I know a lot of people, in software and otherwise, who are feeling things along these lines.
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Tips I can give you from my experience as a musicial weirdo if you’re looking to redevelop a sense of intrinsic purpose and meaning:
Beware of leaning on extrinsic validation (winning a contest, getting a grant, getting a job) for your psychological well-being. Those things may be important for practical purposes, but psychologically they are all empty calories.
Three •good• sources of purpose and meaning in your work that can sustain you:
- your own sense of satisfaction in your work
- sharing work via meaningful, sustained human connections
- the sheer joy of making and doingA particularly dissonance in my musical life is the aggressive non-interest of the world in my music in competitive circles (commerce, grants, whatever) and the warm, passionate enthusiasm it receives when I share it with people in person.
What’s worked for me: creating contexts of joy and mutual support where I can share with people — not just share generically in general, but sharing with specific actual people where there is a human relationship underlying the sharing — and then sharing.
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@inthehands The second one seems hard to do for programming.
@datarama
Certainly in professional circles it is, unless you really really luck out with your employer. -
RE: https://thepit.social/@peter/116376219055579156
I know a lot of people, in software and otherwise, who are feeling things along these lines.
Hold on, whatever tools you’re using, just hold on to your sense of purpose and meaning. There are a lot of forces at work in this world that want to rob you of that. Your feeling of losing that is not recognition of some new fact of our reality; it is you experiencing a psychological weapon.
@inthehands this is 'the churn' that the expanse talked about
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
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One advantage of being an artistic weirdo who makes completely commercially non-viable music is that I have a •lot• of practice forging that sense of purpose and meaning for myself when the world is aggressively not handing it to me.
Software development has been coasting on a wave of profitability / employability for several decades, and as a discipline perhaps has an underdeveloped sense of intrinsic purpose. Now is a good time to for us to redevelop that as a community, regardless of future job market prospects.
@inthehands One positive for me, I think, in the recent wave of nonsense, is that it’s sharpened my sense of what matters — that I actually enjoy doing it and being good at it.
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A particularly dissonance in my musical life is the aggressive non-interest of the world in my music in competitive circles (commerce, grants, whatever) and the warm, passionate enthusiasm it receives when I share it with people in person.
What’s worked for me: creating contexts of joy and mutual support where I can share with people — not just share generically in general, but sharing with specific actual people where there is a human relationship underlying the sharing — and then sharing.
These contexts by and large don’t just exist on their own; we have to •make• them. It’s not a thing you can just decide to do and then it’s there. It’s damned hard.
Software folks should pay more attention to the musicians and artists who are creating artistic spaces: neighborhood festivals, house concerts (whether “salon” or punk band in the basement), converted warehouses, street art, that kind of thing. Watch how artists on the margins don’t just •look for• space, but •create• it — and how it’s rooted in community. That’s a model to follow.
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These contexts by and large don’t just exist on their own; we have to •make• them. It’s not a thing you can just decide to do and then it’s there. It’s damned hard.
Software folks should pay more attention to the musicians and artists who are creating artistic spaces: neighborhood festivals, house concerts (whether “salon” or punk band in the basement), converted warehouses, street art, that kind of thing. Watch how artists on the margins don’t just •look for• space, but •create• it — and how it’s rooted in community. That’s a model to follow.
My piano teacher — a lifelong professional who’d played Carnegie Hall and had one of his trio’s recordings featured in…Time magazine or something, I forget — said to me in his 80s, “I think I’m finally learning to be a true amateur.”
Michal Měchura (@lexiconista@mastodon.ie)
@inthehands@hachyderm.io I've rediscovered programming for fun. For the first time since I was 14.
mastodon.ie (mastodon.ie)
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My piano teacher — a lifelong professional who’d played Carnegie Hall and had one of his trio’s recordings featured in…Time magazine or something, I forget — said to me in his 80s, “I think I’m finally learning to be a true amateur.”
Michal Měchura (@lexiconista@mastodon.ie)
@inthehands@hachyderm.io I've rediscovered programming for fun. For the first time since I was 14.
mastodon.ie (mastodon.ie)
Here’s an attitude that can nourish and preserve.
ben (@benjamineskola@hachyderm.io)
@inthehands One positive for me, I think, in the recent wave of nonsense, is that it’s sharpened my sense of what matters — that I actually enjoy doing it and being good at it.
Hachyderm.io (hachyderm.io)
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Here’s an attitude that can nourish and preserve.
ben (@benjamineskola@hachyderm.io)
@inthehands One positive for me, I think, in the recent wave of nonsense, is that it’s sharpened my sense of what matters — that I actually enjoy doing it and being good at it.
Hachyderm.io (hachyderm.io)
Tech jobs are highly cyclical and lots of the gen AI stuff is ridiculously overhyped, and I’m hopeful that the wheel will keep turning and the professional prospects of software developers will improve again…assuming human civilization survives, that is.
But what I said above applies regardless. We should all be doing this meaning-making work all the time, even in the best job markets. In fact, that work is a part of •making• human civilization survive.
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RE: https://thepit.social/@peter/116376219055579156
I know a lot of people, in software and otherwise, who are feeling things along these lines.
Hold on, whatever tools you’re using, just hold on to your sense of purpose and meaning. There are a lot of forces at work in this world that want to rob you of that. Your feeling of losing that is not recognition of some new fact of our reality; it is you experiencing a psychological weapon.
@inthehands holy shit, thank you for naming and explaining this, it resonates deeply w my experience and is exactly what I needed to hear
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RE: https://thepit.social/@peter/116376219055579156
I know a lot of people, in software and otherwise, who are feeling things along these lines.
Hold on, whatever tools you’re using, just hold on to your sense of purpose and meaning. There are a lot of forces at work in this world that want to rob you of that. Your feeling of losing that is not recognition of some new fact of our reality; it is you experiencing a psychological weapon.
@peter Echoing what @inthehands is saying.
LLMs are at best "divisive", but if you look at all the studies coming out, it's closer to "universally hated".
On generative AI and LLMs | Stefan Bohacek's Personal Website and Blog
Generative AI is anti-worker, anti-environment, and doesn't even work all that well.
(stefanbohacek.com)
There will be time when we'll need to rebuild everything. Let's get ready!
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My piano teacher — a lifelong professional who’d played Carnegie Hall and had one of his trio’s recordings featured in…Time magazine or something, I forget — said to me in his 80s, “I think I’m finally learning to be a true amateur.”
Michal Měchura (@lexiconista@mastodon.ie)
@inthehands@hachyderm.io I've rediscovered programming for fun. For the first time since I was 14.
mastodon.ie (mastodon.ie)
@inthehands I love it!
After all, the definition of “professional” is to do an activity for money. Amateurs can do something for the pure enjoyment of it.
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@inthehands I love it!
After all, the definition of “professional” is to do an activity for money. Amateurs can do something for the pure enjoyment of it.
@angst_ridden
Yes, I’m sure that is precisely what he meant! -
These contexts by and large don’t just exist on their own; we have to •make• them. It’s not a thing you can just decide to do and then it’s there. It’s damned hard.
Software folks should pay more attention to the musicians and artists who are creating artistic spaces: neighborhood festivals, house concerts (whether “salon” or punk band in the basement), converted warehouses, street art, that kind of thing. Watch how artists on the margins don’t just •look for• space, but •create• it — and how it’s rooted in community. That’s a model to follow.
@inthehands And participate in those spaces that already exist - the odd corners of the Free/Open Source software space, some corners of the indy/amature gamedev space (The roguelike community comes to mine, as one I've had ties to directly) & game jams, retro-comp hacking, all have non-commercial - and largely uncommodificatable - clusters in them of people doing weird creative/expressive/fun things that are often great, but, usually unrecognized by the more corporate-employable side of things.
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RE: https://thepit.social/@peter/116376219055579156
I know a lot of people, in software and otherwise, who are feeling things along these lines.
Hold on, whatever tools you’re using, just hold on to your sense of purpose and meaning. There are a lot of forces at work in this world that want to rob you of that. Your feeling of losing that is not recognition of some new fact of our reality; it is you experiencing a psychological weapon.
@inthehands thanks, but I'm probably out of time. still encouraging my kid to pursue it though, he really loves computer science.
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R relay@relay.publicsquare.global shared this topic
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RE: https://thepit.social/@peter/116376219055579156
I know a lot of people, in software and otherwise, who are feeling things along these lines.
Hold on, whatever tools you’re using, just hold on to your sense of purpose and meaning. There are a lot of forces at work in this world that want to rob you of that. Your feeling of losing that is not recognition of some new fact of our reality; it is you experiencing a psychological weapon.
post dot-bomb, there were very few gigs and much of what there was were companies that hadn't learned their lesson yet. those gigs that did seem to come paid well because it was hazard pay.
i wound up getting out of tech completely for about 4 years. i describe it as my mid-life crisis, career version of the little red sports car.
i taught mandolin/guitar and got certified and taught pilates reformer. i discovered that i really liked teaching and was pretty decent at it. i did wind up getting back into tech but with teaching and speaking as a part of it for the first time.
sometimes taking a break and giving some really searching into what makes you excited winds up getting you a more satisfying career.
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Tech jobs are highly cyclical and lots of the gen AI stuff is ridiculously overhyped, and I’m hopeful that the wheel will keep turning and the professional prospects of software developers will improve again…assuming human civilization survives, that is.
But what I said above applies regardless. We should all be doing this meaning-making work all the time, even in the best job markets. In fact, that work is a part of •making• human civilization survive.
@inthehands what a beautiful thread. Thank you for sharing, and I hope you inspire many folks on here
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@peter Echoing what @inthehands is saying.
LLMs are at best "divisive", but if you look at all the studies coming out, it's closer to "universally hated".
On generative AI and LLMs | Stefan Bohacek's Personal Website and Blog
Generative AI is anti-worker, anti-environment, and doesn't even work all that well.
(stefanbohacek.com)
There will be time when we'll need to rebuild everything. Let's get ready!
Part of the malaise striking the tech industry is the awareness that AI is a ubiquitous state surveillance platform.
It's like working for the East German Stasi in its waning days. The narcs & informers freaked out because their grift is ending.
The fossil fuel industry funds AI, not just for any of its stated reasons, but also for ending any nation ditching their toxic products.
Trump's oligarchs want to identify dissenters & opponents like ...
1/
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Tech jobs are highly cyclical and lots of the gen AI stuff is ridiculously overhyped, and I’m hopeful that the wheel will keep turning and the professional prospects of software developers will improve again…assuming human civilization survives, that is.
But what I said above applies regardless. We should all be doing this meaning-making work all the time, even in the best job markets. In fact, that work is a part of •making• human civilization survive.
@inthehands The coding work I do on my own feels much more meaningful (even if it takes way too long to get done) than my paid work was ever allowed to be, even when I had opportunity to bend it in meaningful directions.
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Part of the malaise striking the tech industry is the awareness that AI is a ubiquitous state surveillance platform.
It's like working for the East German Stasi in its waning days. The narcs & informers freaked out because their grift is ending.
The fossil fuel industry funds AI, not just for any of its stated reasons, but also for ending any nation ditching their toxic products.
Trump's oligarchs want to identify dissenters & opponents like ...
1/
2/
.... their phantom "antifa" but also to oppose non-criminal conduct, unrelated to national security.
Trends like people taking free public transit & ditching their gas guzzlers. WFH.
Things like identifying every person posting against the fossil fuel industry's shills, Trump, Orban, Putin, and #PrinceBonesaw using age verification scams.
Hackers stole 10 petabytes of data from a Chinese supercomputer lab recently.
The only reason to collect that much data is economic cyberwarfare.
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.... their phantom "antifa" but also to oppose non-criminal conduct, unrelated to national security.
Trends like people taking free public transit & ditching their gas guzzlers. WFH.
Things like identifying every person posting against the fossil fuel industry's shills, Trump, Orban, Putin, and #PrinceBonesaw using age verification scams.
Hackers stole 10 petabytes of data from a Chinese supercomputer lab recently.
The only reason to collect that much data is economic cyberwarfare.
3/
Taking the joy out of life & forcing people into wasting their precious time on this earth working on making billionaires into trillionaires.
A hacker has allegedly breached one of China’s supercomputers and is attempting to sell a trove of stolen data | CNN
A hacker has allegedly stolen a massive trove of sensitive data – including highly classified defense documents and missile schematics – from a state-run Chinese supercomputer in what could potentially constitute the largest known heist of data from China.
CNN (edition.cnn.com)
The tech industry is co-opted by the wealthy for a bleak dystopian future that serves no one but a few hundred sociopaths.
It leaves a sour taste to realize your efforts, taxes, & dreams are enriching the Epstein Class.
Elon Musk, world's first trillionaire: one implication of the massive SpaceX IPO | Fortune
Exactly how much SpaceX plans to raise has not been disclosed but the figure is reportedly as much as $75 billion.
Fortune (fortune.com)
