Yes but that's still software development... my point still stands.

How about: Minimum - I told you all that I had no imagination!

I always refuse to have a laptop as that blurrs the work/family/life balance too far into their direction. I even don't hand over my personal mobile number to work (I have a 2 sim phone for work/private). All my side projects are done using my own hardware and "community" software dev tooling :laugh:

So far I have had no problems with Win10 (other than work won't let me have it so I have to do the mobile side projects at home)... Yes I am open to side projects, but not ones that the corporate will grab off me and use as their own!! :(

There may be a deeper issue, as over the summer I really just felt like being a dev (which I love doing), was being a chore, not a joy. However, a new horizon opened up and I took it (to the detriment of the W/F/L balance). Still: 1) may off mortgage, 2) get rid of kids, 3) retire to carribean island... I life to dream :laugh:

True enough, but as it optional (and I hope not used to as a way of saying that I'm not a "team player", then its fine. I bring more to the team than being a codemonkey (I hope)! anyhoo - I was very clear at the job interview about my position on work/life/family balance and they still hired me! :-D :-D

BTW: I am based in the UK... I was recently asked by my company why I had not signed up to their "Hack-a-thon" day. I was really peaved that someone would ask, and got a bit defensive (like us devs do). They asked why. So I gave them following answer: "I am a professional software developer, and don't think that stuff given the moniker 'hack' sits well with all I have tried to do in my (many years) of being a software developer." Yes the romantic idea that a company can feed you pizza and beer, and probably get some tangible "product" that could be marketed strikes me as odd as me (or you) would never see any recognition of the "product" dreamed of (financial or kudos). Some of the great "hacks"/ideas have happened in peoples "spare time" have resulted in multi-million companies (Facebook, Uber etc). Where would these be if they were given away on a "hack"? If I was smart/imaginative enough to come up with an "industry changing" product, I would setup my own business and do it there. I would probably do the same if it just made my life easier (think "Hive"). I have a family which i really like more than (unpaid) work, so it's a bit of a no brainer/insult when I am asked (and looked down upon and decline) to spend 24 hours at work and still do my day job! There is no other industry where the employees do "homework" or their work for pleasure, so why is this encouraged in software? I had friends that are builders, plumbers, bin-men, train drivers, airplane technicians, shop workers and bankers (yup wide circle) - none of these are asked to perform their day job in their spare time for no reward - so what's the crack? Are there any other industries that asks this of employees??

I, like many I suspect, have moved away from JS as there seems to be no direction to the ways of doing things. I have been a corporate dev for the last 20+ years and have realized that when developing for a company (any middle sized to large company) the constancy and quality of the code matters. This relates to what devs are allowed to use and bringing in external libraries/code too. I have worked in tightly regulated industries in the past (and probably the future too) when the only thing that is not regulated is the (re) use of other peoples code (which cannot be verified as bug free, consistency nor fir-for-purpose) and this has had me in fierce arguments with many technical and non-technical people. I get to the point that I cannot say that the software I deliver is bug free as I cannot (and will not) guarantee that dependencies are likewise. Moving away from JS just means that there are (currently) fewer options, but that is rapidly changing. Don't get me wrong, as like any dev worth their salt, I am inherently lazy. I don't want to reinvent the wheel (or MVC or EF or WPF or HTML_, but when the quality is compromised by use some else'es home project (which may or may not be flaky) in your 24/7 systems that's the end. I really don't have time to vet all the code that people bring in to the system, and the maintenance nightmare (and possibly regulatory constraints). It gets worse when your build systems are designed to update external code (ie unverified) when a build is done. You can write all the tests in the world to mitigate this behavior, but so long as an external dev doesn't break existing functionality (for good or bad) you will never know if those external modules are leaking (sensitive) data or not. :mad: :((

I believe that the notion of the desktop PC (ie the box under your desk not on top of it!) is on the way out. It will be replaced by a phone style device, but with an enhanced "docking station" style thingy so that you can have your dual/quad 24" monitors, keyboard and mouse. Certainly my phone in raw horsepower is far faster than the machine I developed on 5 years ago and only cost £100! Maybe the interim is a RDP/VNC type lightweight box which just handles the IO over a nice decent fast low power WiFi/Bluetooth.

I may be a software developer, but I can do other things too!