Maintaining open-source code is a vital but stressful job. Despite that, a recent Tidelift survey found that almost half of code maintainers aren't paid at all.
Under capitalism, the more unethical you are, the more money you make. And that doesn’t just go for capitalists, but for skilled labor like programmers too; the highest paid programmers right now are the most unethical, spending their time either doing quant analysis for hedge funds, or working with psychologists trying to figure out how to get people to click on ads, or working for defense companies like BAE or northrop grumman or lockheed martin, or insurance companies (another pointless industry), etc. Things that not only add absolutely nothing to society, but harm it too.
Us open source devs don’t even want that much money, we’ve already decided that devoting our time to something that can better humanity is worth more than a paycheck. Enough to pay rent and live on would be nice enough… yet youtube streamers make more than most open source devs. Its a really sad state of affairs, and there’s not much hope in sight.
what can I say, when the ultimate and only value is money, it’s no surprise that people who don’t care about anything but money will get the most of it. FOSS may be not compatible with capitalism and therefore not economically sustainable right now, but I would say (or at least try to make myself feel better by saying) a system that rewards people not based on their contributions to society, but based on some perverted distribution of wealth that benefits those that take away the most from others and give back the least in return, “democracies” that favor those who manage to manipulate and deceive the largest number of people, it isn’t sustainable either.
Us open source devs don’t even want that much money, we’ve already decided that devoting our time to something that can better humanity is worth more than a paycheck. Enough to pay rent and live on would be nice enough… yet youtube streamers make more than most open source devs.
honestly I’d say programmers who dedicated their lives to making FOSS, the scientists, engineers and mathematicians who publish their work for the whole world to benefit from and some activists are the only people to look up to, to find some hope. thank you.
Its a really sad state of affairs, and there’s not much hope in sight.
Under capitalism, the more unethical you are, the more money you make. And that doesn’t just go for capitalists, but for skilled labor like programmers too; the highest paid programmers right now are the most unethical, spending their time either doing quant analysis for hedge funds, or working with psychologists trying to figure out how to get people to click on ads, or working for defense companies like BAE or northrop grumman or lockheed martin, or insurance companies (another pointless industry), etc. Things that not only add absolutely nothing to society, but harm it too.
Us open source devs don’t even want that much money, we’ve already decided that devoting our time to something that can better humanity is worth more than a paycheck. Enough to pay rent and live on would be nice enough… yet youtube streamers make more than most open source devs. Its a really sad state of affairs, and there’s not much hope in sight.
what can I say, when the ultimate and only value is money, it’s no surprise that people who don’t care about anything but money will get the most of it. FOSS may be not compatible with capitalism and therefore not economically sustainable right now, but I would say (or at least try to make myself feel better by saying) a system that rewards people not based on their contributions to society, but based on some perverted distribution of wealth that benefits those that take away the most from others and give back the least in return, “democracies” that favor those who manage to manipulate and deceive the largest number of people, it isn’t sustainable either.
honestly I’d say programmers who dedicated their lives to making FOSS, the scientists, engineers and mathematicians who publish their work for the whole world to benefit from and some activists are the only people to look up to, to find some hope. thank you.
it’s just sad. feels paralyzing.