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Comment by euroderf | Hacker News Reader

> the last 80% give us something much more that isn’t quantified: The feeling of having completed something of value, and having done it properly, carries an inherent value that surpasses the last 20% output. It is unquantifiable and priceless. This is when work or products become timeless and truly valuable. Not to mention that feeling of satisfaction and completeness of taking an accomplishment to that level.

This is why software development _as a job_ sucks, and sucks deeply: how often do you get to put the icing on the cake, and put a ribbon on it, and get a final effort that matches what you were able to envision ?

"Job" satisfaction is for _hobbyist_ software development. Capitalism generates crap software.

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I've always looked at this a bit differently. For me the last 20% is fulfilling, but it's also a grind.

In a software job I rarely have to do that to get paid, I can spend most of my days on the easy stuff that gets far enough. The pay is good enough that I can spend my time outside of work doing what I want and put in the effort to grind through the last 20% and really feel proud if the end result.

This may be why so many software developers gravitate to wood working. If you have the time to put in the effort for that last 20% its very noticeable and satisfying.

I think it was Paul Graham that likened software dev to gardening. But yes, the woodworking analogy is more appealing.

> Capitalism generates crap software.

As opposed to state-funded software development, which is renowed for its high quality and innovation.

You'd see a lot more from both sides if the motivations were there. The motivation in safety critical stuff is not killing people. It won't matter if I get a boring CRUD app feature to near perfection, I make the same regardless, and that's true in private companies and government.

I think the safety critical developers maybe have some deep itch to scratch and compensation is way less important to them (otherwise they should be making millions in salary given the stakes), but we don't need to use that bar for every developer or product.

But maybe AI will commoditize all of the old boring CRUD apps and those kinds developers are only worth $20-30/hr.

> and compensation is way less important to them (otherwise they should be making millions in salary given the stakes)

I think I disagree. Doing safety critical does not mean you work 1000x more. Just that you put more care into what you do (you focus on safety vs productivity), have audits and actual processes to ensure quality.

Because it is funded by a capitalist government does not mean it's not living in a capitalist world... didn't you mix it up with the difference between private and public projects?

NASA is a counterpoint.

If they actually have resources, the government is capable of good work. But when it is done on the cheap you don’t get the best work. Whether it’s from underfunding the particular agency, or when they have to outsource to private contractors (often by law the lowest bidder). Don’t know how that fits into the capitalist/state-funded matrix.

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