some people say programmers have the same work as chambermaids used to have: "cleaning up other people bedpans, sweeping out someone elses mess." (brian foote) endlessly. knowingly, that even when everything is nicely arranged, it wouldn´t stay that way for long. and if it is not cleaning it is glueing. somehow that doesn´t sound like a nice occupation at all.

sometimes programmers got an extraball and are allowed to change something in the room. bring in something new. in the beginning they might be pleased for getting this chance, realizing the hard way, that up from now they constantly have to carry in new goods. faster and faster. exponentially. hardware guys already showed: ways can be found to pack in that stuff.

how to say "no" seems to be a real hard problem for programmers. once be treated like genii, amazing people with their skills, brought them to the point to forget the importance of that little word. seldom urged to talk out loudly what they are writing at, they prefer to remain silent even in situations were they know in advance: now someone is really messing up my work. nevertheless "yes sir" or "yes ma´am, we do this right away" comes out with more ease. is that an educational problem? maybe. for too long these species got trained for the notion: everything is feasible.