
Ask HN: Jaded? - athrowaway29
Hi (throwaway for obvious reasons),
I&#x27;d like to ask opinions on a situation where I&#x27;m just feeling horribly jaded with a large portion of the industry.<p>I&#x27;ve been working for a long time (over 20 years) in an array of industries (big four accounting, healthcare, small retail) and through consulting roles I&#x27;ve easily had exposure to over a hundred companies. And I&#x27;m having feelings about the industry I don&#x27;t know how to address.<p>I recently noted this situation[0], and whilst I noted people were (rightfully) outraged, I was confused by the surprise. All I would think was &quot;well that&#x27;s every CTO ever, what&#x27;s the shock here?&quot;.<p>I recently did a phone interview for a security role. When I mentioned to their &quot;technical manager&quot; that I had several CVEs I had found, he said &quot;noone in real security cares about that&quot; and went on to describe their penetration testing methodology, which meant basically reading out this disaster[1] word for word. My eyes glazed at that point and even after telling them I&#x27;m not interested, they&#x27;ve continued to pursue me. Likewise, a tech startup many of you may recognise approached me for a devops role. When I found out their production servers were whitebox desktops running Windows XP (and they strictly did not intend on changing that) I bailed.<p>These things are simply examples of the things I&#x27;ve been seeing for years, and I&#x27;ve gotten so jaded about how the average company carries themselves I just can&#x27;t consider any role seriously any more. I find it incredibly difficult to talk to a hiring manager and not sit and scoff because I feel like I know what&#x27;s coming. It&#x27;s also a huge contrast to the world about online.<p>[0] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;cscareerquestions&#x2F;comments&#x2F;6ez8ag&#x2F;accidentally_destroyed_production_database_on&#x2F;<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;serverfault.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;293217&#x2F;our-security-auditor-is-an-idiot-how-do-i-give-him-the-information-he-wants
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purpleostrich
What separates the young from the old? Knowledge, wisdom, of how the sausage
is made. I suggest that you look around for some legit hackers in their late
60s and older, and get to know them.

Older OLD hackers I know are super optimistic, like to make things, and are
always learning.

Optimism from this point on is your challenge. I challenge you to be
optimistic and do something with your experience, even if it's a hobby on the
weekends and evenings.

~~~
athrowaway29
Thanks for your response.

I completely agree with your points. I run two side projects (non-monetised)
which keep me very entertained. I've attended security conventions (for which
I take annual leave, and receive strict instructions never to let a client
know) and overall I have a very optimistic attitude to what the industry is
capable of.

These things absolutely get me through the day.

------
Bakary
Would it be possible for you to somehow change your career at this point, or
to somehow escape your environment? Jadedness is typically something that
grows worse over time unless there is a significant change in your
circumstances. (can be a mindset change too, but these are easier said than
done)

~~~
athrowaway29
Thanks for your advice. I cannot see a complete career change working. Despite
my misgivings, I'm paid well and have a heavy mortgage I could not manage if I
were to become junior in a different field.

"Escaping the environment" in the form of moving to another city or country is
certainly an option I need to consider.

~~~
Bakary
It may seem a little silly but simply making changes to your routine can help.
It's not necessarily the case here, but it's worth investigating whether
frustration at work is indeed the root cause or a symptom of some other
problem that has built up over time. I hope I don't come across as an armchair
psychologist. It's just that my experience has shown me that my mindset can
dramatically change based on factors that seem less important than they
actually are (for instance, a little more exercise or a little more sleep) or
factors that seem only distantly connected (in my case, jadedness was cured by
taking up cooking classes).

