This was 22 years ago... it's honestly so tiring to see people use this as a "got 'em!" argument. Times change, businesses change. This is not a case of ideology.
You also helped me realize that part of all this mess is that I HAVE been feeling old. Well, maybe not old... older. I feel like I got hyper-focused on being a programmer (and I feel I never explicitly committed to it, just sort of went along with it) and now I just realized it's been 16 years.
Something I realized when reading your response is that I winced a tiny bit when you mentioned "finding meaning in your work" - as if that was something I did not believe could be achieved.
I think in my mind it's more about going to work and doing things are not... so made-up. I find this extremely hard to communicate. This may be due to me being too far removed from the actual impact whatever we deliver may have. Or as other posters have pointed out, lack of confidence in the general mission.
Or maybe I haven't yet figured out the real reason and this is just something my brain has made up.
Hey, thanks for your input! These are good questions.
Funny thing. A few months ago I've also decided to improve my communication skills - both in reading and writing. (Long way to go...) It did hit me that whatever I end up doing in the long run, communication is the only 100%-reusable skill that can pay off anywhere. And so much time is wasted due to sub-optimal communication.
Interesting point! I think there's something to it.
Forgive me if my central European bias is showing, but I've always discounted how important it is to align yourself with the mission of the company you decide to work for. Seemed to me like it's a complete bonus and luxury if the two overlap, and the default is just... work.
Of course as long as the company isn't actively working against something you would consider your values.
But it's definitely a question that can't be ignored if one wants to do some digging.
Using the sorted() built-in returns a new sorted array. Getting keys from a dictionary is literally just calling dict.keys(). Sorry, but I don't think you've used Python enough to offer lists like these.