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[-] rizzothesmall@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago

I know I specifically asked for a chair, and the chair you made is a very good chair, but my use case is actually reaching things in high places and this just doesn't get to the top shelves so you're gonna need to make the legs longer, I think.

[-] mamg22@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 days ago

Same with the neofetch dev, saw all this AI crap coming and just jumped into farming

[-] Zink@programming.dev 23 points 2 days ago

Senior engineer of embedded c/c++ here. I have referred to myself a few times on here as trying to live the superposition of the engineer and the goose farmer. Now that I've built a palace of a chicken coop and there are grown chickens running around with the dogs betweenn the play house and koi pond, my back yard is turning into a village from a Zelda game or something.

My power tools are newer and more numerous than my computing devices by far, lol. And it's all higher end DeWalt stuff because using a good tool can be satisfying as hell. Plus I've already spent more money on wood, and the tools will last a long time.

The kernel (heh) of truth underpinning this meme is real and profound. If you spend all your time on screens and in cyberspace, if you go beyond touching grass and get your fingers in the dirt or build something physical, it could be extremely good for you. It works great for me!

[-] excral@feddit.org 7 points 1 day ago

I'm an embedded software engineer, too. While I love my job (for the time being) I definitely need to do other stuff with my free time. A junior colleague of mine couldn't understand why I bake my own bread rolls when I could save so much time by just buying them, but I'm sure in time he'll get there.

[-] Zink@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

I'm convinced that there is a flaw deep down in the basics of our culture that essentially says that success and prosperity and a good modern life all mean that you don't need to actually do shit for yourself. All you need to do is make enough money at the job where you presumably actually do productive work, then you can pay some person or some company to take care of all the other shit in life.

No doubt it's a side effect of, if not a primary design feature of, our hyper-capitalist mindset. The ideal citizen is either working or consuming during all waking hours.

Sometimes accomplishing a goal in the way that's the most expensive and takes the most personal effort is actually the best way to go about it, assuming you count "improves my life" in your ROI calculation and not just the dollars in and out.

[-] philpo@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago

Not a programmer but doing healthcare IT coming from the equally mind numbing healthcare side.

....I feel you.

My woodworking shop in my basement is my solace that keeps my out of a mental institution. Most of my electric tools are oldet than I am - but the good ones, often bought during closing down sales from small carpentry companies.

Besides a self build CNC it's kept technology free by principle. The CNC is just too handy,though.

Not growing goose,but the ITsec wife dreams of raising Capybaras one day.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

If you like quality power tools, don't look into Maffel or Festool. They'll destroy your bank account.

[-] one_old_coder@piefed.social 158 points 3 days ago

It's NOT funny! With all the AI shit, micro-managers trying to be clones of Hitler, and unemployment to make the line go up, it's something I'm seriously considering.

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 84 points 3 days ago

It used to be a meme, because every so often a dev left into that direction, even though most devs loved their job. A month ago, I was talking in the office with three other devs when this came up as a topic. It was not a meme anymore, every single one of us had seriously considered it.

[-] Feidry@sh.itjust.works 63 points 3 days ago

17 year IT veteran here. I work on a dairy farm now. It's a peaceful life.

[-] Carl@anarchist.nexus 18 points 3 days ago

My buddy recently asked if I had any leads on stagehand work, because he spontaneously quit his IT job last month. He said that compared to the stress of modern IT work, he’d rather be a local roadcase pusher.

[-] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 2 days ago

I’ve been restoring classic cars for 3 yeses now. Lost my company 3 months before the pandemic and haven’t looked back.

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[-] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

I went to trade school a couple years ago. Like three or four of my classmates were former programmers who were sick of the AI shit

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[-] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 29 points 3 days ago

None of that shit except maybe the AI goes away in a woodshop. Hell, owners probably love AI because now they don't need to pay a designer and drawer.

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[-] CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 54 points 3 days ago

I’m currently going down the software engineer to woodworker pipeline…

[-] jj4211@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

I can count the number of people I know who have done that on two hands... Three people.

[-] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

Me too! I wonder how common it actually is?

There is just something so very satisfying about making something you can physically touch and hold after spending a lot of time ...not... doing that

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[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 33 points 3 days ago

My senior always jokes about opening a food truck. One day they're gonna push us hard enough that we'll do it, too.

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[-] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 25 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

...and no mandate to use AI to increase productivity

[-] kamen@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

I read "DBMS" as "DSBM" at first.

I need to get out more.

[-] jestho@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

I read it as BDSM... Not sure what I should do...

[-] deadalus@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 days ago

Get in more

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[-] SailorFuzz@lemmy.world 62 points 3 days ago

Living the literal dream. Every software engineers fantasy is to be an artisan carpenter.

[-] zurohki@aussie.zone 50 points 3 days ago

Not true, some of them want to raise goats.

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[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 33 points 3 days ago

I was a programmer for 25-some years but I haven't written a line of code since 2019. I now get my engineering jollies from the used school bus I converted to a motorhome and from the house I bought three years ago and am finishing up renovating. For money I drive a school bus, which pays about 1/6 of what I used to make but is infinitely more satisfying. As far as retirement goes, I'm hoping to die a painless death before AI replaces all the CDL jobs in the country. I think AI will work fine for school buses, mainly because kids are easier to replace the younger they are.

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[-] runner_g@piefed.blahaj.zone 42 points 3 days ago

I'm in biotech and my wife and I keep talking about quitting our jobs and opening a meadery.

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[-] lime@feddit.nu 38 points 3 days ago

i once took over a consultancy gig at a high-tech optical lab. when me and the guy i was replacing were leaving on the last day of the handover i asked just conversationally where he was going next, and he told me he was going back to school to be a painter. guy was in his mid-50s.

[-] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

Like fine art or like, tradecraft painter? Haha

[-] lime@feddit.nu 2 points 1 day ago

i think the former but the latter would probably make more sense.

[-] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago

I did this, except I actually have better pay and benefits than I did working in tech (I was a low paid web developer, now I am a highly paid finish carpenter). I was just warning my coworkers today to get ready for the wave of ex-programmers hitting the trades.

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[-] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 30 points 3 days ago

The shop teacher at my school actually did lose a couple of fingers to a table saw (not at school). Like right after he retired, too.

Ours got his tie caught in a belt sander. If it wasn't for a quick thinking kid who pulled the cord...

He did get some chin sanding in, which is nice.

[-] ogy@fedia.io 42 points 3 days ago

wearing a tie in a workshop is mental 🤮

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[-] notthebees@reddthat.com 17 points 3 days ago

My dad went from db management to running a grocery store.

My one friend is now becoming an HVAC technician

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[-] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 18 points 3 days ago

The AI-related bullshit definitely sucks the fun out of programming, but carpenters still have to deal with customers...

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this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2026
1122 points (99.1% liked)

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