Hacker News Reader

Comment by joshuakcockrell | Hacker News Reader

> We want to feel that we’re making the world better, even if it’s as small a matter as helping a shopper find the right product at the grocery store.

My question for HN is do you feel that the content you are working on makes a difference in your career satisfaction? Or do you just need to know that _someone_ out there is being benefited?

Is it just as fulfilling to work on a video game that flops (but maybe a few people still enjoy it) as it is to work on Fortnite where your code changes are used by millions?

Is it more satisfying to work on consumer facing iPhone apps like Apple Fitness where you are enabling millions of people to be healthier compared to working on a high frequency trading algorithm that makes a few people lots of money?

View on HN

Speaking personally, the things that give me the greatest satisfaction are those where I feel I've done a good job from a perspective of craft. Even if the code itself doesn't do very much or will never really be seen, I get the greatest contentment from feeling I designed and put it together well. If I worked on a video game that didn't get traction but that I loved, was beautifully built and designed, I think I'd be happier than say, an online poker game.

I'd be lying if I didn't care at all, obviously I'd rather the app be used. There's a special feeling of showing something to someone completely outside tech, saying "I built this" and having them "get" it. Hence why I think consumer apps are also more satisfying than a high frequency trading algo.

EDIT: minor grammar/missing words

> My question for HN is do you feel that the content you are working on makes a difference in your career satisfaction?

For me personally, this is the primary thing that affects my career satisfaction. If I don't find the work I'm doing to be meaningful, I will be miserable. There is no amount of money or other perks that can change that.

Good question.

In my personal opinion it does. Without getting into specifics, I've been working recently on a project in which I will be proud of having had a large part to play. It will [potentially] indirectly reach hundreds of thousands to million(s) of people, depending. It is also in a field I have long believed in. I won't be working with it, or the field forever, but I am glad to have done so.

There have been roles I've turned down that, while they may have provided value of some kind to somebody somewhere— I would personally find it rather empty. I've done those projects before. They're ephemeral (not that everything isn't, but I'm not being so extensive in scope...). Those things can depend on the nature of the work, or the people you meet in the process. Sometimes it can work out well, other times it can feel like oblivion for a time.

Definitely where it helps more people. If I have to make tough choices in order to get there, so be it.

As it stands, I work in online advertising by choice and I love it. It's pretty meaningful to me.

It's the hard choices that really attract me: defence, advertising and privacy, pharma, companies like Monsanto. Hated but worthwhile. That's what I like.

Personally it's satisfying when customers thank you for your product. If you're looking to make a difference only by thinking, then you need to study the industry you are in and its purpose in society. Is high frequency trading really about the allocation of resources in the economy ? Who wins, who loses, and why ?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com