> I just wasted a day investigating something for nothing

Nah not for nothing, they paid you. If they want to pay you for dumb shit, that's on them.

You'll have to find a way to let go of the frustration though, that's the real problem here. I just try not to get caught up in what the business is doing, it's just a job, and their goals will never ever ever align with my own, so no point sweating it.

I work at a small company now. When my boss does something stupid, I tell so and why. Sometimes I need to change tact because that's what the business demands, but sometimes he's like huh you're right (generally for technical reasons, although the cognitive cost of task switching is real) and we stay the course. Either way it's nice to have somebody listen at least.

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tacostakohashi 7 months ago | parent | next [-]

The problem with this mindset is that, in five or ten years, you'll be an seasoned expert in doing dumb shit. That's not an in demand skillset that will lead to career progression down the track.

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namaria 7 months ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Nah not for nothing, they paid you. If they want to pay you for dumb shit, that's on them.

This attitude right here is why so many developers burn out. Having money thrown your way is not proof you're doing the right thing, and thinking like that can really hurt you on the long term. We crave meaning and community and selling those out can have severe psychological consequences.

	▲	p1esk 7 months ago \| parent [-]
		I have plenty of meaning and community outside of work. Unfortunately no one wants to pay me to do dumb shit at work, probably because I’m too expensive.

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cbsks 7 months ago | parent | prev [-]

>> I just wasted a day investigating something for nothing

> Nah not for nothing, they paid you. If they want to pay you for dumb shit, that's on them.

Yep. Remember, you didn’t waste a day. Your manager did.

	▲	nickd2001 7 months ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Or maybe no-one wasted time? Sometimes a sensible idea one day, becomes not sensible next day as more info becomes available, then the day after that, further info, or request from the ultimate payer of bills, emerges, meaning the original approach was right. We can't always see what are managers are doing. Sometimes they're getting messed around a lot more than us, thus justifying their extra pay. ;) As others have said, us devs get paid no matter what. I wonder if the OP has kids? Have they ever heard "I want to go to the park. No I don't want to go to the park. Well only if so-and-so is going too. But not if you force me to wear that coat. Hey, can we play a board game? Oh, why didn't you let me go out. That's so unfair" . Work is easy by comparison ;)
	▲	paxcoder 7 months ago \| parent \| prev [-]
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