Pointless coding for the void (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by reabsorbthelight@lemmy.world to c/cs_career_questions@programming.dev

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I feel like most of my work has been wasted throughout my career.

In my 10 years, I can look back and I think maybe 3 years of my work still exists today. A couple companies are not defunct. A couple projects were literally cut from under me.

Is this normal? Do most software engineers end up having a ton of their work wasted?

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[-] alexc@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Yeah, that sounds about right - A lot depends on what level you’re at and how “agile” the company you work for is. It’s not wasted per se - Most of the time other engineers build on your work, usually as bugs are found or the feature evolves. But yeah, products (and companies) also will die off.

Code merely solves a given problem at a given time. It’s not meant to last forever. Rejoice in the knowledge and mastery you have gained instead.

this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026

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