[zemo]

of course it's not callous, you're describing purpose as a motivator. Most people in most industries in most societies in most parts of the world are at least partly motivated by purpose. It's the opposite that is callous: to see every C++ programming job as being equivalent. Seeing programming jobs only through the lens of "what programming problems am I solving" and "what tools am I using" is nihilist.

Callous would be working for a company that hurts people when your labor has enough optionality that you could work elsewhere.

[ericdykstra]

Callous in that my comment might be read as “the people who got fired with no severance deserved it.”

I’m closer to “The people who got fired with no severance knew what they were getting into with this industry, and if they didn’t that ignorance is their own fault,” which might also be read as callous.