[delusional]

> For something like Azure, people are nor fungible

What I've learned from a decade in the industry is that talent is never fungible in low-demand areas. It's surprisingly hard to find people that "get it" and produce something worthwhile together.

[silvestrov]

I would say "systems design" rather than low-demand.

People who can "reduce" a big system to build on a few simple concepts are few and far between. Most people just add more stuff instead.

[aeonik]

I think those people are around, they are just not rewarded by this kind of system. They can propose plans and fixes, they just don't get implemented.

[srirangr]

“Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better.” - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

[markus_zhang]

When things become too complicated, no one dares to make new systems. And if you don’t make new systems ofc you have to learn system design the other way around — by fixing every bug of existing systems.

[jimbokun]

Simple ain’t Easy

- Rich Hickey

[Joel_Mckay]

There are often retention problems with lean budgets, and after training staff they often do just leave for a more lucrative position.

Loyalty will often not be rewarded, as most have seen companies purge decade long senior staff a year before going public.

It is very easy to become cynical about the mythology of silicon valley. =3

[auggierose]

What is a low-demand area?

[delusional]

A geographic area where there's not abundant opportunity for software developers. Usually everywhere outside the major metro areas. It was primarily meant to discount experiences from SF or Seattle where I'm sure finding talent is easy enough, assuming you are willing to pay.

[grvdrm]

I thought of this not as geographic but in terms of what’s sexy vs not. Low Demand = not

[chasd00]

Right, like running a sanitation department for a city. Who wants to do that? No one, but it's pretty important and everyone will raise hell and almost riot when it's not working.

[grvdrm]

Totally. I’m in insurance. So much is unsexy but critical. And that’s where you see a lot of folks churning on core systems, process, etc that makes insurance actually work vs any headline tech/investment/AI stuff. Don’t get me wrong - wins there too. But 22 year old Harvard grads aren’t going for underwriting assistant jobs (to use an example)