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0 pointsnicolia9y ago0 comments

For a field that doesn't cater to people with families and other life obligations too well, I think it does.

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citruspi9y ago· 1 in thread

> For a field that doesn't cater to people with families and other life obligations too well

There's no reason that the field (of computer science/software engineering/etc) _can't_ cater to people with families and other life obligations.

Jobs that don't cater to people with families include being a surgeon, a pilot, a firefighter, etc.

I've worked at several software companies (including a company worth hundreds of billions[0]) and it totally comes down to (1) employer (2) team.

There's nothing about being a developer that is at odds with people with families. Some employers have awful work life balances (due to company culture) and others don't. Some employers have teams with awful work life balances and others with great ones.

If a company has an awful work life balance, the solution isn't to remove people with families and other life obligations, it's to fix the company culture.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13198920

nicoliaOP9y ago

I agree that there is no reason that it can't, however the loudest narrative (and in the cultures of the flagship companies) is that it does not. If the author doesn't gel with that for whatever legitimate reasons, then they are looking at the wrong companies. The company culture is like this because it is apparently working (so far). People who don't like it should go to better companies for them, or push for a collective change like a union I guess (just look at HN's love of 'old geeks'), or start their own. Nothing is stopping them from doing that.

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