If your code was used at some point, did what it was supposed to do when it was needed, and paid your rent, how can you think it was wasted?
this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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Yeah it got me money, but I kind of feel like I'm scamming VCs, which isn't a bad. It's just I'm not really contributing to anything
I struggle with this feeling a lot as well. I think it's partly due to labor alienation, at least partially.
Absolutely normal, imo. I was shocked my (MVP level) solution was still the main production software for a giant retailer. Ive also written and thrown away far more code than has been deployed
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.
I would say one partial cure for this is to contribute to open source or if you are using open source in your projects see if you can get your company to allow you to contribute any fixes you have implemented up stream. Although at times rather than asking, I have fixed issues in a cpl of hours after work and pushed these up. But the simple fact is everything, even the most "advanced" projects eventually become obsolete, so I wouldn't worry about it, it is just part of working in tech.
Yeah I'd feel like my work is more important if I worked on Postgres or an Apache project. Basically anything open source. The problem is getting paid.
Yes
One of my most proud achievements was getting some HPC software to run on this new processor my startup company built. It could have been great.
Then they hired some consultants who came in, got massive golden parachutes and methodically bankrupted the company. It was pretty obvious their intent when they cancelled contracts with our primary investor.
I've basically been extremely skeptical and jaded ever since