> Mostly because the employer had enough money to keep a lot of staff and make them do bullshit projects, half of which wouldn't reach production.
This is incredibly common, and not just at big companies. I bet half my time as a developer has been spent building products or features that never went to production. Includes work for startups or small companies where you might expect that in the case of extreme failure, but also for household-name bigcos and everything in between. Throw in products that are scrapped before being the market long enough to make the effort seem worth it, and my experience of this industry has been pretty damn nihilistic. Alienation, I guess you'd say.
This is incredibly common, and not just at big companies. I bet half my time as a developer has been spent building products or features that never went to production. Includes work for startups or small companies where you might expect that in the case of extreme failure, but also for household-name bigcos and everything in between. Throw in products that are scrapped before being the market long enough to make the effort seem worth it, and my experience of this industry has been pretty damn nihilistic. Alienation, I guess you'd say.