Coming in Through the Back Door - by Adam Ard
In corporate America, software development is a painful slog. Management is fixated on metric optimization, developers take tickets one after another from a backlog, and work consists mostly of taking code that's already written (legacy code, open source, third-party libraries) and gluing it together. It doesn't exactly make you spring out of bed and race to work in the morning.
Even if a company starts out with a better culture, it eventually ends up like all the rest. There are just too many MBAs in suits running around applying their Taylorisms. Any resistance eventually succumbs, given enough time and persistence.
For a while now, I've felt trapped inside this mouse wheel and have wondered what the alternatives are. Most recently, I've looked into freelancing sites like Upwork as an escape from the traditional nine-to-five. But to make that happen, I'd have to ramp up consulting in my free time while keeping my day job to pay the bills. Sadly, I'm realizing that after a day of corporate coding, I just don't have the energy left to serve yet another group of people who want me to code for their benefit. Even if I do manage to transition from traditional employment to full-time freelance, I'm not certain I'll feel any more freedom (apart from a bit more schedule flexibility).
So lately, in the evening—when I should be freelancing—I've been researching the Zig programming language just for fun, because it's cool. I'm enamored with the level of autonomy and innovation that community has achieved. They tackle big, long-standing problems in unique ways. They’re trying things that could have a big payoff—the kind of work a typical software manager wouldn't let you touch with a ten-foot pole because of the perceived risk. It’s exactly the type of work I wish I was doing!
