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Mehmet Fidanboylu
As I hit 40, I also hit a career ceiling. I enjoy what I do and it has gotten me far but no-one really cares about good code as long as it does the job.
I cannot grow in my current role unless I take on more leadership; something I am not interested in doing. So my peers, who would rather have meetings than write code, are now directors and VPs leaving me in the dust in terms of both compensation and influence.
I feel good on most days. My calendar is mostly clear of meetings and I can focus hours on end on what I enjoy and do best. However, once in a while, I get a ping from someone I knew a long time back and when I see their title, I feel a twinge.
We are nothing but machines that churn out code in an industry ultimately governed by those who are good with _people_ rather than with computers. That realization is the saddest thing about being a programmer for me.

到了40岁，我的职业生涯也达到了顶峰。我喜欢我所做的，它已经让我走了很远，但没有人真正关心好代码，只要它能完成工作。
除非我承担更多的领导职责，否则我无法在目前的角色上获得成长，但对领导我不感兴趣。因此，我那些宁愿开会而不愿写代码的同行们现在都成了董事和副总裁，在薪酬和影响力方面都让我望尘莫及。
大多数时候我感觉很好。我的日程表上几乎没有会议，我可以连续几个小时专注于我喜欢和做得最好的事情。然而，有时候，我会从很久以前认识的人那里收到讯息，当我看到他们的头衔时，我感到一阵刺痛。
我们只不过是在一个最终由善于与人打交道、而非与计算机打交道的人管理的行业中、大量生产代码的机器。对我来说，这种认识是做程序员最悲哀的事情。

Kurt Guntheroth
Some sad things about being a programmer:
My friend, who worked at Boeing, could pick his toddler up and point at an airplane flying overhead, and say, “See that? Daddy did that.” My work is invisible. Even if I could sneak my mom or my kid into the office, there would be nothing to show them.
The great-grandchildren of the engineers who built the George Washington Bridge (The Aurora bridge in Seattle) are still driving over that bridge. I’ve been retired for four years. Every line of code I ever wrote is now less than dust.
I worked for nine years keeping a company’s business management system going. When I did my work perfectly, I was invisible. The only time anyone knew I existed was when something failed, and all 100 of them were sitting at their desks with nothing to do. I earned my whole paycheck on two days a year when I got the system back up and running.
I am an artist with code. My code is beautiful, like an elegant mathematical proof. And like a mathematical proof, nobody cares. Software development is an art form so internal that only another practitioner can possibly appreciate it, and they never even see it unless there is a bug.

作为一名程序员的一些可悲的事情:
我的一个在波音公司工作的朋友，可以抱起他的小孩，指着一架从头顶飞过的飞机说，“看到了吗?爸爸制造的。” 而我的工作是无形的。即使我能把我妈妈或孩子偷偷带进办公室，也没有什么东西可以给他们看。
建造乔治华盛顿大桥(西雅图的奥罗拉大桥)的工程师的曾孙们现在还在这座桥上开车。我已经退休四年了。我写过的每一行代码现在都一文不值了。
我为一个公司的业务管理系统工作了9年。当我完成我的工作时，我是透明的。唯一一次有人知道我的存在是在某件事失败的时候，那100个人都坐在他们的办公桌前无所事事。
我是一写代码的艺术家。我的代码很漂亮，就像一段优雅的数学证明。并且就像数学证明一样，没人在乎。 软件开发是一种内部的艺术形式，只有其他从业者才能欣赏它，除非存在bug，否则他们甚至不会看到它。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

John Smith
I don’t know about the saddest, but here is list of frustrations that I have experienced over the years:
You just wrote the most elegant, ingenious piece of code and you can’t share your accomplishment it with your wife, kid, parents, or friends. It’s meaningless to most people outside of your profession
Same goes for your biggest struggles, failures, hilarious Dilbert moments, etc.
Your managers are usually not technical and only have a vague idea of what you do. Your best work is indistinguishable from a hack. Most of them don’t care how it’s done, as long as it’s done on time
While you may be respected and treated nicely, at the end of the day, you are simply a resource, an asset, a workhorse. Your boss will decide what you do, how you do it, and how your time is allocated without asking how you feel about it. I realize this is not unique to programming, but it is a general grievance with the corporate world
You can be the most intelligent, articulate, person in the world, but if your senior management wants to know who on the team deserves a promotion or “needs improvement”, they will simply consult with your immediate manager. He may be the most incompetent, useless person there, but as far as they are concerned, he is the only one they need to consult and you should stay out of it while “adults” are talking and deciding your fate
Don’t get me wrong, as a programmer, you are still better off than most working stiffs in the corporate world, but it’s not all roses and unicorns. You may be well compensated and have a lot of job opportunities, but it doesn’t make it any less painful. You still have to deal with this crap. Money is just a deodorant

我不知道什么是最悲哀的，但这里列出了我多年来经历的挫折:
你刚刚写了一段最优雅、最巧妙的代码，而你却不能与你的妻子、孩子、父母或朋友分享你的成就。这对你们行业之外的人来说毫无意义
同样的道理也适用于你最大的挣扎、失败、滑稽的出丑时刻。
你的经理通常不懂技术，对你的工作只有一个模糊的概念。你最好的作品和蹩脚的作品没什么区别。他们中的大多数人并不关心如何完成，只要按时完成就好。
虽然你可能会受到尊重和善待，但归根结底，你只是一种资源，一种资产，一匹驮马。你的老板会决定你做什么，你怎么做，你的时间如何分配，而不需要问你的感受。我意识到这并不是编程所独有的，这是企业界普遍的不满。
你可能是世界上最聪明、最善于表达的人，但如果你的高级管理人员想知道团队中谁值得升职或“需要改进”，他们只会与你的直接主管商量。他可能是那里最无能、最没用的人，但就他们而言，他是他们唯一需要咨询的人，当“成年人”在讨论和决定你的命运时，你却只能置身事外。
不要误解我的意思，作为一名程序员，你仍然比大多数在公司工作的人过得更好，但这份工作也不是所有的玫瑰和独角兽。你可能会得到丰厚的报酬，有很多工作机会，但这并不能减轻你的痛苦。你还是得处理这些破事。金钱只是一种除臭剂。

Rohan Kamath
I agree with the general sentiment here but not that last paragraph. For example, Zuck and Musk and Gates and Bezos are all terrific with computers and pretty shitty with people. They found a way to balance things in order to grow.
This is true of many industries, not just software. A head chef hires line cooks at some point to do the things he used to love doing so that he can scale. Medical professionals as they grow become more consultants and less doers. Your learning and experience over time only scales if you multiply it in some way; the most conventional way of doing that is through influencing others as a leader (not necessarily a manager).

我同意这里的大众观点，但不同意最后一段。例如，扎克、马斯克、盖茨和贝佐斯都擅长电脑，但与人相处却很糟糕。为了成长，他们找到了平衡事物的方法。
不仅仅是软件行业，很多行业都是如此。厨师长有时会雇佣一线厨师来做他过去喜欢做的事情，这样他就可以扩大规模。 医疗专业人员随着他们的成长更多会变成顾问和而非实干家。
你的学习和经验只有在你以某种方式成倍增长的情况下才会随着时间增长；最传统的方式是通过作为领导者(不一定是经理)影响其他人。

Phiter Fernandes
Point one is so true dude, damn. I’m always trying to learn something new, just a few days ago I created a simple shopping list app with Vue and Vuex, and I think it looked nice, and the code looks very nice as well. I could only send to like two people and even they didn’t really gave a damn.

第一点太真实了，伙计。
我一直在尝试学习新东西，就在几天前，我用Vue和Vuex创建了一个简单的购物清单应用程序，我认为它看起来很不错，代码看起来也很好。我只能给两个人发邮件，然后就算是他们，也根本不在乎。

Sebastian Mach
Point one is so natural, I was literally (literal literally) surprised about how I can talk in joy about more real lifey things like my new hobby, brewing. I was even kind of shocked about how I told my wife about the process of making a pale ale or stout, or about how I add late hops because adding them late extracts the juicy and fruity oils and so on and on. I was simply not used to it regarding programming, despite programming being what I know best.
I can recommend every programmer a creative hobby they can actually talk about. It also helps not just being the computer guy in the family

第一点是很自然的，我曾经真的惊讶于我怎么能开心地谈论更现实的事情，比如我的新爱好，酿酒。
更震惊的是，当我告诉我妻子酿造淡啤酒或烈性黑啤酒的过程，或者我如何晚些时候加入啤酒花时，因为晚些时候加入啤酒花可以提炼多汁的果油等等。我一般不谈论编程，尽管编程是我最了解的。
我可以给每个程序员推荐一个他们可以谈论的创意爱好。这也有助于你不再局限于当家里的电脑男/笑

Ray Gardener
Someone once asked me, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” So I started my own company and realized that even an individual can make and sell software. Even if you don’t get crazy rich, you gain so much not having to deal with, like you said, corporate matters.

有人曾经问我:“如果你那么聪明，为什么不富有?”
所以我创办了自己的公司，并意识到是个人都可以制作和销售软件。即使你没有暴富，你也能收获很多，比如你所说的公司事务你就必须要去处理。

Janis Baumanis
Depends from particular person personality and possibilities. Not all have personality suitable for bussinessman. Also person who are successful bussininessman, usually is much more businessman than programmer.

取决于特定的人的个性和可能性。并不是所有人都有适合做商人的性格。
还有那些成功的商人，通常更像商人而不是程序员。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Fyodor Soikin
Believe it or not, this is not the only way. There is this whole other parallel world of companies where programmers (and everybody else) are treated with respect and trust, where management realizes their limitations and defers to true experts.
Of course, the recruitment in this world is also different. Skills and experience get you in the door, but are not nearly enough. You also need to deeply care, to not be a jerk, to be what one could call “a wholesome personality”. Working 9 to 5 and not caring doesn't fly.
I have worked in both worlds, and I can tell they almost don't even touch.

信不信由你，这不是唯一的办法。在另一个平行世界中，程序员(和其他人)受到尊重和信任，管理层意识到自己的局限性，并遵从真正的专家。
当然，这个世界的招聘也是不同的。技能和经验能让你进入公司，但还远远不够。你还需要有深切的关怀，不要成为一个混蛋，要成为人们所谓的“健全的人格”。朝九晚五的工作，事不关己是行不通的。
我在这两个世界都工作过，我能感觉到它们几乎没有交点。

Sean Vikoren
There will come a day when we marvel that human beings were ever forced to give their time to another in exchange for food and shelter.

总有一天，我们会惊叹人类曾被迫为他人付出时间，以换取食物和住所。

Adam Hammer
You know my saddest is writing beautiful elegant code, following patterns cleanly, organized wonderfully, unit tested fully, then watching it over the next year while the team dexes tests, spaghetti’s it up, and makes it generally incoherent and then come back to me for help like I have any clue what is going on with it anymore.

你知道，我最难过的是写了漂亮的代码，遵循模式整洁规整，组织得有条不紊，单元测试也很全面。
然后在接下来的一年里再去看它，团队删除了测试，搞得一团糟，让它变得杂乱无章，然后回到我这里寻求帮助，就好像我知道它到底发生了什么一样。

John David
I am here currently

我现在就是这样的。

Ghislain 'Aus' Lacroix
While I did upvote this answer I do want to state that there is one thing in every software engineers control and that is to work for a great manager.
Always ask the hard questions to your hiring manager. How do they operate? How do they determine value in individuals? How do they ensure they are maximizing your career and personal potential long term (I'm talking 20 to 30 years out). Ask them for real examples. Don't let a shitty manager hire you. Just don't.

虽然我给这个答复点了赞，但我想说的是，每个软件工程师都能控制一件事，那就是为一个优秀的经理工作。
一定要问招聘经理一些难回答的问题——他们是如何工作的?他们如何确定个人价值? 他们如何确保你的职业和个人潜力在长期内得到最大化(我说的是20到30年)。问他们实际案例。不要让一个差劲的经理雇用你，真的不要。

Nik Red
I think what you are describing is a constant issue that developers, from a “personal statistic” I’ve noticed people with a bellow senior skill, face constantly.
They are too attached to the code itself and don’t look at the end result, the big picture enough.
This is like writing a book, and getting attached to phrases instead of the story you are trying to say. You can do it. And chances are you are going to make a great book in 50 years(Goethe), but there’s a big chance you’ll also die in poverty(insert most artists name here).
Why would you want to share with your friends the “briliant” code, when it’s more interesting to present to them a full fledged application that solves a real world problem? I have the answer… It’s gratification, people seek that too much.
I’m not trying to bash you, or your honest opinion.
I feel that if you look and understand the bigger picture you’ll start to understand and relate to those managers that are “non-technical” and require hacks so the product be done in time, probably all your current frustrations will dissipate.
ofc this is not an excuse for those bad managers that simply destroy a good idea.

我认为你所描述的是开发者经常面临的问题。从我“个人统计数据”来看，我注意到那些还没有拥有高级技能的人经常面临的问题。他们太关注代码本身，而不考虑最终的结果，不考虑更大的背景。
这就像在写一本书，你沉迷于遣词造句，而不是讲一个故事。你很有可能在50年内写出一本伟大的书(歌德)，但你也很有可能死于贫困(这里可以插入很多艺术家的名字)。
为什么你要与你的朋友分享“聪明的”代码，干嘛不向他们展示一个能够解决现实世界问题的完整的应用程序呢？这更有趣。对此我有自己的答案：人们太追求自我满足了。
我不是想抨击你，或者抨击你的真实观点。
我觉得，如果你着眼于并理解更大的蓝图，你就会开始理解并与那些“非技术”的经理建立联系，他们需要一些技巧，以便及时完成产品，也许你现在所有的沮丧都会消失。
当然，以上这些不是那些只会破坏一个好主意的糟糕经理的借口。