Complexity does not equal progress, and progress does not equal good software.
I wanted to start this blog post with a rather clickbait-y title “Why I quit my job as a software developer”, but that gave the wrong impression that I would just switch jobs. There was nothing particularly wrong with the company I worked at, at least not more than anywhere else. The reason I quit was to no longer be employed, because software companies are kinda bad at making software.
In modern software engineering, there are plenty of bad decisions that somehow became standard. The main one, I think, is overcomplication. Too many technologies used at once. Architecture that is too convoluted. And always way too many meetings. What this means is too much wasted time and money. I have yet to find a company where this is not the norm.
Annoyed by this, I became an indie hacker — to test an idea and see how much I can get done. I am willing to bet the next year of my life on simplicity. I hope to create software that is simple in design and implementation, while still being helpful and useful. And I aim to build my businesses to be simple as well — solo, without investors, and most importantly small and lean. A billion-dollar startup is too much of a headache to maintain anyway.
I am a stage in my life where expenses and obligations are low, and my energy levels are still high. The worst that could happen is I learn a lesson in humility.
