Ask HN: What do you think of the movie Office Space?

1 points by 0x400614 10 years ago | 2 comments

I personally think Peter wasn't cut out out for the role of software engineer. He seemed lazy and not driven.

kls 10 years ago |

Honestly I think the dynamics of the movie are lost on any generation that was not in the work force at that time. In that period, outside of the valley, a good deal of people would end up working at a Innotec, at some point in their life and it is a soul sucking experience. Working with the mundane individuals who have learned how to work the corporate system but produce nothing can really kill motivation. Further dealing with people who are in charge of decision making, but are obviously incompetent can create a Peter.

Office Space was not about a lazy guy, it was commentary, at the time, about how the faceless enterprise software shop can burn a person out, at it's heart is was a fairly accurate portrayal of burnout, something a majority of developers experience at least once in their life.

It struck a cord with developers of that era and is why it became a cult classic with them. The cast of characters had an uncanny familiarity to may people one would meet in these bad software shops. I think some may be lost in translation now due to the fact that the "Innotecs" where the first shops that packs up and went to Asian.

GFK_of_xmaspast 10 years ago |

Time was, laziness was one of the three programming virtues.