GoKawiilWhy software engineers are grieving
Joel came to work for us with his eyes wide open — or so he thought.
He told me more than once why he chose us over other offers. We were a B2B SaaS company that helped healthcare technology companies bring safer products to market faster. That mission mattered to him and was a genuine reason to get out of bed in the morning. He was a strong Staff-level engineer who could have worked almost anywhere. He chose us because he got to solve difficult problems, build things that hadn’t existed before, and do it all in service of something that felt larger than quarterly revenue targets.
“You mean I get to do stuff I like in service of a greater good I care about?” he told me once. “Sign me up.”
I understood exactly what he meant.
If you’re an engineer who has spent the last few years feeling disoriented, grieving without being sure what exactly you lost, or wondering why work that once felt meaningful now feels like an unrewarding grind, I think Joel’s story may feel familiar.
Something changed. The disappointment many engineers feel is real. What I’m not sure we’ve done a good job of explaining is why it happened.
Looking back, I think the software industry spent 20 years offering engineers two unusually powerful reasons to love their work. The first was mission: the belief that our efforts were contributing to something worthwhile. The second was craft: the deep satisfaction that comes from solving difficult problems and building useful things. What many engineers are experiencing now is the realization that both of those pillars are less permanent than they appeared.
For most of the last 20 years, the software industry sold more than jobs. It sold a story.
The story was true, more or less, which is why it was so effective. You weren’t merely writing software. You were improving patient outcomes, transforming education, empowering creators, helping small businesses succeed, or connecting people around the world. The products usually did help real people solve real problems, and the missions frequently reflected something genuine about the value the company created.
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