[michaelochurch]

I think the issue is more that we have a skill that powers the world, but 95% of us are just business subordinates-- not professionals like doctors or professors, not even unionized-- and the 5% who have good jobs at any given time still live under the threat of an unforeseen issue (AI winter, financial crash wiping out the quant jobs, age discrimination, "Series A crunches") putting them back into the EnterpriseJavaDrone purgatory.

It's not "isolation". The software industry is a very depressing place. The pay (while not great) is solidly OK, but the status is low and the job security's abysmal.

Most software engineers have a skill that can do so much and end up having to use it to do so little.

[larrys]

Will also add that (for lack of a better way to put it and sorry if this offends) "penis envy".

That is reading about the money that is made by others and their success and also seeing how others in the group react to that success with generally fawning reverence. With, as you have said, no particular reinforcement (by peers, friends and family or neighbors) for anything in particular that you do day to day.

[benched]

Wow. I could not have stated better exactly how I feel about my career, and what I perceive to be my prospects after 15 years of being 'performance review successful' in this industry. And to those who can't resist giving unsolicited advice like, "It's all you, your choices, and your attitude!" - I've heard that one.

[Sven7]

just stay away from impressionable minds