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Linus Torvalds Says Linux Still Surprises and Motivates Him (linux.com)
Linus Torvalds: What I find interesting is code that I thought was stable continually gets improved. There are things we haven't touched for many years, then someone comes along and improves them or makes bug reports in something I thought no one used. We have new hardware, new features that are developed, but after 25 years, we still have old, very basic things that people care about and still improve. I really like what I'm doing. I like waking up and having a job that is technically interesting and challenging without being too stressful so I can do it for long stretches; something where I feel I am making a real difference and doing something meaningful not just for me. I occasionally have taken breaks from my job. The 2-3 weeks I worked on Git to get that started for example. But every time I take a longer break, I get bored. When I go diving for a week, I look forward to getting back. I never had the feeling that I need to take a longer break.
In other news, Larry Ellison says that money still surprises and motivates him.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I feel your pain. I love my work, but my job leaves something to be desired. Crap raises for the last ten years don't make up for increases in health insurance and cost of living, so I'm worse off financially now than I was. To add insult to injury, now I'm at the top of my pay grade so I do not even get raises (just lump sum payment of what my raise would be, which does little to help). We just had a "culture survey," and if it wasn't run by an independent third party, I would not have said most of what I said. Even if they figure out it was me and fire me, it would probably be the kick in the pants I need to move on.
As far as Linus goes, I don't begrudge him loving his work. I do wonder, though, off topic, "When I go diving for a week, I look forward to getting back." Most people feel that way after a week away from their routine. Is it just me, or is diving something you spend a day doing, and then do something else? The best vacations I've had, the ones I didn't want to end, we were doing something different every day, not just sitting on a beach for a week. I suppose I could go hiking for a week, or river rafting, but then the experience is vastly different every day (to me, anyway).
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Hey, I've been there. My advice is look for something else. But first get some time off because you will carry all your baggage from your current job.
To Linus and any/all contribuitors: if you're reading this, a heartfelt thank you from someone using Linux each and every day on hundreds of systems.
-- HPC sysadmin
Linux is Linus Torvalds' lifes' work.
How many of you can say you have anything that is your lifes' work, and not just a job? Seems like an eviable thing to me, to have a "lifes' work".
There are things we haven't touched for many years, then someone comes along and improves them
The NSA is just glad to help you out, Linus. Just don't stare too long at our code.
Careful, more affiliate spam from Creimer.
Here is the link without his affiliate ID and tracking info:
link
!#$&&%^$*()! looks like a vi command, not KDE or GNOME.
Crap raises for the last ten years don't make up for increases in health insurance and cost of living, so I'm worse off financially now than I was
I find it hard to sympathize with this. Assuming you're in the tech industry like me, the salaries are amazing compared to the rest of the country.
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