Oh, very much so. I don't think it's a matter of how "old" the industry is - there will always be people who have never worked with software folks or are familiar enough with the ecosystem not to make the assumptions stated in the article.
This made me realize that working in a purely engineering team can sometimes be a perk. Not because technical people are "better", but because it leads to fewer frustrations like this one.
It's all I could think of while reading the article. The spiraling-down into complexity and service names had me smiling all the way. The "we should have predicted this" in last paragraph sealed the deal. And the HN comments saying they should have known better and used ZingBing from the start had me rolling.
"You think you know what it takes to tell the user it's their birthday?!"
Apparently ICE won't let international students stay in the US in an "online only" school [0]. Makes me realize that as convenient as it is to be able to get education online, having fast internet speed is a privilege.
I'm 30 now. I worked very hard in my 20s (50-70 hour weeks on avg) and eventually burned out badly at 29. While I still consider myself ambitious, I now have a completely different view on work and living in general. I'm very careful about how I spend my time and more aware about my mental health than I've ever been.
I don't know if I regret it though. I learned a lot and had cool experiences. Sometimes I think I needed to go through it to appreciate what I have now.
I will say though that I no longer have a huge desire to work at that "hot" startup. I've worked in one, and while it's cool to talk about at parties, it won't magically make you a happier person.
These days I'd much rather spend time after work with loved ones or tinkering on a silly hobby. I'm really glad I've been able to make peace with that. Like some of the people who posted here, I used to guilt trip myself for not spending every waking hour doing something "productive" - I now realize how toxic that mentality was.
TLDR: I worked a lot, learned a lot, and changed from it to hopefully live a more sustainable lifestyle in the future.
This made me realize that working in a purely engineering team can sometimes be a perk. Not because technical people are "better", but because it leads to fewer frustrations like this one.