The only reason people put up with it is because they're told "that's life" or "that's just how it is." when that's meaningless bullshit.
"I would make the point that a lot of software jobs are "shitty" in the context of what many expect to find when they decide to become a developer. And that's life."
It is easy to develop unrealistic expectations and romanticized notions about a lot of things. That is life.
Tech companies aren't forcing employees to perform "mundane" tasks (fix bugs, refactor code, etc.) in air-conditioned offices in exchange for $xxx,xxx/year in salary plus benefits and perks the vast majority of American workers don't receive.
If you want something different, there are of course many other options. But here's an inconvenient truth: if you think running your own show (freelancing or building a business) is eight to twelve hours a day of fun and intellectual stimulation, you are probably going to be very disappointed when you're your own boss as well. If anything, "doing your own thing" is even more romanticized than working at Google, Facebook or [insert hot startup name here].
A lot of these mundane jobs do need to be done, but a lot of people enjoy stable mundane jobs. Leave these kinds of jobs to them, they will actually thank you for it. If you're more interesting in accomplishing something, there are far more jobs that really need someone with some skill to come and do them - or, more realistically, find them.
I agree completely in the terribleness and lack of will in a statement like "That's life". No it most certainly is not. Life is entirely what you make of it and we are a long, long way from being forced to perform mundane tasks. If you can handle the stress of doing something new instead of doing something mundane - the door is always right over there. Walk through it and find your own path.
It took me way too long to accept this. I always thought those people just did not know better, or something.
I will never forget the QA department at a previous company and their ~200-step excel-based manual QA procedure. For me, that is basically a nightmare made reality. I tried to talk them into automating it, but they resisted that, almost angrily. They liked stepping through that 200-step spreadsheet.
I cannot understand it, at all, but I now accept it. People are different.
I now hire spreadsheet testers on odesk for $10/hr. Upskill when you have the chance or die.
Your parents love you unconditionally. If you want anyone else to care about you, you have to make it happen through your actions.
Why would I expect the company to treat me decently? Why do I expect the company to treat me decently? It's because people do not only have rights, they have duties towards their fellow man, that's why!
This is a long-standing idea in German political thought - it's called Sozialpflichtigkeit des Eigentums, and it made its way into both the Weimar and present constitution. "Eigentum verpflichtet", it says there. Americans have a hard time understanding this.
That's exactly what he's saying. It's a company, not a person. You are not its "fellow man"--because it's not a man. It's a legal structure that exists to generate profit.
It's not unreasonable to expect your boss to treat you decently, at least if you treat her decently. She's a person, after all.
But the corporation as a whole? The corporation is a system. It responds to the environment around it. If it doesn't make the right response (as in one that maximizes its chance of survival), it is replaced by other corporations that do. That right response may be at odds with your interests as a person.
You, your boss, your boss's boss, and all your coworkers are part of that system. If they don't take the "right" action (as in, the one that maximizes their chance of survival within the organization), they will be replaced by others who do. If you feel you've been mistreated by this, your only option is to look for a different place in that system where you will be happier.
It's a two-way street. It's not just that people should refrain from treating you poorly, it's also that you shouldn't put yourself in a position where you will be treated poorly.
Don't be loyal to a corporation, don't buy into propaganda about the well-being of the corporation == your well-being.
There just might be differences in the behaviour of an organisation that generates (and maximises) profit over the short term and one that generates profit over the long term.
The latter organisation may have to pay more attention to the 'social obligations of ownership' than the former, including the training and skill level of its workforce.
Because most of us don't speak German!
Sozialpflichtigkeit des Eigentums can be roughly translated as "Social duty of property"
"Eigentum verpflichtet" is more or less "Property committed (to a duty)"
It's a two-way street, and when you're a faceless unknown dealing with a large entity, you usually have to make the first move.
No one really fucking cares that the implementation of the design is pixel perfect, they care whether it moves the needle whether it matches the design or not.
Like anything there is an effective version of 'get shit done' and a cargo cult version, most are the cargo cult version where people are not actually empowered to make decisions.
99% of software is developed in shitty cargo cult conditions, half the world lives on less than $5 a day, I don't care to trend toward the average. If you want to hold up the average as something to strive toward knock yourself out.