> A lot of day jobs structurally inhibit capital formation. If I were a Marxist I'd say "And this is an intended consequence of Capital's desire to keep Labor subservient to it", but I honestly think it's true even without anybody needing to twirl their mustache.

I feel for the author's Marxist friend. That no mustache-twirling is required is kind of the point. But I guess it's a hard one to communicate in our superhero-focused culture where everything happens because an individual intended it to.

Anyway, aside from Patrick's misguided idea that he's a capitalist, the article resonated with me. I spent 10 years working at a place where I usually had something built by the end of the week that I could show off, or talk about, or put to use on the next project, or that at least made my and my coworkers' jobs easier, and that kept me going. But I'm now at a job with a sprawling swamp of a codebase where it's plainly clear that nothing I do is going to matter.

Over the years I had moved away from software side-projects, but am finding now that having one now is kind of important for my sanity. It helps me feel like I've actually accomplished something more than just a paycheck, keeps the brain somewhat sharp, and might turn out to be useful as a thing to show off/talk about to potential employers, if not a useful tool in its own right.

Oh for a long vacation where I can just work on my side projects.