[frozenwind]

I remember having to write an essay in high school about playing & the human being. Then I assumed that playing is a privilege of the kids and young adults. Now, later in life, I've changed jobs not only for a better pay, but also because I started feeling that everybody was becoming too serious at my last workplace. Either that or I've lost my perspective, and to be honest I've always felt that I'm a bit too serious and that was alarming to me - I give too little space for playing and too much space to passive entertainment.

I've felt the vicious cycle the article tells too: not playing enough made me dull, depressed and that in turn makes you loose the appetite for playing.

It was a good reminder, thanks.

[Gigachad]

This is why I think companies should use fun tech when possible and practical. Sure, we could all do things in the most boring and predictable way possible, but if I’m just going to grind out menial crap in the same way every day, I’d leave for somewhere paying more.

[4lejandrito]

I try to think the opposite way. As an employe I try to find joy on each task regardless of the underlaying tech.

This way I became happier at work and I think I can easily find a new one if needed because my pool of potential employers is bigger.

Otherwise you’ll eventually feel bored at every job because every tech eventually becomes “boring”.

[josephg]

> This is why I think companies should use fun tech when possible and practical.

> As an employee I try to find joy on each task regardless of the underlying tech.

Why not both!

[4lejandrito]

Definitely. But for a company it’s much harder to switch technologies. I am currently leading a team of devs where I work, and I often get complaints about not using the latest features of the language or better languages. The choice is made by the company and for good reasons. I tell them exactly what I said here. Find the way to enjoy work and celebrate your achievements, it doesn’t matter if it’s Java, Kotlin or C#, at the end what we’re doing is solving business problems and that can be a lot of fun.

[em-bee]

the problem is that it is rarely practical or even possible. if you think some tech is more fun than others then go find a job where that tech is used, or look for work where you can choose the tech yourself. but unless you are a lead developer in a greenfield project, such an opportunity will be very rare. most projects already made the tech decisions before you get to join.

i think it's better to try to find the fun in other aspects of work. in a great team, where you enjoy working together, where boring work can be made bearable by facing the challenge together.

some companies provide 10% or 20% time for employees to work on projects of their choice. google was famous for that, but i heared it's no longer as prevalent as it used to be.

in any case i'd rather have a fun team on boring work than a fun toolchain with tedious coworkers.