Post

A thread, because things are feeling rough at present. 🧵👇 I'm not quite sure where to go or what to do. I'm watching my peers slowly burn out, go quiet, quit the industry, or struggle on hoping it'll get better in time. Even if the storm is weathered, what comes out the other side?

Businesses seem wary of investing in people or just spending money at all. I feel I have to sell the very basic concept of doing 'good work', rather than 'good enough work'. Accessibility feels like something I discuss but don't get to see through. Things are stagnating for genuine professionals.

Many conferences are coming to their end, seeing lower attendance, and are dominated by AI talks. Of those that are surviving, many are cutting budgets or catering to smaller, focussed audiences. Most publications are seeing declining readership, and many are turning to AI for their content.

It is gutting to feel I'd see greater success if I didn't care who I worked for, gave up on my morals, and embraced the latest harmful fad. Grifting has long been a thing, but at present it seems there aren't any consequences beyond one's own conscience and that it is the optimal way to make a buck.

Pair all those issues with the dire state of everything. Computers and their components' costs continue to inflate, the USA has a fascist government, there are major ongoing wars (and new ones being started), and everything is increasingly morally ambiguous – especially in tech.

Couple all that with the erosion of rights and companies being increasingly anti-consumer. Forcing features unwanted, removing features wanted, taking away physical media, making all a subscription, taking away our control of our devices and what software we can run on them, and eroding privacy.