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I am a “software engineer” I am great at making things and solving problems with code. I love to code. I am an expert in my domain.
But I am employed to sit in meetings. Where my voice doesn’t matter. I am one dev to 6 middle managers with various lofty titles. They do not respect me. I am the bottom wrung of the ladder. But I am also the only member of the team who delivers anything. Without me the “developer” the product doesn’t exist. They hate me for this. So they lock me down. My computer is near unusable in its locked down monitored state. I have to ask permission to do the simplest things. They don’t want me thinking or being productive. Now they have me writing “prompts” so a robot can make me redundant. My confidence is zero, my skillset unappreciated.
It’s time to start again, find a new way to provide for my family.
The software engineering career that I loved has burnt out.
Back then I was bushy tailed and bright eyed. Every new thing I learned filled me with a hunger to learn the next new thing. Back then I didn't think about which programming language I could use to do this, or what framework I could use to do that. I just programmed. I got things done. And I loved every minute of it.
Today, I get nothing done. Even though there is a million new programming languages and frameworks, all making me the same promise.
> Choose me, cause someone's already done it. And done it better.
Choice is the mind killer. Choice makes you rewrite your side hustle six times and then abandon it before ever releasing, cause you are too burnt out to care anymore. Choice makes you not even write the first line of code for fear that by the time you insert the semi-colon your framework has become archaic and must be abandoned for a new framework that does the same thing only uses function calls instead of classes.
And you can't escape choice. Cause Choice has a team of marketing hypsters, that will chase you around the internet reminding you that YOUR chosen path is wrong, cause it's not the path that THEY are on. Choice doesn't let YOU enjoy YOUR journey.
I hate choice. Choice killed the fun. Choice ended the adventure.
But _why knew. _why met Choice. And _why left.
I swear I abandon the recruitment page as soon as I see the "workday" logo pop up, or I am redirected to a "careers portal". Just give me an email address to send my info to.
I have spent time building up my portfolio and CV over the last decade. It shows all my experience and relevant skills, in a way that represents me as a developer.
Yet when I eventually turn up to an interview, after hearing back 6 weeks later. The people conducting it have never been sent my portfolio site or relevant work. And I will then be asked some "right or wrong answer" tech questions. Which any dev would just google at the time and do not give an indication of skill, but rather memory retention...
I will then get an email saying that I do not have the relevant experience in a technology I have actually contributed to and worked with for 10 years.
This is a rant, but really the recruitment process sucks, and interviews are pot luck.