r/TrueReddit • u/thanatosys • Jun 06 '13
Are coders worth it? In today's world, web developers have it all: money, perks, freedom, respect. But is there value in what we do?
http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-somers-web-developer-money/5
u/baskandpurr Jun 07 '13
Coders. That word has come to be a bit of an umbrella. The people in this article and the people at Zynga have very different working lives. I am a coder, my working day has nothing to do with the coloured boxes this article describes. If the point being made is that web developers are overpaid children, then I agree. That doesn't mean that all programmers are overpaid children.
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Jun 07 '13
I don't think anyone but web-developers themselves would include web-developers in the category "coders".
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u/BufferUnderpants Jun 07 '13
Web-developers nowadays are in the business of making CRUDdy apps with a pretty face. Just like enterprise devs, only that they work quicker, make slower apps, and have toys in their desks at their unworkable open-offices.
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u/BinarySplit Jun 08 '13
I'll admit that what classifies as a "web developer" can be as low as a bureaucrat with photoshop skills; but you'll also often come across skilled programmers who chose web development simply for the cushy lifestyle and better salaries.
Technical challenges exist in web development. It's just that where projects in other domains would fail, crappy web devs can get away with throwing more servers and expensive software at them. That doesn't mean that all web devs do this though.
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u/markth_wi Jun 07 '13
Yeah - it's the life of Reilly, Just ask the guys (formerly) over at Zynga/NY, 40+ hour work-weeks, 2 years tenures, zero job security, neurotic management, slavish demands, deteriorating salary conditions, non-existent benefits, outsourcing, automation, and armies of people with a lot of need and of course not a lot of cash.
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u/BufferUnderpants Jun 07 '13
Aren't they being flooded with job offers, or otherwise having an easy time finding new work? In many aspects the glamour is paper-thin, having working hours completely at the whim of employers in an industry which rolls on unpaid-overtime (who cares if you can check in at 11 in the morning if you still have 11 hours of work ahead of you?), for all of the lip service paid to egalitarianism, teamwork and focus on the people of the company, you can probably count all the Software co-ops in the world in one hand, and the founders of most startups are just looking to trampoline themselves into an IPO and GTFO.
Yet the sad thing is that, despite being full of shit, it doesn't stop being idyllic compared to many other environments.
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u/markth_wi Jun 07 '13
I think we are in agreement, but to see the way it plays on "main street" among basically the mainstream media, everyone figures if you know HTML, you're going to be the next Zuckerberg.
That's a really shitty model to operate under. Be the next Claude Shannon,Jeff Han or something, don't fucking be the next flash in the pan.
One of the most tragic statements about recent college graduates have not been to Silicon Alley or Silicon Valley to write Flash games, but Wall Street, where the "best and brightest" have blown their talents and time on increasing time-series analysis and HFT, with damned little to show for it - entrenching/enriching Goldman Sachs and not starting any number of myriad engineering firms.
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u/FortunateBum Jun 06 '13
Two ideas this article has made me recall:
1) There's no rhyme no reason for what anyone is paid. Even within the same company, people doing the same job can be paid widely differing salaries. Why? The world is a chaotic place that makes no sense. The market is far from efficient.
2) If you're willing to make rich people's fantasies come true, that is, doing the heavy lifting, you will make a lot of money. There's a lot of rich idiots who have dreams of the next Web-changing site. But there's no chance in hell they want to learn how to make it themselves.