I’ve been struggling with something for a while now and ironically a sitcom from the 80’s finally helped me pinpoint the problem. My TV was on for background noise and I noticed that it was an episode of Family Ties. In the episode, Elyse Keaton was having a problem. A prominent building that she designed was being torn down and replaced by a cookie cutter mini-mall. She was struggling with her “legacy” - her mark on the world - disappearing. After the building was gone, what evidence would there be that Elyse Keaton was there?
I’m facing a similar issue. I don’t like getting into my day job too much online (for various reasons), but suffice it to say that applications that I developed for decades are being sunset/replaced. I’ve developed quite a lot over the decades, but eventually it would all be replaced. Once it is, what will I have as “proof that TechyDad was here”?
How do you handle the existential crisis of our works being digital and transient versus having an actual, physical product?
Well this topic is very subjective, but I’ll chime in…
“You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions.” -
Basically: You should be programming because you like programming - Not because you like that people like your program, or that it might immortalize yourself somehow - Or because people might use your program forever and will remember you by it
You can say the same for every profession: You’re the best doctor in the world and you healed millions of people. Great. 100 years later all those people are still dead anyways. What was the point?
Basically everything is temporary in the end, and everything is going to be forgotten. Seeing your job as a programmer as part of your identity and your applications as proof of your existence or digital legacy is pretty much pointless