[devwastaken]

They'll tell you to keep it, sitting all day working on problems that don't matter to enrich billionaires comes with it's own problems. Primarily that almost everyone that works in such unnatural conditions ends up a slave to the system, mentally ill, and severe drug abuse. Very few ever achieve the optimum setup.

[paulcole]

> sitting all day working on problems that don't matter to enrich billionaires comes with it's own problems

Yes, my point is that every job has its own problems.

And everybody who’s dissatisfied thinks they’d prefer the situation somebody else has — and tend to overlook the problems that come with it.

“I hate solving a billionaire’s problems at a computer, I’d rather work with my hands.” Vs. “I hate how much my hands hurt, I’d love to just work at a computer.”

> Primarily that almost everyone that works in such unnatural conditions ends up a slave to the system, mentally ill, and severe drug abuse

It’s lucky that nobody who’s ever worked a blue collar job has gotten into trouble with drugs.

[fool1471]

Yes, the problem here isn't that working in tech has what most people consider to be bad working conditions, it's that working in any "thought work" role requires both mental and physical engagement to achieve any kind of fulfillment. Mental engagement is increasingly difficult when you operate within an economic model that increasingly doesn't even pretend to care about anything beyond making even more money for a handful of dudes who are already richer than anyone has ever been in the history of wealth.

Flipping burgers for a company you don't care about is very different to marshaling your mind into doing work that requires you to care about a company you don't care about.

That said, flipping burgers for a company you don't care about also sucks for many other reasons that should not be downplayed. Chiefly, the lack of cash makes it hard-to-impossible to even attempt to find your fulfillment in activities outside of work.

My recommendation would be to do what I've done and to find a small company staffed by engineers who aren't sycophants. Look for meaningful benefits (e.g. more PTO, an office in a nice location, four-day week) and try your very best to relax: it's just a job. (Then take up yoga /s).