web-goddess

“Ars Technica takes on three years of Mac OS X.” The article is a nice overview of the changes OS X has undergone since its debut. I’ve been there pretty much from the beginning: Snookums buys me OS X; I track down the 10.1 update; the 10.1.5 update kills my machine; we make a special trip to buy 10.2 at the Apple Road Show; I cheat and have a student friend buy my copy of Panther so I can save a hundred bucks. Good grief, that’s a lot of money and effort to expend on an operating system. But on the plus side, my mom finally got it installed on the Powerbook her office gave her. “I can’t tell anybody,” she said, “but I really like it!”

“I.T. Workers – Unhappy Campers?” Yes, yes, yes! Well, for this one, anyway. That article sums up a lot of the thoughts I’ve been having about this industry for the last couple years. I’m not happy. I don’t make anything real or useful or lasting. Most of the websites I’ve built are now dead. (At least one was sold to a porn company that wanted to mine its database.) I don’t help anybody. I don’t make the world a better place. I sit at a desk and move meaningless electrons from one place to another. It’s just not doing it for me anymore.

I need a Change. I’ve got a couple different options I’m considering. The big issue is, of course, money. I get paid more to do this unsatisfying job than I would to do anything else. Is job fulfillment worth taking a pay cut? I think I’m reaching the point where I say “yes”. I’ll keep you posted.