The main thing I enjoy about it, as compared with many other careers, is that it&#x27;s in-demand enough that I&#x27;m not at risk of having to put up with anyone&#x27;s shit for very long if I don&#x27;t want to. That&#x27;s not true in many other careers, where <i>all</i> the jobs will be fairly bad because supply&#x2F;demand for those workers is poor enough that they don&#x27;t have much power to push back.<p>Meanwhile, if management does something I don&#x27;t like and gives me the impression they&#x27;ll do it again, I start casually applying for other jobs with an expectation of finding something better in a month or two. I can tell managers &quot;no&quot; if they ask too much of me and if they insist on a yes... OK, fine, but you&#x27;ll be receiving my two-weeks notice before long, hope that was worth it. I can be relaxed in interviews because I know I <i>am</i> the kind of person they&#x27;re looking for, and if this place doesn&#x27;t realize that then the next one will. I can bid up my salary because eff it, why not?<p>I have these liberties and I&#x27;m not even in a hot market, and I&#x27;m not some superstar developer. Just competent. I&#x27;m pretty sure this is <i>very</i> unusual, even in white-collar jobs.<p>This situation won&#x27;t last—especially for those down the skill&#x2F;experience ladder—but it sure is nice right now.