Software as a profession sucks, a rant.

[darose-prQxUZoa2zOsTnJN9+BGXg at public.gmane.org (David Rosenstrauch)]

On 10/22/2009 11:08 AM, Mark Woodward wrote:
> What does BLU think?

I think a lot depends on what company you work for.

My recent personal experience I think gives me a good view of the 
industry today.  I've worked 3 different places over the last 5 years. 
The first was a large Wall St. bank.  The second was a small-to-medium 
sized (~200 employees) enterprise software vendor, about 10 years old, 
whose customers consisted primarily of ... large Wall St. banks.  The 
3rd (and current) one is a < 1 year old tiny venture-funded start-up in 
the online advertising industry.  (And no, it's not a frivolous "twitter 
add-on"/"social networking" kind of startup.)

IME the negatives you point out appear far more often in larger and/or 
more mature companies.  I saw a lot of it at the bank - to the point 
where I was practically in tears from hating my job so much.  I saw 
quite a bit less of it at the enterprise vendor - although still some 
stodginess, as well as a bit of a lack of interesting/challenging tech 
work.  At the startup ... I see none of this.  I'm swamped with 
interesting and challenging work, the environment is exciting and 
enjoyable, and outsourcing isn't even a remote threat to my job right now.

So just my opinion, but I think a lot of this depends on how big and how 
mature the company you're working at is.  And the best way to get back 
to the interesting/exciting type of positions you like is to try to find 
  new startups who are doing interesting things (and are already funded! 
- and thus have been vetted by a reputable VC.)

DR