Finances. We can’t live in our own home paid for by a single income, don’t have a cushy pension to build up and barely have savings to speak of, as our salaries aren’t adjusted to the cost of living. Trust me, if I could work on opensource without worrying about the rest, I would. But my rent jumps 5-8% every year while my salary doesn’t, the housing prices are insane and would put me in serious debt for 30+ years for an apartment (not house) in a “meh” part of town, which I’d have to sell and buy a new one every 5 years until I can afford a house my parents could buy in their 30s.
Also, I’ve seen what opensource does to maintainers and how much profit companies have extracted from free work without paying back. I truly believe opensource is the way forward, but not by the current definition many people adhere to (free for everybody including companies).
I wonder if it’s the same worldwide. I think we here in Europe work fewer hours in a year. And also in the USA the average didn’t like increase substantially in the last years. I’m not sure about this. Sure, it’s become more difficult. But the numbers don’t seem to reflect young people work longer than older generations. On average it seems the other way around.
But I mean if you got the same spare time, just less money… Do you then give up having hobbies? Or have different ones? I’d imagine coding isn’t that bad since you don’t need lots of fancy material goods, just a computer and those got way cheaper.
I can see how someone would be dishartened and then give up contributing to the world. Maybe we see the same dynamics with other voluntary work? I’m not educated on that. It doesn’t feel that bad where I live than I get from reading the news… YMMV. But your numbers are right. And I don’t like that form of neoliberalism and capitalism over people’s lives either.
Finances. We can’t live in our own home paid for by a single income, don’t have a cushy pension to build up and barely have savings to speak of, as our salaries aren’t adjusted to the cost of living. Trust me, if I could work on opensource without worrying about the rest, I would. But my rent jumps 5-8% every year while my salary doesn’t, the housing prices are insane and would put me in serious debt for 30+ years for an apartment (not house) in a “meh” part of town, which I’d have to sell and buy a new one every 5 years until I can afford a house my parents could buy in their 30s.
Also, I’ve seen what opensource does to maintainers and how much profit companies have extracted from free work without paying back. I truly believe opensource is the way forward, but not by the current definition many people adhere to (free for everybody including companies).
Anti Commercial-AI license
I wonder if it’s the same worldwide. I think we here in Europe work fewer hours in a year. And also in the USA the average didn’t like increase substantially in the last years. I’m not sure about this. Sure, it’s become more difficult. But the numbers don’t seem to reflect young people work longer than older generations. On average it seems the other way around.
Removed by mod
But I mean if you got the same spare time, just less money… Do you then give up having hobbies? Or have different ones? I’d imagine coding isn’t that bad since you don’t need lots of fancy material goods, just a computer and those got way cheaper.
I can see how someone would be dishartened and then give up contributing to the world. Maybe we see the same dynamics with other voluntary work? I’m not educated on that. It doesn’t feel that bad where I live than I get from reading the news… YMMV. But your numbers are right. And I don’t like that form of neoliberalism and capitalism over people’s lives either.
Removed by mod