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Ask HN: Advice for tolerating the "corporate" aspect of software jobs?

30 points superarch | 1 comments | 11 Mar 25 17:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source

Looking for some advice from more experienced engineers on here:

I’ll preface this by saying I’m relatively new to the industry (couple years of experience) as an engineer. I’ve loved coding and working with cool tech since I was younger but I’ve only recently started working in a professional setting at a mid-size startup.

I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to work on software full-time but I’m getting increasingly tired of the other aspects of the job (endless meetings, agile “ceremonies”, back-and-forth on Jira processes, etc.)

I know that I need to work on getting better at the other non-tech related aspects of the job in order to grow as an engineer but I’m having a hard time forcing myself to care about the things that seem to only slow everyone down without providing a lot (if any) value most of the time.

How can I change my mindset to get more out of the “corporate” aspects of software careers?

1. tboyd47 ◴[11 Mar 25 21:05 UTC] No.43336985[source]▶
Meetings are mostly counterproductive. Everyone knows that and any good manager will aggressively eliminate them for you.

As for agile ceremonies, some of them are needed for smooth operation of the team. Some of them are pure fluff. A good manager will know the difference and make real-time adjustments to the process to find the balance. A team of 7 doesn't need to spend more than 4 hours a week in meetings.

Back-and-forth is a result of poorly worded AC or people not reading the AC. Sometimes it can be avoided, sometimes not.

You just need to understand that in corporate jobs, you're on a team. Everyone works for a paycheck just like you, so there's a social give-and-take that must take place.