
Ask HN: Will Software Developers ever be respected in the industry itself? - hadenoughofit
This is something I&#x27;ve been grappling with for a while as I have started considering looking for a new job.<p>I&#x27;ve been working at one of the big 5 (do we still call them that?) for the past 5 years and it seems that every company in the industry, large or small, has not only escalated the whiteboard hazing rituals, but entered in to a full-on arms race where the difficulty of problems one can expect has spiraled out of control and become a game of &quot;we both know you memorized this solution but let&#x27;s pretend you&#x27;re coming up with it from first principles <i>wink</i>&quot;.<p>At the time, I also had copious amounts of free time with which to spend hours each day grinding leetcode problems online.<p>Not only do I not have that time any more, I don&#x27;t have the inclination to do so. Spending 20 (or more!) additional hours each week doing nothing but solving algorithm problems sounds like an egregious waste of time.<p>And grind problems I would otherwise have to - my day-to-day is focused on delivering quality software and leading a team, I haven&#x27;t had to write an algorithm to invert a binary tree, or find triplets in an array that satisfy a geometric sequence once.<p>Even recruiters seem to be getting in on the action themselves. I recently spoke with a recruiter at another of the big 5, and, during the initial conversation, they started asking basic questions such as &quot;which of these algorithms is O(nlogn)&quot;. After answering a few of them I politely told them I was no longer interested and ended the conversation.<p>At this point I think I&#x27;ve come to terms that my only real options are remain where I&#x27;m at until the end of my career (and if I ever get fired or laid off I don&#x27;t know what I&#x27;ll do), or go back to school and pursue a different career in a field that respects people and trusts them.<p>I just don&#x27;t see the industry changing for the better here. If anything, it has gotten significantly, noticeably, horrifically worse since I was last engaged in this process.
======
mindcrime
There world is so much bigger than the "Big 5". Especially if you don't live &
work in the Bay area. Sure, maybe some other companies don't pay as much, but
it's absolutely possible to work as a developer without dealing with that kind
of nonsense. But maybe it means working for an insurance company, or a bank,
or a furniture manufacturing company, or something "non sexy". But the choice
does exist.

------
detaro
Why limit yourself to the "big 5" if you don't like the games they play?

