to write code for a living I'm thankful.
- I'm thankful I can get paid well enough to live comfortably.
- I'm thankful I work in clean, climate-controlled offices.
- I'm thankful for a profession full of interesting people to work with.
- I'm thankful I can engage my mind and excercise a certain amount of creativity in my work.
I really hope 55 year old me can remember to be thankful.
That's a good point, and I am grateful. "Train to hell" was hyperbole. Programming is still a damn good profession compared to many others. It's also far less than it could be. These statements can both be true simultaneously. After some years of the particular issues that affect older programmers, made worse by the fact that they're almost completely ignored in a youth-dominated industry, 55-year-old you might be less sanguine about the whole thing. Don't be quick to judge when the other person has been where you are and not vice versa.
This seems a really sheltered perspective without a real idea of the kinda struggles that exist for a lot of other careers. Not unlike some doctor/lawyer/scientist/executive talking about the profession as a "train to hell" because it doesn't satisfy some sense of technical purity.
Before building software, I was stuck in dead-end sales jobs with a humanities degree that had no career prospects. Switching to software development has required a great deal of sacrifice, and I'm genuinely thankful every day I get to write code for a living I'm thankful.
- I'm thankful I can get paid well enough to live comfortably.
- I'm thankful I work in clean, climate-controlled offices.
- I'm thankful for a profession full of interesting people to work with.
- I'm thankful I can engage my mind and excercise a certain amount of creativity in my work.
I really hope 55 year old me can remember to be thankful.