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Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

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Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#161

Post by codeisawesome »

rudenoise wrote: post #127
codeisawesome wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would sincerely, sincerely suggest to research the MISERY most of our world is in. There are 1 billion people without food or clean water. Imagine what someone with your skills can do to help? You don't need to make any money - and implementing deliverables in that scenario will only alleviate actual, real PAIN for others - not fuel the chase of more profit for someone who has hired you. I'm sure you've probably th…

I'd be interested to know a good place to start with this kind of thing. Do you have some examples of software engineers contributing their skills to charities, open source projects aimed at assisting in these situations or just some boards or communities that can assist in finding a starting point?

I'm searching for an efficient (read: not waste my time and affect my means of living) way to do this myself. The easiest way to start is to look for non profits operating in your area - or close to you - ask them to go have coffee with you (use LinkedIn). Do a virtual chat if necessary / pressed for time or distance. Discuss their work, and I guarantee you that ideas will come rushing out, this is what makes us tick. Then, just start. Do something for someone, talk about it.

This retired gentleman, for instance, who volunteers his time installing Linux on computers that are being sent to children in Africa: http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/827...

That's a great start! He was not even a software engineer!

Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#162

Post by user24 »

lgieron wrote: post #157
dikdik wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a horrible comment. There is 100x more to a career than living a comfortable existence. Personally, I want to feel purposeful at work and that I am contributing to a better world. I also absolutely require regular challenges or I end up severely depressed. Also, I have undertaken extensive education partially as a way of raising my standard of living and having a more enjoyable life outside of work. THERE ARE…

> This is a horrible comment. There is 100x more to a career than living a comfortable existence. I thought so too. However, the funny thing with market economy is that it IS pretty efficient, so jobs that are regarded as satisfying and challenging are approached by so many talented people that they don't have to pay very well and the conditions are usually not great. The solution is to either accept that the role of…

> jobs that are regarded as satisfying and challenging are approached by so many talented people that they don't have to pay very well and the conditions are usually not great.

Agree! If I could be a florist on a developers salary I would jump at it and never look back.

Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#163

Post by Amezarak »

dagw wrote: post #84
spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less stress? Retail workers turn up a 9 leave at 17:30 - they dot get called up outside of work in an emergency to fix some one elses code that causing a problem.

If I'm 45 minutes late for work 3 days in a row with no good excuse, no one gives a fuck. Retail worker shows up 45 minutes late one day and they're most likely fired. I also don't have to worry about people fucking around with my shifts and thus how much money will be in my next paycheck. Having even a modicum of job and financial security removes so much stress from your life.

> If I'm 45 minutes late for work 3 days in a row with no good excuse, no one gives a fuck.

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way for all developers. At my last job there were continual reminders and reprimands for being even five minutes late.

Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#164

Post by forgetsusername »

J-dawg wrote: post #137
littletimmy wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think you came to programming "late" if you are in your 30s? Have you faced any age discrimination?

I don't think I've ever faced any direct age discrimination, I'm just aware that there's no reason why anyone would hire me when they can have an enthusiastic 22 year old who's fresh out of uni.

>here's no reason why anyone would hire me when they can have an enthusiastic 22 year old who's fresh out of uni.

Have you worked with many "modern-day" 22 year-olds lately? Unless the company is intentionally looking for naivete as a trait, there are plenty of reasons to hire someone with more experience and maturity.

Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#165

Post by ionised »

I love programming (desktop software dev for an engineering consultancy), but I have started to hate this company recently. It's my first dev job out of uni and I have been here three years.

Everyone is really nice here, but it's the management. The boss acts like we're in the 50's. Everyone must wear a shirt and tie, no headphones are allowed because it's 'unprofessional', any talk of unions or the like is 'communism' and no plants allowed in the office because he doesn't like plants.

Add to that we're woefully underpaid as developers. We tend to lose a lot of developers after three or four years due to the pay and the slowness the company has in switching to new technology and delivery models (web and mobile apps are on our roadmap, we haven't even started implementing them and won't for at least two or three more years) and they are generally replaced by graduates, meaning the code base suffers as a result.

Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#166

Post by Amezarak »

dizzystar wrote: post #91
spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less stress? Retail workers turn up a 9 leave at 17:30 - they dot get called up outside of work in an emergency to fix some one elses code that causing a problem.

In retail, you don't get free food / liquid. You have to stand on your feet all day. Customers are allowed to scream at you and you have to figure out how to make them happy. Bosses are more than happy to fire you because, let's be honest, there are 1,000 others that can do your job. No guarantees of a 40 hour work-week. No paid holidays, no benefits. Raises are like 25c, and that is only if the boss really likes you…

> In retail, you don't get free food / liquid.

Water is free, most likely. I've never had free food programming, beyond nutra-grain bars, once.

> Customers are allowed to scream at you and you have to figure out how to make them happy.

Toxic clients exist in the programming world, too. And as a low-level peon, you have a lot more leeway in telling an abusive customer to get out than you do a multimillion dollar client.

> shifts well past midnight on Friday and Christmas Eve...

Still happens for developers.

As strange as it may sound, I think I personally was happier waiting tables. But it wasn't going to pay the bills. In general, I totally agree that most people, all things considered, are better off programming. But let's not overstate our case. :) There are definitely some programming jobs which are light-years better than any retail job because e.g., you don't have to deal with customers, but that's not all programming jobs.

Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#167

Post by restalis »

After a decade of doing it, I'm trying to get away from it.

To detail a little bit, I got into programming computers out of passion. The pay and the life was an after-thought. I'm still passionate and that is both a gift and a curse.

It's a curse because it slowly consumed me, my life, and much of anything else besides computers, throwing my life out of balance many times before, and each time I had to go to lengths to become "normal" again. Even now I have things in my (life's) program that I had to force them there to keep me straight and healthy.

It's a gift because despite reckoning all the damage it did in my life it still brings me joy. I'm like a sort of junkie in this regard, and now just like a junkie I feel the pain of getting away from it.

Now, looking back, the funny thing is, if I have to chose again something to invest into like I did twenty years ago, I'll repeat my choice (for better and worse). The take away would probably be that if you get into it and you're passionate about it then your passion will serve you well (feeding you with happiness), and if you're less passionate about it then your lack of passion will also serve you well (by keeping you human, the job itself being a relatively healthy one).

Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#168

Post by ebbv »

Before my company switched to SCRUM/Agile and pair programming last November I would have said like 4/10.

But right now it's a 9/10.

Formerly we were four separate web developers. Only consulting with each other, and not really ever working together on projects. And two of the four of us constantly had 6 or more projects we were juggling concurrently (I know, right?) It was really rough, even with being able to work remote four days a week and having a fair amount of autonomy, it was wearing thin.

Then we ran an experiment, two of us doing pair programming on a single project. We loved it. Then the company sent some of us out for proper Scrum Master training, and committed to doing SCRUM properly.

Since the switch we have become a cohesive team. We rotate partners every sprint and we only work on one project at a time. I actually enjoy work now. The whole team feels the same way.

Re: Ask HN: How happy are you working as a programmer?

#170

Post by beatpanda »

shubhamjain wrote: post #76
laxatives wrote: post #20

6/10. I'm less than 3 years into my career, but I think I've worked for some of the best companies with great pay, benefits, environments, etc, including a tech giant and two startups. End of the day though, work is boring. Its always work. Your time and effort is going towards making someone else rich and their priorities are more important than your own. The only things I really look forward to are vacations and ev…

> Your time and effort is going towards making someone else rich I don't mean to harsh but I don't understand this sentiment. Will any serious company exist if everyone thought like this? Why would a builder put another brick if he thought he is getting paid very less compared to million dollar building he is creating? Will any sales guy put so much of effort if he thought he is getting minisicule % of what he is sel…

Yes, lots of serious companies would (and do) exist; they're called worker-owned cooperatives, wherein all members of a firm share the risk and reward/of running the business, instead of one or two individuals paying themselves an arbitrary "risk premium" that workers have no say over.
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