Finishing the Masters of Doom made me grumpy. It brought back memories of my own "death schedule" and lead me to question whether or not our industry is fundamentally screwed up. I love what I do and I am passionate about it. That passion when left unbridled however, comes at a price. This cost is often in the form of friends and family and a loss of contact with the world outside of software. The key players in the Master of Doom ultimately do okay, but not without leaving a trail of broken relationships behind them. We as an industry worship people like John Carmack for their brilliance and work ethic, but after learning about more of the past of "Engine John", I wonder if he really is a role model for what we want in the industry.
The software industry historically has a tendency towards overworking its assets and we as developers often take on the burden to get ahead or to be the person who saves the day. If we don't stop this trend, I fear we will burn ourselves out, not just as individuals, but as an industry. Last year, for about 5 straight months, I worked 60-80 hour weeks in order to help ship a product where I played a critical role. I took me a while to realize it, but the stress that built up had a long lasting impact on me that I still have painful memories of.
I am passionate about software and would love to be recognized for what I do, but I am not going to do it at the cost of my family or other obligations. I think this attitude towards a balance between work and family is something that we need to work to cultivate and to put on a pedestal those who successfully manage a career and family. This problem obviously isn't exclusive to software, but our industry is perhaps the most capable to achieve this goal as we can leverage technology to work in a fashion that keeps us close to our families and productive in our careers.
No comments:
Post a Comment