Software Engineering Sucks
Summary
TLDRThe speaker candidly discusses the reality of being a software engineer, dispelling the myth that it's a dream job. Despite earning a significant salary, they found the role isolating and overhyped, focusing more on technical problem-solving than impactful user experiences. They argue that software engineering is misrepresented, often seen as a prestigious career without acknowledging its demanding and sometimes thankless nature. The speaker encourages authenticity in career choices, advocating for pursuing interests over societal pressures or financial incentives, and shares their personal transition from software engineering to sales engineering, emphasizing the importance of finding fulfillment in one's work.
Takeaways
- 😀 The speaker humorously claims to make $175 billion per year as a software engineer, highlighting the absurdity of such a high figure.
- 💼 The average total compensation for a software engineer at Facebook is around $196,000, with the speaker receiving approximately $190,000.
- 🌐 The speaker discusses the societal and cultural pressures that lead many, especially those from immigrant backgrounds, to pursue software engineering.
- 🚀 The profession is often marketed as a way to make a significant impact and solve real-world problems, which the speaker argues is a misconception.
- 🛠️ Software engineers typically deal with technical implementations rather than directly solving human problems, which can be a shock for new entrants.
- 😓 The speaker experienced a decline in social skills due to the isolating nature of the job, emphasizing the importance of work-life balance.
- 💬 There's a stark contrast between the glamorous image of software engineering and the reality of long hours spent debugging and maintaining code.
- 🏆 Despite the high pay, the speaker feels that software engineering is often undervalued and overlooked by other departments within a company.
- 💡 The speaker encourages individuals to pursue their interests and not be swayed by societal expectations or the lure of a high salary.
- 🔄 The transition out of software engineering can be challenging and time-consuming, but it's essential to find a career path that aligns with personal interests and values.
Q & A
What is the speaker's stance on income transparency?
-The speaker believes in income transparency and openly shares their salary as a software engineer.
What is the average total compensation for a software engineer at Facebook according to the speaker?
-The average total compensation for a software engineer at Facebook is stated to be around $196,000.
Why does the speaker claim that the job of a software engineer is overrated?
-The speaker argues that the job is overrated because it is often marketed as a way to solve human problems directly, but in reality, software engineers mostly deal with the technical implementation of solutions that have already been defined by business people.
How does the speaker describe the social skills of software engineers?
-The speaker suggests that software engineers may experience a decline in social skills due to the nature of their work, which often involves long periods of solitary problem-solving and interaction primarily through digital means.
What is the 'on call' responsibility mentioned by the speaker, and why is it challenging?
-The 'on call' responsibility refers to the expectation that software engineers must be available to fix technical issues as they arise, often immediately, which can be challenging due to the constant pressure and the need for immediate response regardless of personal time or circumstances.
Why does the speaker feel that software engineering is not for everyone?
-The speaker feels that software engineering is not for everyone because it requires a specific interest in problem-solving and technical work, and it often comes with high stress, long hours, and a lack of social interaction.
What is the 'Holy Grail' vision the speaker had for their future as a software engineer?
-The 'Holy Grail' vision the speaker had was the idea of working at a prestigious tech company, making a significant impact, and earning a high salary, which was influenced by the hype and marketing around software engineering.
How does the speaker feel about the marketing of software engineering jobs?
-The speaker criticizes the marketing of software engineering jobs as misleading, suggesting that it often overpromises the impact and satisfaction one will get from the job, focusing on high salaries and prestige rather than the actual day-to-day work.
What advice does the speaker give to those who may not enjoy their job as a software engineer?
-The speaker advises those who do not enjoy their job as a software engineer to be honest with themselves and not feel guilty about not liking the job. They encourage exploring other interests and finding a career path that aligns more with personal enjoyment and fulfillment.
How long did it take the speaker to transition out of software engineering into a different career?
-The speaker mentions that it took almost two full years to settle into a new career after leaving their software engineering job.
What is the speaker's current career after leaving software engineering?
-The speaker transitioned into sales engineering, which they find to be a more fulfilling career path.
Outlines
😅 Income Transparency and Software Engineering at Stroy
The speaker humorously addresses the question of how much money they make as a software engineer at Stroy, stating an exaggerated salary of $175 billion per year to emphasize the point that income transparency is important. They clarify that they do not do the job for the money but out of love for the profession. The speaker then transitions into promoting an interview preparation course and discusses the reality of software engineering salaries, citing an average total compensation of $196,000 and their own compensation package of around $190,000. The speaker reflects on how software engineering has become a highly coveted job, especially in their social circle and online presence, where they see many people boasting about their salaries and benefits. They express their belief that the job is overrated and shares their personal journey into software engineering, influenced by marketing hype and a desire for financial stability.
🤔 The Reality of Software Engineering and Its Marketed Image
The speaker delves into the reality of being a software engineer, contrasting the marketed image of the job with their personal experience. They express disappointment with the profession's poor marketing, which often promises an impactful role in solving real-world problems. The speaker argues that software engineers mostly deal with the technical implementation of solutions already defined by business people, rather than directly solving human problems. They discuss the isolating nature of the job, which involves long hours in front of code editors and databases with minimal customer interaction. The speaker also touches on the decline in social skills that can result from such a work environment and the pressure of being 'on call' to fix issues immediately. They conclude by stating that software engineering is essential but often undervalued and overworked within companies, and that the job is not for everyone, contrary to the glamorous image often portrayed.
😔 The Pressure and Dissatisfaction in Software Engineering
The speaker shares their personal struggle with the software engineering profession, emphasizing the pressure and dissatisfaction they experienced. They discuss how the allure of a high salary and prestigious job title can lead to a slow realization of discontent over time. The speaker advises against making significant life decisions based solely on external images or perceived success, such as those portrayed on platforms like LinkedIn or Glassdoor. They encourage individuals to find joy in their daily work by pursuing interests and not feeling obligated to stick with a career path simply because of the investment made in it. The speaker also addresses the societal and familial pressures, particularly within certain communities, to maintain a prestigious job, even if it leads to personal unhappiness. They stress the importance of self-honesty and the freedom to leave a job that does not bring satisfaction.
🚀 Transitioning Out of Software Engineering and Pursuing Fulfillment
The speaker talks about their transition from software engineering to sales engineering, which they found to be a more fulfilling career path. They acknowledge that such a transition can be a lengthy process, requiring patience and persistence. The speaker emphasizes the importance of gradually increasing the amount of work that one enjoys, even if it's just a few percentage points per year. They suggest that this pursuit of aligning one's work with personal interests can significantly contribute to overall happiness. The speaker concludes by reiterating the importance of personal satisfaction over societal expectations and encourages listeners to be honest with themselves about their job satisfaction and to take steps towards a more fulfilling career.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Software Engineer
💡Income Transparency
💡Compensation
💡Work-Life Balance
💡On-Call
💡Marketing
💡Sunken Cost Fallacy
💡Passion
💡Career Satisfaction
💡Algorithm
💡Sales Engineering
Highlights
The speaker humorously claims to make $175 billion per year as a software engineer at Stroy, emphasizing income transparency.
Average total compensation for software engineers is revealed to be around $196,000, with the speaker's compensation being approximately $190,000.
The speaker expresses a love for the job itself, not the money, and promotes an interview preparation course.
Software engineering is described as the 'Holy Grail' of corporate careers, especially within the speaker's social circle.
The speaker discusses the over-marketing of software engineering and its impact on job expectations.
The reality of software engineering work is contrasted with the glamorous image often portrayed in marketing.
The speaker shares personal experiences of feeling isolated and the decline in social skills due to the nature of software engineering work.
The 'on-call' responsibility in software engineering is highlighted as a significant and often unappreciated aspect of the job.
Software engineering is positioned as a necessary but undervalued and overburdened department within companies.
The speaker argues against the idea that software engineers are solving human problems, but rather implementing technological solutions.
The pressure to enjoy software engineering due to societal and familial expectations is critiqued.
The concept of a 'sunken cost fallacy' in career choices is introduced, where individuals feel obligated to continue in a field due to past investments.
The speaker encourages honesty with oneself about job satisfaction and the importance of pursuing interests for career fulfillment.
A personal transition from software engineering to sales engineering is mentioned as an example of a successful career shift.
The importance of patience and gradual change in building a fulfilling career is emphasized.
The speaker concludes with a call to action for individuals to increase the amount of time spent on activities they enjoy as a path to happiness.
Transcripts
so many people have been asking me how
much money I make as a software engineer
at stroy so today I'm going to be
telling you how much money I make as a
software engineer at stroke ofi I
believe in income transparency I make
$175 billion per year as a software
engineer at stroy I'm even wearing the
swag now a lot of people think I do this
job for the money I don't do this job
for the money I do it because I love the
job I love it so much that you should
buy my interview Prep course at leod
jesus.com I think software engineering
is the best job
ever okay no but for real this job
sucks I'm going to be sharing with you
exactly how much I made as a software
engineer at Facebook how much do
software Engineers really get paid
average total compensation of
$196,000 and they were giving me a total
compensation of around $190,000 all
right man for some reason in my world
software engineering has become the Holy
Grail of corporate careers and when I
say my world I don't know I mean I grew
up in a Midwest suburb with a lot of
Asian people I have immigrant parents I
went to a school with a big computer
science program um I have immigrant
parents I moved to a big city after
school to work in Tech um I have
immigrant parents you know I'm not
really sure what the underlying theme is
here on the algorithm that I have found
myself on in life and on social media
software engineering for some reason is
this highly coveted job that has just
taken over my existence on my
side of the internet all I see
is software Engineers showing off about
how much money they make how amazing
their perks are how you can also break
into this highly coveted field of
software engineering where you can solve
real problems and make a big
impact but today I come to you to tell
you that in my experience this job is
overrated as and look I'll preface
this by saying I'm not trying to
dissuade you from becoming a software
engineer in fact I would almost say I
encourage you to become one I became one
I'm no longer one but I used to be one
and man it did open up a lot of great
doors for me but I also think I could
have saved a lot of time if I just knew
what I was getting into so I guess let's
start with that how did I get into this
in the first place you know I get
asked this a lot
and I don't know it just it just kind of
happened I mean if I really think hard
about it I think I remember junior year
there was this video for code academy it
had just come out I think will IM was on
there and he was like yo man code is the
future man yo everyone got to learn how
to code and like he's even sitting there
taking the coding course himself
like okay actually they didn't do that
part I completely made that up my bad
yeah will I IM was for sure learning
python a grammy-winning billboard
topping artist is sitting here learning
python on code academy.com and he is
afraid he's going to be out of work yeah
that makes so much sense right there was
so much hype and marketing around
software engineering and working in tech
there was clearly a high demand for
these jobs but not enough people to fill
them and so we were plagued with way too
much marketing for software engineering
over the next more than a decade I saw
all that and I'm like okay you know
what I'm good at math and stuff and this
could probably get me to a job that'll
make me money I don't know and then I
got to college and then I'm like around
all these smart kids who are really
shooting for the Stars trying to get
that big software engineered job all of
a sudden I I don't know how but I think
a combination of the environment I was
in and the values I was raised by
culminated in this Holy Grail
vision of what my future would look like
as a software engineer at a highly
coveted company I was sitting here
thinking oh one day man I'm going to be
sitting at this Fang software
engineering job like oh oh oh where
should the button go here or should the
button go there and I can write the code
to put the button there and then oh the
button's there and then the user click
the
but like you're just imagining yourself
walking around this office
placing buttons on apps and just
changing the world every single goddamn
day oh I'm going to make so much money
placing buttons on these apps and
hella and making hella
money I'll finally be free and happy and
never have problems again I'll be free
from uh I don't know something maybe my
inner conscience yeah I'll be free from
that and once I get this prize I've won
and I can just like die or something oh
oh please please I'll do anything you
say any c any no I know very inspiring
right anyway so I drank the
Kool-Aid I was a sheep I copied everyone
that I went to school with so I got
there at my first job and you know while
I acknowledged that that job perhaps was
not at a company known for how it treats
its people and its work life balance I
knew deep down that this was not for me
all right like I said one one of my
biggest issues with this profession of
software engineering is how poorly it's
marketed if you are looking for a
software engineering job you will be
told things like you're going to make an
impact you're going to impact real users
you're going to solve real problems
you're going to take the users's
and yeah who doesn't like the
sound of that I think anybody who's
wanted to work at any job ever
would love the sound of that but you
quickly realize it does not go down like
that for some reason these companies are
fooling people into thinking that
software Engineers are solving human
problems and I'm here to tell you right
now that is not what they do what the
software engineer does is it takes a
problem that has already been solved by
business people and solves the last mile
of it which is the technology
implementation so yes you spend your
days in logs in code editors in code
documentation in databases in AWS in
everything but the customer
and I know I was shocked by
this I know a lot of my peers were also
shocked by this cuz we just got to our
jobs and we're just sitting there
like like you're just sitting there and
your social skills are declining by the
second I remember like 3 months into my
first software engineering job there was
a week where I don't think I set a work
like I didn't see anyone during the week
none of my co-workers talked we skipped
stand up every day I didn't say a
word I remember trying to form
sentences like I I I I I was I could
barely form sentences anymore y'all
might clown me for that impression I was
doing at the beginning all right but
this is a result of the decay of social
skills that comes with working in
software engineering okay you are going
to be sitting there solving technology
problems you need to love that software
engineering is for people who when
things break you love fixing that
you love getting in there and
getting in the code and figuring out why
something's breaking not for the person
who's like oh can I just oh like
that that's not who it's for not only
that but you've got to love maintaining
this okay there's this thing called
on call I'm sure you've heard of it I
could do a whole separate video
about that you simply don't have the
option to sit there and be like oh can I
just do this tomorrow no it needs to be
fixed now because the company is going
to lose money if you don't fix it now
and I get it it's necessary like I'm not
saying these jobs need to stop doing on
call I'm not saying saying that like
again software engineering is very
necessary for any company but again I
don't think people realize these kind of
shitty Parts when they get into the job
and that's because it's not marketed
properly and do you know why they Market
it like this because this job
sucks but not only because it sucks but
because it's essential to the
company this might be one of the most
crucial jobs at a company I not here to
say that this is the most important I
understand sales product all of its
important right the product doesn't
exist without the software Engineers
that's just a fact so not only is it
essential but it sucks and if it
sucks and they make it sound
like that to potential job candidates no
no one's going to come do it for them so
they Market this job to you like you're
going to enter this company and become
some God right like they'll slap
some big salaries on there and some big
fat buzzwords in the interview they try
to make you feel like you're going to be
God when you get there and the crazy
part is you are anything but God you're
actually
just a in my opinion there
is no Department that is more of a
to the rest of the company than the
engineering department now I know what
you're thinking oh Veron isn't every
team at a company technically a to
the company well well well unfortunately
yes but I don't think there's a
department that gets to get stepped on
as much as software engineering does by
pretty much every team at the company
when support discovers that some
something's broken when sales needs
something built faster and better or
when product just needs something done
differently all of a sudden they know
who to call they're little in
software engineering the whole company
literally just sits all over you and
kind of just tells you what to do yeah
that's when you realize software
engineering Isn't that cool and really
isn't for everyone this is a great job
for people who like to be kind of just
handed a problem and you want to just
kind of sit here and do the technical
part you'll get paid well but yeah All
Things Considered you are the company's
and you have to accept that but
the thing is you you don't know that in
college but then you get there with your
fat paycheck and you slowly slowly Decay
into your first software engineering job
out of college or out of training
wherever you got your training you
slowly slowly just Decay into the soil
your brain still fixated on that end
result That Glory of being a software
engineer and then after each stock vest
after after each bonus vest after each
performance review survived you slowly
slowly realize over several years that
you hate your life bro if you
take one thing away from this video you
need to stop making big decisions based
on just the image or just some YouTube
video you saw based on something you saw
on glass door based on your bank account
or your resume dude your life is not
spent staring at your LinkedIn page or
your resume or your bank account it will
be spent working on something working
towards something you have to find a way
to enjoy the mundane day-to-day moments
of life and you can do that by doing
things that you're interested
in WoW crazy concept right now am I
insinuating that people who do software
engineering aren't actually interested
in it no okay I have met some of the
most brilliant passionate intelligent
people in this field but I just know
this job gets presented as something
that it isn't for people on the same
life algorithm as me this job the way
it's presented can fool us into thinking
that this is what we are meant to do and
this is the best thing to do for us and
that we should feel bad if we fail at it
or don't like it and it's it's truly so
sad how many people just get fooled into
doing something that they hate for so
long they they they feel stuck I get so
many DMS from Indian kids Asian kids who
are like yo I hate my life Veron I hate
software engineering I did compi I did
this job and I don't know what to do I'm
like bro I recommend therapy you need to
like realign how you value yourself look
I have the computer science degree I did
software engineering I did the damn
thing and am I telling you not to do
that no I'm not telling you not to do it
but I am trying to actively discourage
you from feeling obligated to like it
because you invested so much in it
whether you went to college or your
self-taught this is one of those
industries that takes a lot of
investment to get in whether that's
money time all of it it takes a lot of
work and investment to get into this
industry and once you get that job and
you get that fancy title and that little
paycheck I think a lot of US enter this
perpetually confused and stuck and
dissatisfied State of Mind where we're
like okay I invested so much time into
it it's kind of this sunken cost fallacy
right like we invested so much time and
money into it if you're from a community
like me my parents love the look of it
my family members love the look of this
job on my LinkedIn page they love
hearing oh he was a software engineer in
Amazon oh I know all the parents friends
are oh man they see parents eat
this up dude there's not only
sunken cost fallacy but there's also
insane expectations like you do this
thing a lot of people want to do and
then when you don't like it or it's not
satisfying you somehow we we feel guilt
and I'm here to tell you that you should
never feel guilty about not
liking a job dude it's a
job I need to remind you and myself this
is a job the only person who
should care about your job is you you
need to like put on your Indian
parent ear muffs dude and just put those
ear muffs on and promise me you will
just be honest with yourself that you
don't like this okay yes you I'm
talking to you be honest with yourself
that I'm doing something that I just
don't like and I need to move on
to greener pastures look it doesn't
matter how much you've invested you you
can't change the past you are in the
present now I certainly didn't enjoy
this career but I certainly felt
pressure internally and externally to be
this NPC robot like I made it
and I guess I'll get married and die now
and I just want to say if you are in
this field and you sometimes have the
passing thought of hm maybe I don't
enjoy designing systems and breaking
things apart and troubleshooting them
and staring at logs all day you
are not alone now this all begs the
question Vero since you didn't like it
what did you do how did you get out of
it how can I get out of it thankfully I
was able to switch out into sales
engineering which is this awesome career
path but I can do a separate video on
that or post on Insta about it but even
that transition literally took almost
two full years to settle into after I
left my software engineering job it it
takes a while okay it takes a long time
to actually build a fulfilling career I
need you to understand that you need to
be patient it's not going to happen with
one job switch it's not going to happen
with one project or one company change
it's not going to happen with a new boss
but even if you just slowly slowly try
to find ways to do a little more of
things you're interested in whether
that's in your current job in a side
project at a new job whatever if you can
just even like a few percentage points
per year increase the amount of things
you are doing during your day that you
enjoy that you're like driven to do
that's a win that's a huge win that
Pursuit like the pursuit of you know
increasing the amount of time you're
spending doing things you like that
pursuit in itself can provide you like
70% of your happiness Max but like
that's a big part of it okay the other
stuff is like you know health and
wellness and family and and all that
good stuff you you could die with that
amount of Happiness okay most people
never even get to say they got to do
that like just just optimizing for all
this stuff is what keeps me going okay
I I I guess I do kind of sound like
a software engineer but God damn it
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