Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software - eviltoast
If you had the choice to sculpt a leg chair out of wood or write a full-fledged audio engine, complete with kernel drivers and whatnot, inside an app for controlling monitor brightness, what wou… Wait, no, that's not a question, you would do the leg chair for sure. There's no way that other thing makes sense.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/15205399

Really cool blog post with beautiful photos and starts with a fun and interesting intro, here captured in an image for the the tl;dr but-want-to-comment-anyway among you :

  • thehatfox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    6 months ago

    There’s satisfaction to be found when labour results in a tangible and lasting result.

    Some of the people I know who quit the IT industry did so because they felt all of the effort they put in never seemed to achieve anything. Too many jobs at startups who exist only to be bought and shut down by bigger fish for some IP etc.

    For some work is not just about wages or challenges, it’s about building something useful and meaningful, whether figuratively or literally.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      There’s satisfaction to be found when labour results in a tangible and lasting result.

      There is also a satisfaction in a task that has a clear goal and end point.

    • aesthelete@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      There’s satisfaction to be found when labour results in a tangible and lasting result.

      That’s where I would recommend one thing to other software people as a software person myself: make your own tools.

      I started writing a little notepad type thing just so I could have a cross platform tool with a set bunch of capabilities no matter what OS I’m on.

      It’s very rewarding to just want something, make it, and use it.

      It can be simple, it can be complicated… It can work like everything else does or only in a way that works for you.

      It’s very freeing to work on something where you don’t have to ask fifteen people what the requirements are and then have them change under you. If your tool is useful and you use it you don’t even need testing overhead either.

      I highly recommend it. Build your own tools when you find the existing ones to be frustrating. Or just for fun to see if you can.

    • richieadler@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
      17·
      6 months ago

      There’s satisfaction to be found when labour results in a tangible and lasting result.

      Nothing human is eternal. But you’re speaking in absolutes and I challenge that. Give me intellectual challenges, I couldn’t care less about making a nice chair or a sculpture.

      Too many jobs at startups

      That’s the problem. You can try elsewhere, maybe?