> I had to maintain it, almost completely alone, for ten years, before it was taken over by a competent team, and I could finally walk away.
No you didn't.
Younger folks reading this, you don't owe anyone free labor. If you want to donate your time to open source that's ok but just know there are thousands of people in this industry that don't care about your mental health and will continue to take advantage of you because you enjoy coding and don't understand how valuable your time is yet.
Sometimes, we do stuff for reasons that folks, these days, can't relate to. I'm truly sorry that you've never had a Cause to which you could dedicate that kind of effort.
No one ever "took advantage" of me. I'm actually kind of hard to hoodwink.
But it’s true, nonetheless. I’ve had it said to me, and it applies.
If you are unable to comprehend that people will do something for altruistic or deeply personal reasons, then we live in entirely different worlds, and it’s a waste of time, trying to explain ourselves.
I get the impression the OP isn’t saying they “had to” in the sense of “being forced to by outside forces” but rather “wanted to for personal satisfaction and pride”. I understand the feeling: you create something you’re proud of and which means a lot to you, and before you let it go you want to ensure it’s in good competent hands which will care for it and make it flourish the same way you would.
That is very different from being exploited or taken advantage of.
I agree with the quoted commenter's point that sometimes shit matters enough to put up with the suck, but I also agree with your point that people need to understand that walking away might be the right thing to do.
This is true. I knew what I was getting into. I didn't expect it to be ten years, but I did expect at least five, before I could get folks to pitch in. I knew the character of the folks that would be trying to force the system into shapes that would not last, and how they would react to me.
In this case, it was for an organization that I've been involved in, for decades. I'm incredibly Grateful for what it's done for me, and I'm simply paying it back a bit.
The system was required to help them improve their discoverability, which could be life-saving.
It's not hyperbole to say that the system has probably saved many lives, and will continue to do so, for the foreseeable future.
It's also pretty much worthless, monetarily. No one would be willing to pony up a fraction of what it would have cost to build, if it were paid.
I'd do it all over again, if I had to. Fortunately, I don't have to. The team that took it over have done great things with it. It's a ship of Theseus type of thing. There's probably not much code I wrote, left. I write apps that now leverage it.
I don’t really mention it in public, but it’s no secret. It’s managed by a team, these days, and it’s not really appropriate for me to draw much attention to my role. They are doing a great job.
Seems like you are saying the same thing as OP, but with a more cynical framing. He set boundaries because he did not in fact have to accept those PRs.
One might argue that programmers owe something to all those maintainers who so nonsensically donated their time and money to furthering a free software ecosystem that every single one of us - humans, not just programmers - benefit from. Maybe it's money, as you seem to imply, but maybe it's more time and labor to continue to further that cause.
Never understood why our industry seems unique in our willingness to do unpaid work for giant corps. Your compression library isn't saving the world, it's making it easier for amazon to save a few bucks.
You have the right to be paid for your time. It's valuable.
I enjoy coding too... but the only free coding I do is for myself.
Use a proper license, charge for your time and stop killing yourself doing unpaid hobby projects that cause nothing but stress.
> why our industry seems unique in our willingness to do unpaid work for giant corps.
Because it never starts that way. It scratches an itch, solves an interesting puzzle and people thank and praise the work. Deep down we all want to be useful, and it helps that it looks great on a résumé.
After it's established the big corps come along, but the feeling of community usefulness remains. It's also why so many devs burn themselves out, they don't want to disapoint.
> Never understood why our industry seems unique in our willingness to do unpaid work for giant corps. Your compression library isn't saving the world, it's making it easier for amazon to save a few bucks.
The work was not being done "for giant corps"; it was being done for everyone, and giant corps just happen to be a part of "everyone", together with small corps, individual people, government, and so on.
> You have the right to be paid for your time. It's valuable.
When you think of free software contributions as "volunteer labor" instead of just a hobby, it makes more sense. Yes, my time is valuable; when I'm working on free software, I'm choosing to use this valuable time to contribute to the whole world, without asking for anything in return.
I'd say you're contributing back. You don't ask anything in return because you live in a ecosystem built on the contributions of everyone, you're just doing your part.
Alcohol temporarily helps but you pay it back with interest over time.
It sounds trite but exercise and sleeping/eating better is really the only thing we have proof that works. (zoloft can help kickstart the changes but it won't reduce anxiety long term)
I think I have more of an acute issue with anxiety, at the moment mostly driven by financial insecurity combined with unexpected medical expenses. Like what I really need right now is a few thousand dollars in travel expenses and for this precertification to go through, but failing that I just need to make it from one day to the next.
I don't have the source at hand, but I read somewhere that in many hunter-gatherer societies, pretty much all people walk 15-20 kilometers every day. Coincidentally, this is approximately equivalent to the the amount of exercising I need to do calm my anxiety down.
Maybe anxiety is just some kind of exercise-deficiency. After all, we were made to move around, it's entirely plausible that many biological processes in our bodies just don't work well while sedentary and our anxiety is trying to tell us that.
> After all, we were made to move around, it's entirely plausible that many biological processes in our bodies just don't work well while sedentary and our anxiety is trying to tell us that.
Muscle contractions function as the heart for our second circulatory system.
Thank you for this. There are multiple comments in this thread saying exercise is the "silver bullet," but if you have a severe anxiety disorder, it often isn't.
I am much less anxious on the days I don't exercise. I still do it nearly every day because I want to stay healthy.
What works for me? Good old SSRIs. They are my silver bullet.
I promote exercise as an excellent way to combat and prevent anxiety/depression/etc., but calling it a silver bullet is just wrong. Some people can do all the right things and still feel like absolute shit at the end of the day. There are wars that cannot be won.
Yeah, and it doesn't have to be "exercise" exercise either, just exertion. Go work in the yard. Repair your house. Reorganize your stuff. Build some shelves. Change your own oil and rotate your own tires. Just do things that involve moving your body.
Do you enjoy playing games or do you enjoying making games?
If you enjoy playing games don't kill your hobby, if you enjoy making games I would expect you'd already have a ton of example projects you could show and discuss, even just game designs scribbled on paper somewhere.
If you don't have that you'll be competing with people that do, and with people that will kill themselves in their 20's to work unreasonable hours for shitty pay because it's their passion. It's all they've done since they were 10 years old and it's all they ever want to do.
This completely made up series of conspiracy-laden comments is what HN is now ... well, that and people getting very confused about what free speech is.
"free speech" is the new "fake news". It's a reductive meme you can hurl to justify your actions.
Twitter isn't Congress, and the TOS are clear and exist for a very good reason. Now Elon has reinvented... TOS. And claims you have a right to free speech, but not of reach... which is exactly what deboosting and shadowbanning are. He's even planning to have an "algorithm" (another memey buzz word to rail against) to prioritize replies. He's reinvented the status quo, all in the name of a boogeyman that never existed.
How did this become the narrative? Wikileaks was started by the Russian secret service, so of course they wouldn't leak their own stuff. Assange was a useful idiot to them.
You're missing the point of VC funds. Due diligence doesn't matter, incompetence doesn't matter, reality doesn't matter. What matters is if they can turn their 1 dollar into 2.
Doesn't matter if that requires breaking laws(airbnb) or stealing from naive people(shitcoins) they will do it, full stop. Once you understand that VC funds are literally robber barons who grouped together and gave themselves a new name it all makes a lot more sense.
Quick reminder that we're on a VC board that has participated in this shell game; this fraud that has stolen money from naive people.
And before I get downvoted to oblivion or moderated by @dang I hope a few people read this comment and realize how much was stolen from you so the sand hill gang can play monopoly ... it was a lot.
yes its been my opinion for years that they are all crooks, the whole thing was made possible basically by quantitative easing. but I still find a lot of ridiculous foolishness posted here so I keep getting lured back.
No you didn't.
Younger folks reading this, you don't owe anyone free labor. If you want to donate your time to open source that's ok but just know there are thousands of people in this industry that don't care about your mental health and will continue to take advantage of you because you enjoy coding and don't understand how valuable your time is yet.