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Comment by throwaway_0xff | Hacker News Reader

> What do you not like about tech?

I feel that it's no longer about making quality products, but more about milking money by any means, even if immoral and/or obviously (self-)destructive. It may have been like that for some time already, but I wasn't able to realize that before.

It seems to me as if we've become the machine that we wanted to build.

I would love doing something that's more "down to earth". Optimally, in some sector that is involved with treating people with respect - "as if" they were real human beings. An alternative would be working outdoors and being nearer to nature in general.

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I’m sort off in your boat, I think. Late 40s and quite tired of the tech rat race and money obsession. I’m about 6 months into a totally different thing: writing/selling my own apps (mobile). I have the luxury of a working spouse and some savings so I don’t have to focus too much on speed or high profitability.

I very much like the idea of building the thing I want to, to the quality and aesthetic I want (eg no ads or dark monetization patterns), and selling directly to customer. It’s still early days but it has put me in a good state of mind.

> I feel that it's no longer about making quality products, but more about milking money by any means

Check out the Handmade online community [0] and/or attend one of our conferences [1] this year.

I’m biased because I’m the organizer for the conferences, but we genuinely share your line of thinking. Wouldn’t hurt to congregate with like-minded folks :)

[0] https://handmade.network

[1] https://handmadecities.com

How are you planning on affecting the industry at large?

Increasingly bigger conferences and meetups that remain 100% indie and sponsor-free. It’s going to take years, if not a decade.

But let’s not underestimate the power of independent organizing. We haven’t seen much of it in our industry because us worker bees are historically well-paid.

I desperately hope you’re right.

Not to be a downer, but I just don’t see how you could convince a business to go slower for the sake of a better technical foundation.

With enough collective anger, social pressures will factor into business decisions.

It's a nebulous proposition, I get that, because you can't precisely engineer an outcome. My hope is there's enough of us organizing together to trigger the right shifts.

We'll see.

It doesn't sound like you're sick of tech but rather sick of profit-focused leadership corrupting it. I feel the same way so I'm starting my own business with values that matter to me. If starting a business doesn't appeal to you, then try finding a like-minded non-profit or cooperative.

Not to stop you from trying, I encourage the effort, but I think you’ll find starting your own business will just lead to you to becoming profit-focused - if you like eating and paying rent that is.

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