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So the other day my grandpa and I replaced the water pump in my car. In preparation for this we looked for a tutorial on YouTube for it just to make sure we knew what we were doing. We ended up watching three videos, The first two were both made by what sounded like barrel chested middle-aged American men, both of these videos were nearly ten minutes long and there was not enough lighting to really see into the engine of the car, but the biggest problem with both of these videos was the fact that they spent more time complaining than they did actually teaching. They talked about how you had to remove this and that even to be able to get to the thing, then they talked about how hard to reach all the bolts were and how you shouldn't even try this unless you are an experienced mechanic. These guys had terrible attitudes and if their attitudes were in any way representative of that of an experienced mechanic than I definitely don't want one working on my car.
The third video however was much different. This one was made by a guy with a European accent and it was only a minute and a half long. This guy got straight to the point in explaining what needed to be done, and how to do it. He didn't waste any of his or our time complaining about how hard the fix was, he just did it. This video, unlike the others, was helpful.
I don't understand why people find the need to complain as much as they do. Sure when you live with your parents you might be able to get out of doing some things if you complain enough, but once you are out on your own that is no longer the case. Millennials coined the term adulting as a way to complain about having to do everyday things. Saying "Adulting is hard" does not change the fact that you need to get out of bed, wash your dishes, and drive yourself to your boring job. Your problems don't disappear when you complain about them, in reality they will probably get worse as you let them occupy your mind that much.
In this past week I applied for a software development job, as is typical with the hiring process for an entry level software development job I was asked to complete a coding challenge after they decided they liked my resume. I was asked to write a program in C# using Visual Studio that would solve a particular problem. Now, I had never written a program in C# before this and it had been several months since the last time I used Visual Studio because I've switched over to doing everything in Vim. What do you think I did? I put my big boy pants on and wrote a program in C# using Visual Studio, and if I get that job I'll be happy to spend every day in C# code using Visual Studio.
I'm a mature enough software developer to realize that specific tools and programming languages don't matter. What would have happened if I had asked them if I could do it in C++, which I'm much more comfortable with, instead of C#? I certainly wouldn't have an appointment for an interview with this company that's for sure.
There was a point during my time as a student that I thought it would be a good idea for me to go into Android development, I had never really been particularly interested in mobile development until that point but I knew that all the people that were always wanted to go into IOS development because it is so much easier because Apple has spent a lot of time an money to make development on their platforms easy. I figured that if I spent the time to become good at an unpopular and difficult skill that was still necessary I'd be much more valuable to employers. Ultimately I never really pursued that because I still don't have as much interest in mobile development, (Also cross-platform development has been getting much more viable these days so it wouldn't have been a good idea for me to invest my time in becoming expert at something that may soon be obsolete) but the idea is still solid. Market yourself as someone willing and able to do hard things rather than someone who only wants to take the easy path.
Complainers want nothing but the easy path. Complaining about the length requirements for a paper won't change the fact that you have to write it. Complaining about icy roads won't change the fact that you have to drive to work on them. Complaining about having a broken down car won't change the fact that you need to fix it. Really the only thing complaining is good for is making it so people don't want to be around you, so if you want to be the type of person that people feel the need to escape from then go ahead and continue complaining, but otherwise just grow up and stop. And if you are a parent, teach your kids to solve problems rather than avoid them. Complaining will get you nowhere good in live.