People who have experienced the brutal deadlines in the IT industry all have similar memories.

"How am I supposed to handle all of this?" Even though it feels overwhelming, management just says to get it done.

Schedules are set based on feelings rather than reality, and developers are treated like machines that produce results at the push of a button.

Perhaps that's why sometimes scenes from movies feel oddly realistic.

The famous line from the movie Steel Rain, "I can do it in a day," perfectly captures that feeling.

The situation is even more absurd. Hacking the nuclear missile codes? This isn't just about recovering a login password; it's a national security system.

The hacker honestly states, "It will take about three months." That's the normal expectation.

But then comes a gunshot and a question about age. When he says he's nineteen, the pressure immediately mounts.

In the end, to survive, he changes his stance. "I can do it in a week."

Even at this point, it's already an unreasonable deadline, but then it gets shortened even further.

"I can do it in a day."

The reason this scene is funny is that it absurdly resembles reality.

There are common phrases heard in the IT field.

"This will be quick, right?" "Other places say they can do it in a day." "Just give it a try."

The problem is that most of the people saying this have no idea how long the actual work takes.

Honestly, many of them often don't even want to know. What's important is the result, and the process is just something to be handled on its own.

From a developer's perspective, this is the most frustrating part. Schedules are calculated, but management arbitrarily shortens them.

Reducing a three-month project to one month is already difficult, but if it's cut down to a day like in the movie, it's just a matter of "do it without dying."

That's why everyone ends up working late, pulling all-nighters, damaging their health, and ultimately burning out.

But if the results turn out well? "See, it was possible after all." And that's the end of it. No one remembers the process.

The reason the Steel Rain scene is amusing is because of its extreme situation.

In reality, the U.S. military is preparing for a nuclear strike within 24 hours, so there truly is no time.

Thus, the superior has no choice but to apply intense pressure.

In real life, when a server goes down or a security incident occurs, no one talks about schedules. They just need to fix it.

The problem is that even when it's not an emergency, everyone acts as if it is.

There's always urgency, always tight deadlines, and always a lack of time. As a result, when a real crisis arises, the sense of urgency becomes dulled.

If you're always at war, then war becomes unremarkable.

So, while watching this scene, I laugh but also feel bittersweet.

Because I know that the phrase "I can do it in a day" is not entirely fictional.

It just comes through as a message instead of a bullet. "Can you do it by today?"

And in the movie, they ultimately succeed. They hack the first stage of the nuclear missile, and later even the second stage.

It's possible because the director has set them up as genius hackers.

But reality is different. In reality, even if there are geniuses, there are physical limits.

No matter how outstanding a developer is, there are only so many tasks they can accomplish in a day.

So nowadays, it's not just about meeting deadlines; it's about being able to say, "This isn't possible." The understanding that schedules are a matter of negotiation and must be based on reality is becoming more widespread.

Still, somewhere, someone is probably saying,

"I can do it in a day."