> A sense of mastery and adventure permeated everything I did.
How much of that is a function of age? It is hard to separate that from the current environment.
Personally, I don't feel as inspired by the raw elements of computing like I once did, but it is probably more about me wanting a new domain to explore than something systemic. Or at least, it is healthier to believe that.
> knowing that a bug meant burning new EPROMs made you think twice or thrice before you declared something "done".
The notion of Internet Time, where you're continuously shipping, has certainly changed how we view the development process. I'd argue it is mostly harmful, even.
> perhaps the best part about it was that even the biggest systems were sufficiently unsophisticated that a single person could wrap their head around all of the hardware and all of the software.
I think this is the crux of it: more responsibility, more ownership, fewer software commoditization forces (frameworks), less emphasis on putting as many devs on one project as possible because all the incentives tilt toward more headcount.
How much of that is a function of age? It is hard to separate that from the current environment.
Personally, I don't feel as inspired by the raw elements of computing like I once did, but it is probably more about me wanting a new domain to explore than something systemic. Or at least, it is healthier to believe that.
> knowing that a bug meant burning new EPROMs made you think twice or thrice before you declared something "done".
The notion of Internet Time, where you're continuously shipping, has certainly changed how we view the development process. I'd argue it is mostly harmful, even.
> perhaps the best part about it was that even the biggest systems were sufficiently unsophisticated that a single person could wrap their head around all of the hardware and all of the software.
I think this is the crux of it: more responsibility, more ownership, fewer software commoditization forces (frameworks), less emphasis on putting as many devs on one project as possible because all the incentives tilt toward more headcount.