The Insanity of Being a Software Engineer

How Hard Is Software Engineering?

• Some argue software is “one of the easiest careers”: high pay, comfort, low physical risk; complaining sounds out of touch next to manual or service jobs.
• Others insist it is genuinely hard, just in a different dimension: mentally relentless, high context load, constant change, and often stressful deadlines or on-call duties.
• Several distinguish “job difficulty” from “life difficulty”: many blue‑collar jobs may be less cognitively demanding but are worse paid, less secure, and more physically punishing.

Comparisons to Other Professions

• Manual work (construction, farm, restaurant, warehouse) is often described as more satisfying and immediately tangible, even when physically harder and badly paid.
• Other white/grey‑collar roles (pilots, doctors, lawyers, civil/EE engineers) are cited as having more training, higher stakes, stricter regulation, and sometimes better long‑term security.
• Some commenters say software is easier than other engineering disciplines because mistakes rarely kill people or send you to jail.

Satisfaction, Health, and “Golden Handcuffs”

• Many feel “golden handcuffs”: they dislike modern tech work (politics, OKRs, meaningless features) but stay for the salary and flexibility.
• Others still find deep joy in solving problems and would code even for much less money.
• Sedentary, screen‑heavy work is blamed for long‑term physical issues (RSI, back/neck pain, eye strain) and chronic stress; a minority claims these are mostly mitigable with lifestyle, which others strongly dispute.
• Some note they think about work problems constantly, unlike prior blue‑collar jobs they could leave at the door.

Complexity, Churn, and Specialization

• Frontend/web development is singled out as particularly insane: rapid churn in frameworks and tooling, “full stack” expectations, and fragile, layered abstractions.
• Others counter that core concepts (CS fundamentals, Unix, networking, SQL) change slowly; the “3‑month obsolescence” meme is seen as exaggerated.
• There’s tension between specialization (frontend, backend, infra, domain experts) and the industry push for “everyone is full stack,” which can lead to low expertise and slower progress.

Organizational and Industry Dynamics

• Agile, DevOps, and resume‑driven or CV‑driven development are blamed for needless complexity and diminished sense of craftsmanship.
• Management illiteracy about tech, underpaid overtime/on‑call (especially in the US), and volatile hiring/layoff cycles are seen as major drivers of stress.
• Several conclude that nearly all jobs are hard in their own ways; software is privileged but not trivial.