Unless you have not noticed a lot of news are being censored systematically on HN when they touch certain topics, some of them is giving SV/IT a bad PR, or poor work conditions in IT , political POV...
Well, work conditions are worsening everywhere. Stress it our daily bread now.
Stress == non alignment between responsibilities and authorities, like a dieselgate software engineer being ordered to make it, but s/he will end up the only one in court.
Short anwser,
- realign your sense of responsibility with your authority.
- ask for better work conditions, including time for your family life.
This is calling since it is a global problem for a global solution.
I know I will be downvoted for this (HN censors anything going in this direction), but as I cared: it is calling for a union of software developers.
We all genuinely suffer what you describe and I don't think we worsen. I do think these are our work conditions, and alone we are f*cked.
Your family matters
You matter
Yes work organization in IT is FUBAR and manager don't take responsibility but they have no incentive to respect you more than the shareholders.
Now, you can burn out like a slave or fight for your self.
>Well, work conditions are worsening everywhere. Stress it our daily bread now. Stress == non alignment between responsibilities and authorities, like a dieselgate software engineer being ordered to make it, but s/he will end up the only one in court.
I was looking for this kind of statement and thank goodness I found it. I was starting to think it was just me and my angry, cynical and jaded colleagues bitching more as we get older.
Reading your statement, I am starting to digest the simple fact that our profession has gone to the dogs. There are fewer and fewer employers that understand what we do is part craft, part art, part engineering. We DO need a union. We need SOMETHING.
Here's what I am finding: the misalignment of authority and responsibility lead to being forced to do shitty work in place of long-term solid development. This then sets us up for blame when the technical debt mounts. Then WE are the ones struggling to deal with the eventual REAL outcome that leads to a boat-load of stress.
edit: While typing this reply, my friend/colleague texted me to say he is experiencing nausea and anxiety DAILY now. I know of several developers on anti-anxiety meds that they began taking within the past two years due to work stress.
How would we go about doing that? I would definitely love to form some type of programmer's union, if not to bargain collectively, at least to just share resources and be involved in setting industry wide standards.
If we are legally liable, than we must have full power on any decision that can lead us to jail.
We have to be able to justify the stuff we do.
remember we have 200 dependencies not because we love it but because we are forced into them. Yet when an incident occurs in production because of these dependencies we are sacked/sued held responsible for it.
Why we have 200 dependencies in the first place?
Because someone who never coded is hired to tell us what to do (a marketer, an «architect», a urbanist, a CTO that never coded) tell us to add these dependencies and they are not LIABLE.
But when it fails, it is our responsibility our liability. And we are thrown like kleenex. As hell if I do agree to be blamed for something I do oppose.
Yes there is this new generation of ninja rockstar coders, but I am fucking boring coder: I don't want company to sink because I cannot afford it, I want a paycheck to feed my own, I want to come back every night to see my family, and I know why I want to be conservative: because it is proven to work.
Having a profession is :
- having responsibility that fits your authority;
- being paid for every hours spent to produce, including commuting for your work;
- having hygienic work conditions that wont harm you (fuck crunches, open-spaces, poor chairs/lighting);
- having standards in cleaning (yes cleaning is important, stuff like nice PR, documentations...);
- LIABILITY we have to accept we are liable for things in exchange for authority;
- ETHIC, we must have the right to refuse to code programs that in our knowledge opposes the common laws (like privacy, embezzlement, fiscal fraud, consumers rights to be informed...);
- the respect of IP laws, I am bored of seeing people STEAL free/open source software and claim it is theirs, it we take part in doing so we are negating the value our very own work...
- having our name granted to a creation we made...
And to make is worse, I propose that being a coder should not be related to a diploma but an apprenticeship.
I see no justifications, no evidence sustaining the idea diploma worth a bit in IT so let's drop this shit. There is a S in CS standing for Science. A corporation should help either take part in better education in university or supervise a meaningful apprenticeship based on metrics not wishful thinking.
Well good news, a profession is about agreeing on a minimum platform, and this is either called ideology to harm it or a "manifesto" to make it look sensible, so I beg you humbly to call it a manifesto.
Then, I think every laws are local.
It thus mean to open local unions based on the immutability of laws that grant you power.
Than it is a classic of union: mutualize (crowfund as it is called nowadays) the costs any legal dispute than can be won on any of these points of agreement.
Each and every country have their preferred form of legal structure that helps doing so.
But thanks to the power of "global internet communication" and international convention (Bern/Geneva) regarding IP law some topics can be mutualized internationally.
It is all about creating local sections and more global chapters. So, I would strongly recommend starting it in your own neighborhood using logical synergies with other confluent interest such as "consumer unions" (like EFF) and legal expertise, public schools.
You create a section, ask money to fund lawsuit, make your adherents choose the lawsuit they agree to pick, and go head on with corporations that pick on coders. Eventually funding strikes.
then you can do PR, go to public school tell the truth about the work market (no lies), help legal system have a fair access to information, take part in benevolent action profiting your local community...
done that, been there, it is a all lot of sweat and tears. but it works.
Oh, and people need to know they are not alone. Meetup to speak.
People don't need an union if they are happy with the situation.
But they may need first to share their concern in a place where confidentiality is granted (because we all have loyalty penalties made especially to block the possibility of sharing information). You might need a lawyer advice on how to make people able to share their mind freely.
People suffer, but they cannot talk met googlers and facebookers they were looking like citizens of former soviet countries fearing the snitches.
You will probably want a low tech organization to ensure a strong privacy of the meetups (word to mouth).
You may want people to sign anti-snitch agreement (that blocks leaks).
You will want to make all your possible to protect the confidentiality of the attendant of the meeting in early stages.
You're probably on a sinking ship and don't even realize it. If it's really that bad, I suggest quitting in with the smallest amount of notice you can give and hopping on the job market tomorrow.
Remember to thoroughly vhet your future employer. Job interviews are a two-way street. There's nothing wrong with finishing an interview and then telling the employment agency that you don't want to continue the interview. I did that a few times while looking.
That sounds... pretty bad. If you are really in SF there are plenty of jobs around the Bay that offer a good life balance and prevent you from having to sleep under the bridge, just have to look for them.
In Europa merchants were taking advantage of the numerous measure of length, weight, volume to make customers unable to be comparing.
There was 117 measure of length used.
So as a result, Louis XVI who was influenced by the early liberal set on course the project of the international system. The idea was a market is more competitive if states regulate the obigation for merchant to make measure comparable.
Hence came the meters, kg, liters and the decimal system.
It was adopted by the republican after the king was overthrown because they were also willing for a fairer competition...
It has always stroked me as weird that USA never saw the inherent liberalist advantage of simple measurement system.
> It has always stroked me as weird that USA never saw the inherent liberalist advantage of simple measurement system.
I read a claim somewhere that the pox of different measurement systems wasn't as much of an issue in Britain and it's American colonies so they stuck with archaic but consistent units a lot longer.
PRO: It was indeed a breeze and stress free.
CON: without social help or illegal secondary activities you don't earn enough to sustain your life (pay rents, food, clothing and that's all).
But, it has been the moment of my life I was the happiest to work everyday.
Maybe that's how you could make a vacation. It helps you forget everything about the business brain washing that is strong in the IT, it clears your head of the noise, and you might come back more efficient, and retaining more employees by sharing their day to day concern of working to make a living and not living to work.
My take is simple, life is too short to not try to live some of your fantasies, some may actually prove to be fruitful.
Simply remember that there is no success in trying if you don't accept you also may fail and be disappointed.
I code, do ham, wine, gardening cider, bread, pastry, cooking, music, bike fixing, knitting, sometimes write and compose.
The secret: being ruined and not having money for buying any of these goods.
Let me tell you, you sometimes you would like to stop having to be an active producer.
It is a rich person problem to not be able to produce in whatever field (intellectual or physical).
I keep a diary:
with following info
day : arriving : departure : time of lunch // travel time.
Why ?
I noticed after 43h in a moving window of 5 days my focus, irritability is up to the roof and I make way too much mistakes that can lead to a dramatic mistake.
My work contract is 37.5 so everytime I reach too much overhead I talk to my manager ask him if he will need me one day to make extra efforts in case of emergency?
He says yes, I say I will abide but if we are working under normal load, than he needs me to rest and give me my time back.
He then picks on me, saying it is my responsibility to not stay to long at work, I make him notice it is because of the company management I have to stay late and the deadline.
He grumbles says it is not the right time.
I go to see the CEO say the same thing
They give me my family time back. I stay quite rested (add 2h30m / day (when the rail company has exceptionally no problem) of commuting with the worsts train lanes of Europa (1M commuters/days)) so it actually feels like commuting is working. Teleworking is denied for lack of control.
Oh! and lunch time is not counted as worked hours except for the other managers. (so I stay away from my family 10hours per day, I see my wife 5 hours a day).
That is the only diary I am keeping.
If I get overworked/burntout, it costs nothing to the company, but I will certainly get fired sooner or later and have a hard time finding a job with a sort of depression running.
Sounds like you've mentally set up an adversarial relationship between yourself and 'them' (managers). This is only going to continue to drain you.
Ideally, look for a job with a smaller commute or better attitude to remote work, and get out now. If you can't do that and need to stay in this job for a while, think about changing your mindset to empathise with your managers, even if you dislike them. Be helpful, think about what they are 'actually trying to achieve', which might not necessarily be what they asked for. Remember this is only a stepping stone til your next, better job.
If you're never going to like working 8-10 hours a day you need to figure out the necessary stepping stones to move into working for yourself.
But whatever you do, don't spend years in a me-vs-them mental battle with management at your current role. I made this mistake and deeply regret the lost years (though I did teach myself JavaScript in that time so now I'm massively employable, fuck that employer, har).
I am sorry you are in a stressed situation and I hope that you find a favourable way to change it.
My thought would be that if you can manage a way to increase that 43h by just 10% or 20% then over time and transport delays will not be as worrying.
Can you incorporate stretching exercises or walking into your work environment? Try and keep a diary of the positive things that can help you cope with work.
Got one of this email that was oblviously sent by a member of "enmarche" in bulk the mail address domain was pointing on an obviously cybersquatted domain in .fr which is illegal on this TLD (fr law)
So they are proud to have made a tool obviously usable for commiting felony.
Our president supports infringing the laws.
That's the reason, I think ethic and liability should become a must in software industry. You cannot say, I ignored it would happen and it is not my fault.
Unless you have not noticed a lot of news are being censored systematically on HN when they touch certain topics, some of them is giving SV/IT a bad PR, or poor work conditions in IT , political POV...
references: http://hckrnews.com/ (use all button) http://hnrankings.info/