I teach English in a technical college, mainly to construction majors. I'm surprised but happy that I've come across great construction-related articles via Hacker News. the New Bay Bridge, in California (unsafe, late, and over budget); the CitiCorp Center in Manhattan (was in danger of collapsing); and this one.
Yes, the paltry wages earned by Uber drivers really disturbs me. So the job is "preferable" to working at McDonald's; except that if you deduct the cost of the car you may find you're better off at McDonald's. How did Uber become the super-hip high-tech story? By using technology to convert an (almost) middle-class wage job into roughly the equivalent of "fryolator operator" at McDonald's?
I agree. Inkscape and Gimp do everything I need them to do. The last time I hit a limitation was when I needed Inkscape to create a multi-page document. But that was more than a year ago and I managed without that function.