I should quit the business, and end my troubles.

What difference whether I say yes or no?
What difference whether my code is good or bad?
Others fear comparison with my efforts;
thus I cannot avoid fear of their efforts.
Such bullshit! Will it never end?

Others are happy with the project
as at a free buffet or an open bar.
I alone am unmoved, affectless
as an infant too new to smile.
How boring! Is there no escape?

Others have job security;
I live from contract to contract.
I feel like an idiot! I’m so screwed!

Others seem so bright and certain;
only I am uncertain.
Others walk the cutting edge;
only I seem to be getting obsolete.
How featureless, like an ocean!
How empty, like the endless wind!

Others learn Ruby or PHP;
only I remain unspecialized, like an undergraduate.
I alone am different from all others —
sitting here complaining like a Whiny Ass Titty Baby!

 

This is another one of my favorites.

chapter notes:

Compared to all other chapters in the Dao De Jing, this chapter is remarkable in its personal and subjective attitude, as well as its unique whininess. I suspect that Consultants from any age are subject to the same kind of lamentations.