----- Original Message ----- From: "Fernando Cassia" <fcassia at gmail.com>
"Except that when it was done in the mid-1990s in the middle of the .com bubble, and in the middle of Silicon Valley, it was considered "a good thing" for software programmers to practically live at their workplace, do 24-hour programming sesions, or sleep under their desks. Hey, it was all for the American Dream..."
A lot of that was bullshit though. (I've been working in the S Valley since 1983.)
A lot of that were nerds who got off on "working 24/7" or pretending to. Some set amount of time before shipping, there was always some kind of marathon...but then there would be considerable time off. A friend of mine working at a major software firm, just went though a period like that, but then they were given a month off. So, you know...
There was also exploitation and horrible burn out. But no way would I compare the working conditions of programmers with the working conditions of the workers in China.
Most importantly, you have to remember that until 2000, software programming was a seller's market. If you didn't like how you were treated, you could change jobs and get a guarenteed raise. In fact, if programmers didn't get at least 5% a year raise, they would feel insulted and look for another job. Every time I changed jobs I got somewhere between a 10% and a 15% raise. It's hard to mistreat people too much under those conditions.
Even now when the rest of the economy is in the can, experienced programmers and tech writers are finding jobs fairly easily. The raises are gone, bonuses...stock options are gone, but jobs are still around.
Joanna