I Need to Vent

In my late teens (mid 1980s) I was figuring out my career... I always wanted to get into aviation and already had my Private Pilot's license... Yet, in those days the job prospects for pilots weren't very good (long story) and eventually I decided to try the booming IT (Information Technology) field. Computer programming, specifically. I did pretty well and I was one of those people that everyone comes for help when they can't figure out stuff.

Fast forward to now: [b]I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THE I.T. INDUSTRY[/b], It's all hype, it's all driven by clueless and gullible marketing and business people. Everything is pitched as "the next awesome thing"... I don't know who I dislike the most: those who pitch the lies, or those who believe the lies. There seems to be a complete disregard for PLANNING and TESTING... Everything has to be "rushed" out of the door, lest the competition launches it first.... That of course compromises quality and reliability... and of course if anything goes wrong then the fingers point to the "little guys" who "made mistakes" (because they were being rushed and overworked.)

I could just shrug and think "all industries are like that", except they're NOT... The aviation industry is the total opposite, quality is NEVER compromised, there are safety nets and backup processes everywhere, planning and testing are so ESSENTIAL that no one in the aviation industry would ever contemplate taking shortcuts (because shortcuts would potentially be deadly.)

I so regret having left aviation to get into computers... I don't think I can ever adapt to the "release now, fix later" mentality prevailing in I.T., and sometimes I feel downright ashamed to belong to the I.T. industry, because it's so flaky.

End of rant.

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SW-User

I agree with you, I had a similar career path. I wanted to be a commercial pilot, I learned to fly gliders as a teen but never got my private pilots license due to the cost and lack of jobs. So everyone said, go into IT it's so great and amazing money. So I did, and it started out great, but actually the more qualifications I got, it seemed my pay rate kept dropping. So I quit, disillusioned with the industry and compromised standards and lack of interest in customer service.

contrails · 56-60, M

Oh wow, small world... Thanks for sharing... Another thing that is a problem in IT (and you'll know that) is that trying to keep with the "right skills" is a bit of a lottery, there so many "new technologies" pop up every year that it's nearly impossible to figure out what will be obsolete in a few years... I started in DOS (dBase / Clipper / FoxPro) which where "the thing everyone used" when I graduated and in a few years they were all gone... I focused on MS Access and then that was out of the Window too... And C+, which I thought it would be gone sooner or later, is still alive and kicking, I wish I knew then...

I would go back to aviation in a flash if I could, I heard that now there's an acute shortage of pilots... But like you say, it's an expensive career to get all the licenses, certifications etc., so I can't afford it...
😭

constance

I agree with your characterization of the aviation industry as being quality driven but even in aviation change is creeping in and will continue as IT and aviation become more enmeshed.

It's everywhere man.

Step out of the machine as much as you can my friend.

It'll drive you insane!

contrails · 56-60, M

@constance You're right... I read about commercial aviation these days and it's all about Flight Management Systems, programming way points in the GPS etc... I should have been born in the 1930s or something...
😒

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