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I'm trying to think of a single actually useful thing I ever worked on..

by thatguyagain 2y ago

gonzo41 2y ago
You have worked on earning money to live in your world. Good job. Don't over think work.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  This is the right attitude. Unless you own the business, you have no moral responsibility to ensure the projects you work on have a purpose. You can, of course, optionally choose to not work on projects you believe have a bad or evil purpose. I've quit jobs where I though the project was evil. You're writing the code, or producing the documentation, managing the project, performing QA, or whatever else your role is, and in exchange your company is paying you money. That's the bottom line. If you think it's a useless project, then you should be even doubly grateful that a company exists that will pay you your (presumably good) salary to create something useless! I worked on a totally useless project in the past, a lot like some of the comments here describe, and I went into work every day thanking the stars that my company was stupid enough to pay me to do this!
  - sfpotter 2y ago
    Lucky for you to have the privilege to protest quit from moral outrage. Not everyone is so lucky (in fact, most people aren’t).
    - ragnese 2y ago
      Sure, but did the parent comment say otherwise? This feels like a combative reply.
  - icedchai 2y ago
    I hate useless, pointless work, even if I'm getting paid for it. Don't you want to build things that actually get used?
    - komali2 2y ago
      For me, yes of course! I do that in my spare time on FOSS projects.
  - datavirtue 2y ago
    This. I sit down the hall from the CEO of our company. I hear nearly every meeting and conversation that goes on. Don't think for a minute that most CEOs aren't scrounging money from useless bullshit circumstances half the time. They are very pragmatic and just really don't give a fuck where the money comes from.
  - WatchDog 2y ago
    Morality wise isn’t it the opposite? If you own the business, it’s your money to waste If you work for the business you are wasting others money.
    - ornornor 2y ago
      If you work for someone else and carry out your tasks as instructed, and have tried to bring up the absurdity of it all as specced but they insist you do it anyway then I don’t see what would be unethical about it? Only talking about brain dead/useless endeavors, not bad/evil projects.
- bathtub365 2y ago
  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with also wanting the work you do to have a positive impact in the world. Whether it helps people, entertains them, or saves them time it feels great to get paid and also make a difference. Some may not be happy with just wanting a paycheque and that’s OK too.
- fnordpiglet 2y ago
  I program because I could do nothing else. I do it because it is the thing I most want to do with any given moment. The fact they pay me to do it is fortunate otherwise I would be homeless and programming in a shelter somewhere. I over think work simply because the aspect of “work” is entirely incidental to what I do out of passion. That said, I also never believe anything I do is useful and that also isn’t why I do what I do.
  - jrockway 2y ago
    I do the programming for free. Taking the annual leadership impact and cybersecurity training survey is what they pay me for.
- throwway120385 2y ago
  The only reason to give a damn about what you're working on is to make sure you're accumulating good bullet points for your resume.
  - sfpotter 2y ago
    There are actually companies to work for where you can get involved and develop ownership over things, and where how well you do relates to the success of the business. If you have a good relationship with your coworkers, you may even want to do a good job to try to maximize the likelihood that not just you keep putting bread on the table but they do, too! Crazier things have happened.
    - throwway120385 2y ago
      I've been in that situation before, but I'm starting to get to a point in my career where I've basically plateaued. And before you tell me that I just need to buckle down and re-engage, the company I'm currently at gives across the board 2-3% raises every year to their top performers and my team has delivered some really key strategic projects, so there's not really any point to doing anything else at this company. It doesn't meaningfully change my compensation.
blharr 2y ago
Good to know I'm not the only one...
gr8r 2y ago
who else came looking for a comment like this...
vundercind 2y ago
It’s goddamn rare to work on something useful. I’m not sure more than 50% of the code I’ve written in about 20 years of this was ever actually used by someone who wasn’t, like, working on the project. Much of the rest shouldn’t have been written. Total waste, usually easy to see. A lot more that’s basically just rearranging shit for little reason. Yeah… very little was useful. At some point you just have to stop giving a shit. You’ll pay me how much to dig a hole then fill it back up over and over?! Sure thing, how deep do you want it?

I'm trying to think of a single actually useful thing I ever worked on..

gonzo41 2y ago

You have worked on earning money to live in your world. Good job. Don't over think work.

ryandrake 2y ago
This is the right attitude. Unless you own the business, you have no moral responsibility to ensure the projects you work on have a purpose. You can, of course, optionally choose to not work on projects you believe have a bad or evil purpose. I've quit jobs where I though the project was evil. You're writing the code, or producing the documentation, managing the project, performing QA, or whatever else your role is, and in exchange your company is paying you money. That's the bottom line. If you think it's a useless project, then you should be even doubly grateful that a company exists that will pay you your (presumably good) salary to create something useless! I worked on a totally useless project in the past, a lot like some of the comments here describe, and I went into work every day thanking the stars that my company was stupid enough to pay me to do this!
- sfpotter 2y ago
  Lucky for you to have the privilege to protest quit from moral outrage. Not everyone is so lucky (in fact, most people aren’t).
  - ragnese 2y ago
    Sure, but did the parent comment say otherwise? This feels like a combative reply.
- icedchai 2y ago
  I hate useless, pointless work, even if I'm getting paid for it. Don't you want to build things that actually get used?
  - komali2 2y ago
    For me, yes of course! I do that in my spare time on FOSS projects.
- datavirtue 2y ago
  This. I sit down the hall from the CEO of our company. I hear nearly every meeting and conversation that goes on. Don't think for a minute that most CEOs aren't scrounging money from useless bullshit circumstances half the time. They are very pragmatic and just really don't give a fuck where the money comes from.
- WatchDog 2y ago
  Morality wise isn’t it the opposite? If you own the business, it’s your money to waste If you work for the business you are wasting others money.
  - ornornor 2y ago
    If you work for someone else and carry out your tasks as instructed, and have tried to bring up the absurdity of it all as specced but they insist you do it anyway then I don’t see what would be unethical about it? Only talking about brain dead/useless endeavors, not bad/evil projects.
bathtub365 2y ago
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with also wanting the work you do to have a positive impact in the world. Whether it helps people, entertains them, or saves them time it feels great to get paid and also make a difference. Some may not be happy with just wanting a paycheque and that’s OK too.
fnordpiglet 2y ago
I program because I could do nothing else. I do it because it is the thing I most want to do with any given moment. The fact they pay me to do it is fortunate otherwise I would be homeless and programming in a shelter somewhere. I over think work simply because the aspect of “work” is entirely incidental to what I do out of passion. That said, I also never believe anything I do is useful and that also isn’t why I do what I do.
- jrockway 2y ago
  I do the programming for free. Taking the annual leadership impact and cybersecurity training survey is what they pay me for.
throwway120385 2y ago
The only reason to give a damn about what you're working on is to make sure you're accumulating good bullet points for your resume.
- sfpotter 2y ago
  There are actually companies to work for where you can get involved and develop ownership over things, and where how well you do relates to the success of the business. If you have a good relationship with your coworkers, you may even want to do a good job to try to maximize the likelihood that not just you keep putting bread on the table but they do, too! Crazier things have happened.
  - throwway120385 2y ago
    I've been in that situation before, but I'm starting to get to a point in my career where I've basically plateaued. And before you tell me that I just need to buckle down and re-engage, the company I'm currently at gives across the board 2-3% raises every year to their top performers and my team has delivered some really key strategic projects, so there's not really any point to doing anything else at this company. It doesn't meaningfully change my compensation.

blharr 2y ago

Good to know I'm not the only one...

gr8r 2y ago

who else came looking for a comment like this...

vundercind 2y ago

It’s goddamn rare to work on something useful. I’m not sure more than 50% of the code I’ve written in about 20 years of this was ever actually used by someone who wasn’t, like, working on the project. Much of the rest shouldn’t have been written. Total waste, usually easy to see. A lot more that’s basically just rearranging shit for little reason. Yeah… very little was useful. At some point you just have to stop giving a shit. You’ll pay me how much to dig a hole then fill it back up over and over?! Sure thing, how deep do you want it?