[tchaffee]

> Why do people think they can "play with new technologies" at work

The same reason software developer salaries are so high. Supply and demand. Companies will do back flips to attract and keep software engineering talent.

> which is wasting not only company money

Some of the best cost saving solutions I've come up with in my career have been thanks to "playing" with new technology. It's the opposite of wasting company money.

> maybe it's time for software developers to grow up and start acting like adults in the workplace

There is nothing childish about loving your work, having fun while doing it, and bringing that attitude to work. It's infectious and great for company morale. Maybe it's time for the negative nancies to grow up, seek therapy, and start acting positive at work and having some fun.

[thow232329]

> There is nothing childish about loving your work, having fun while doing it

Expecting to love your work and have fun doing it, is incredibly naive, yes.

> bringing that attitude to work. It's infectious and great for company morale.

Exactly the opposite, relationships become incredibly strained with the rest of the company and there is a lot of frustration when dealing with the software department. Developers are disliked in the company because they are selfish unprofessional time wasters.

The users are just dumbfounded when they present their 8 month rewrite of perfectly working system, in trendy react framework, now with only 80% of the features and in a slower web page. It's really embarrassing.

[tchaffee]

> Expecting to love your work and have fun doing it, is incredibly naive, yes.

Then I guess I've been naive for over three decades. And getting paid great for it too. I suppose I'll never learn this important lesson considering I'm close to retirement.

> Exactly the opposite, relationships become incredibly strained with the rest of the company and there is a lot of frustration when dealing with the software department. Developers are disliked in the company because they are selfish unprofessional time wasters.

I could imagine that happening with you. There are always a few envious types in any company who think the entire company feels the same way they do. These same folks are envious that the sales people get huge bonuses for "spending all their time on the golf course". Considering I have work relationships going back decades it's safe to say there are plenty of people in most companies who aren't like you.

> The users are just dumbfounded when they present their 8 month rewrite of perfectly working system, in trendy react framework, now with only 80% of the features and in a slower web page.

Of course they would be. That doesn't sound like fun at all. That sounds like a project that didn't take user requirements into consideration. Fun and poor requirements definition sometimes come together, but you are confusing correlation with causation. Loads of overly serious software engineers get the requirements wrong too.

I hope things get better for you and you learn to have fun while still being highly professional. It's a great club to belong to.

[throwaway5959]

There are a lot of reasons to rewrite an existing system. Maybe the existing system is built in a language that is impossible to hire for in the area you’re in. Maybe the test coverage is awful and the code makes it very difficult to write tests. Your tone is frankly pretty condescending and the only reasonable answer to when it makes sense to do a rewrite is “it depends”.