A few days ago, Zhihu saw such a question: When will the country rectify the phenomenon of high salaries for programmers? Aroused heated discussion. This abrupt question instantly hurt me for a long time, and I didn't want to speak for a long time. For the time being, I think the person who asked the question is not doing well, and has a sour mentality towards programmers. However, what I want to say to this colleague is: If you feel that you are having a hard time, then most programmers are definitely on the same front with you. And your move is definitely a foolish act of "not aiming at the enemy but at your companions". Because, you may not know, how difficult is the programmer's world?
Little Ape’s Pressure
Let’s take a look at how programmers get what people think of as “high wages”. First, you have to take a diploma, at least an undergraduate degree, right? Majors have to choose a more challenging science and engineering. If you want to find a top company to earn a salary of 20-30w during the graduation season, then you can rest assured that you will definitely not be able to lead an easy and normal university life in the past four years.
First of all, should you be familiar with "Computer Principles"? Do you have to learn "Data Structure" and "Principles of Algorithms"? There are several basic data structures, arrays, stacks, queues, and linked lists, right? Algorithms are even more difficult, bubbling method, quick sort, binary search these algorithms can be easily written? All of these will be forgotten, at least you have to develop some coding habits, right? Don't tell me that if you recite it in front of the interviewer, people can't find it. In the eyes of the big guy, the code is back and the idea is wrong. This person is finished in this industry? You have to learn a computer language side by side, right? Familiar with a language is not so easy. Without a certain amount of projects and code, you will not be able to reach the familiar standards. There are TCP, http protocols, and so on. For example, less than 40% of the necessary skills of programmers. Ordinary people, after this lap, college life is basically only black and white.
Programmer’s sea of questions
Some people will say, there is no need to be so demanding, then please see the premise of my above: graduation is 20-30W,Of course, some people are very talented, especially good at interviews. They don’t need to work so hard to pass, but rest assured, the road to research and development is long, and he needs to work harder in the future. In the face of high-intensity work requirements, there are some pitfalls you haven’t gone through. Got a trip. Some people will say that it is rare. I don't pursue those. I take the road of ordinary programmers. The average salary is not so high. The average is about 1W. Later, I will look at personal efforts to upgrade and fight monsters.
Let’s take a look at the way an ordinary programmer can upgrade and fight monsters. The first three years of programmers are the fastest-growing skills of programmers. To become a senior engineer with high pressure ability, accumulate experience and become a senior engineer. In the next two years, you will enjoy the dividends and accumulate technology. This period of time should be a relatively comfortable time for you. 5-6 years to learn design patterns and architectures. At the beginning, I need to be able to lead a project and learn some management skills. Because 5-6 years later, you will usher in an industry choice: Should you dig deep into technology and be an expert? Or take the team management route? After 7-10, this time is relatively clear, and I continue to improve my management and technical thresholds, and increase my irreplaceability. This way, you can have a better salary increase curve. This is also a difficult road, and it also depends on the market. When the market conditions are good, you can take advantage of the east wind, and the salary increase will be faster. From 2013 to 2018, those years were really the years when the Internet broke out. The market was robbing people everywhere, and accordingly the wages of programmers naturally rose. Now, the dividends of the Internet have also passed, and it has entered a period of plateau, and programmers' salaries have begun to slowly return to a more normal track.
In fact, the programmer's salary is the result of a game with the capitalist. If the capitalist can recruit a person for 5,000 yuan, he will definitely not spend 10,000. It is precisely because there are still too few high-quality programmers in the current market, and real programmers have made amazing efforts to stand out, and wages can rise.
Compared with most industries, the IT industry does not tell about origin and background, and deliberately sets thresholds to prevent outsiders from entering. It is completely free to compete, you can do your own existence. In the past few years, even though there were no requirements for academic qualifications, it was only because of the influx of people in this industry that there were certain requirements for academic qualifications.You only see that programmers have high salaries, but you can't see that their overtime stays up late at 996, and every copper plate they earn is fair and honest.
Not only that, but also proficient in technology, keep learning, and always live in an environment where the survival of the fittest is under pressure. Some time ago, a person in Maimai shared his experience of going to a certain place on the Internet. I entered the job at 10 o'clock on the same day, and started to work on the demand for the same day. I submitted a resignation application at 9 o'clock the next day. A P0-level bug came out in the middle. No more than 24 hours before and after resignation, the leader concluded that the ability to withstand pressure is too poor and not realistic enough. If this level of pressure can be held up, I think it should be reasonable to get that little salary. In fact, my friends look around, don’t really "easily" make too much money: a certain cool with a daily salary of 208W, a third-line star who can earn tens of millions of dollars in a random movie. If the target of remediation is not aimed at them, but at programmers who plan to eat in the ground, then it is really a typical "national thief, hook thief".
The little apes also have involution
The programmer's world is also a hotbed of involution. Every programmer has had a hard time. After a few years, the enthusiasm has faded. After 5-6 years, if there is no management, the career crisis will come, the upward curve will be flattened, and the opportunity for salary increases will be reduced.
There are more people in the industry, and the people inside start to curl up with each other. Interviews to build missiles and work to screw screws have become common operations. Before, a friend interviewed a person at Baidu , and asked about multi-threading, load balancing, memory management and other tall things. I think this person is not very good. In the afternoon, I went to Ali for an interview and I met the person who was interviewed in the morning. At this moment, I lost all my identities. The other party asked him the morning questions one by one. As a result, he also didn't answer well. , The result of the interview can be imagined.
In the past few years, there were indeed many people, and the quality of programmers was also uneven. When projects were tight, people were really not used as human beings. They worked overtime until late at night, and weekends.The current 996 is weaker than that at that time. But now public opinion has paid more attention to the work pressure of programmers, and it has become more relaxed.
The big test of the little ape
Programmers began to think about the 35-year-old problem at the age of 30. The 35-year-old is an unavoidable hurdle. At the age of 35, when the programmer is weakest, it is also the time when the programmer needs stability most. . Seeing the younger brothers come one after another, doing more and asking for less than himself, it's not a problem to stay up all night and fight hard. Programmers are keenly aware of the danger of unemployment and are naturally close to the Internet, which aggravates their anxiety. If you want to take the path of management, there are only a few places for each radish, even if you are lucky enough to enter the pit, there is still the danger of being uprooted. If you want to take the technical expert route, it is a bottomless path. Sometimes, you don't know which stage is a technical expert. And the technology is changing too fast. Sometimes you just become a technical expert, maybe the technology is outdated. Technology is updated too quickly, making everyone impetuous. Therefore, few people can feel safe. A few years ago, there was a technical conference. The participants were all 30 and older. After discussing the technical solutions, everyone chatted. Suddenly, someone said: "It's 30, I should think about other ways." The audience was solemn. Maybe everyone knows that there is such a problem, but no one has absolute confidence to face it.
A few years later, you find that you have so little time. Others leave work at 6 o'clock, and you are often at 9 o'clock. One day you can get off work at 7 o'clock, you will feel very happy. This way of working is nothing before you have children. Once you get married and have a baby, you will find how unsustainable this state is. The version was released the night before. It was 12-1 o'clock and the next day I still got up at 7 o'clock to send the children to school. This kind of day is acceptable once and twice. Can you bear it as the norm? When I return home every night, the child is already asleep, under the same roof, but it is rare to see each other once. Once a child or elderly person has a headache and brain fever, it is really shocking. You have to arrange your work well without affecting the overall project progress, because, in this short cycle,You are irreplaceable. After one year, you will find that you can really not spend much time with your family.
So, when someone wants to join the little ape army, the little apes are always welcome to join and take a roll together. However, when relatives and friends consult, they often try their best to persuade them to leave. Without him, it's too rolled inside. I used to have a meal with a friend in Beijing. I ridiculed him in the car and said that your child likes computers so much. If you train them well, there will be successors to programmers in the future. He snorted and said clearly and seriously: "If he chooses to be a programmer again, I plan on his legs!". It can be seen how much shadow this industry has on him.
Talk about the irreplaceability of the little ape
The job of a programmer is rather strange. From the perspective of the cycle of a project, such as within a month, then you are really irreplaceable. The reason is very simple, because if you do a function and temporarily change another person, the cost will be unacceptably large.
Time stretches to the programmer's career, and you will find that programmers are very substitute.
First of all, there is no threshold for programmers in this industry. You don't need to be a computer professional, and you don't need to have any qualification certificates. In many industries, a large number of people are eliminated on the basis of professionalism and qualifications, and the job of programmers is not required.
Secondly, capitalists also constantly reduce the irreplaceability of everyone from management. Now, every job in a large company has been divided into small parts as much as possible. Many people only need to complete a small part of the function of the whole project. No one can know the whole picture of the whole project, in fact, there is no need to know the whole picture. In this way, capitalists have achieved unprecedented stability. Accordingly, each programmer has become more and more a screw on the assembly line, so the substitutability has become stronger and stronger.
In the end, the spirit of sharing also caused the programmer's experience to accumulate into a tasteless. The IT industry strongly advocates sharing, which has brought about the vigorous development of the community and promoted the development of productivity, but it is also the beginning of the programmer's own revolution. When a newcomer searches, there are a lot of them that have been summarized by others, or the research results can be used,Then the accumulation of a lot of skills of old programmers becomes empty talk, because it is very likely that some newcomers can achieve the same effect as you simply through a framework shared by others. In addition, the technology of the Internet industry is updated very quickly, so every programmer must live and learn. Once you can’t learn, and a large number of newcomers can innovate on the technological achievements shared by the elderly, then the old code farmer will not be far away from being replaced.
In fact, it is this short-term irreplaceability that prevents the little apes’ computers from leaving their bodies, and accordingly encroaches on the little apes’ private time. When zooming into a career, programmers have a high degree of substitutability, and this substitutability has led to the career of programmers becoming a beautiful but short-lived career. These two contradictory qualities simultaneously focus on the career of programmers, so it becomes busy and in crisis at any time. Now let’s see if it’s not that attractive anymore?
The discipline of life
There is no work in a small city, and no home in a big city. Programmer's salary seems to be okay, and it is still possible to pay a down payment in first-tier cities. But what about the monthly payment? When it comes to buying a house, every one of them can’t wait for the full amount (as long as they can), but the reality cannot be. The moment you press your fingerprint on the loan contract, the tremendous pressure instantly reverses the status of you and your boss. In the past, when I was wronged, I didn't give enough money to poetry and far away at any time. now what? No, because the gold swallowing beast in the bank is still waiting for you, so at this moment you have lost the edges and corners of your youth and become humble.
I have a friend in Beijing, and I am still working as a programmer in a big factory. He is quite capable. I am very confused recently. I often call to ask me about the situation in a certain state, saying that I want to escape Beijing. If you go to a big city, the housing price is so high and the pressure is still so great; if you go to a small city, you don't have a job to match. The profession of programmer can only shine in first-tier cities, which makes him very embarrassed. I once asked him a question, what are your plans for the future, he was silent for a while and said: "I just want to, before the age of 35,Save more money to prevent you from losing nothing when you lose your job at the age of 35. "If you think about it, it may be a more feasible way, but it also shows the programmers' helplessness in facing the 35-year-old crisis.
Programmers are an industry that needs to learn all the time, and experience is a scum. Once you give up learning, it is very Maybe you are behind a lot. So, learning is a necessary training. No company will spend money to invite you to learn, so learning depends on time outside of work. Work is already busy, so I have to treat myself as a sponge Squeeze. Once in the subway, I took out technical books to read, and someone praised him: "You guys, you work hard! ". I can only smile and feel sad.
Many people say that it is not easy for programmers to find a girlfriend, but this is a complete lie. It is also very understandable to form this impression. When dealing with machines, the natural stereotype is that there are few words, dull and uninteresting. There are men around them, and there is no chance to find a girlfriend when they run inside the monk’s temple. However, if you look at it from another angle, you will find programmer money. Do more and consume less. Do not smoke or drink, and work in a healthier circle. They are ideal companions for many women in reality. Internet companies can be regarded as office work, and there are naturally not too few women. After working in this industry for a long time, you will find that , From the age of 28, as long as the appearance has a 70 points, basically the name has a master. There was a colleague who was really patriotic, fat, and not very talkative, and it was harder to be seen by women. The kind that came out of the countryside. By 28, I didn’t have a girlfriend. I was forced to marry by my parents and it was so cruel. I wanted to find a girlfriend all day long. When I was the craziest, I met a woman on a blind date, once. Without pulling my hand, I bought a new IPhone7 . This condition was also found later. I was also married at the age of 30, and the bride looks good.
It’s not easy to expand the network of machines to deal with, and it’s too late to get off work, so there is no time to communicate. In addition to the visible cost of human costs, there is also an invisible opportunity cost, and programmers lose the most opportunity cost. One of the people. Someone once asked on the Internet: why my hometown status is still not as good as my cousin of a civil servant with a monthly salary of 6,000. The following answer says this: because in addition to borrowing money,Nothing can ask you for help, a simple sentence speaks the most naked reality.
To sum up
1. Xiao Yuan’s career is a high-paying, high-pressure career. Compared with other industries, the pay is not high. Short-term abnormal highs will also return to stability with the passing of dividends.
2. " involution " has also appeared in the little ape industry. The internal volume of has also brought about a decline in salaries and a sharp increase in pressure.
3. Little ape’s occupation is more likely to meet the 35-year-old occupation exam, and programmers are particularly sensitive and deeply troubled.
4. Because the little apes deal with machines all the year round, most of them are outside the social university. But after all, to survive, relatively low survival skills will inevitably be educated in life. So many "difficulties" of programmers are the "difficulties" here.
I think of this, you should know who I am, yes, I am too-little ape. You want to ask me why I am still in this industry, I have been thinking for a long time, to change the world for my dreams, hobbies, and interests? It doesn't seem to be it, I think it's because of the money. Like workers in all industries, getting paid by sweating will also worry about the 35-year-old crisis. However, when I saw that 35-year-old programmers in Europe and the United States would not be discriminated against, and when I saw
, a 60-year-old programmer in the United States was still enjoying coding, I still believed that everything would be better. I believe that as the industry becomes more and more sound, an era of more respect for programmers will eventually come. If one day, no one will think that there is something weird about the programmers who are still fighting on the front line at the age of 40, then the real programmer spring will come.
Finally, let's share a photo of a Google programmer's work with everyone.
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