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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?

#181
After 25 years of this, I now see the logic in communism (though it is idealistic). So no more working for suits and getting nothing while they extract the profit from the surplus labor I produce. Capitalism is all about exploiting or being exploited, and I haven't the temperament for it, given that I've taken too many red pills by now.

So ... it's going to be contribute to OSS (because the creative part of still worth something), become a truck driver, and write plays in my spare time... Art is the only thing that means anything in the long run - the fruits of business mean nothing, especially in IT given how the "churn" is less than a decade.

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

#182
I enjoy programming but 'working as a programmer' is infuriating.

There are so many interesting product ideas yet 'me-too' CRUD app recreations of previously successful incumbents products are highly desired. This is particularly true in the startup ecosystems where kids talk about 'interesting' problems and finding 'purpose' and yet are blindly following the mantras and motivational speeches of trite capitalists.

I currently work as a freelancer/contractor in London and I am happy as I make enough money to finance my own intellectual and creative interests for months on end. I hope I'll soon meet other intellectually curious people doing the same thing, and hope we'll be able to join forces to teach ourselves things or perhaps even work on small projects together.

Of course I feel extremely lucky to be in this position which has nothing to do with wanting a slower pace and everything to do with wanting to exert my whole self. And I can't say whether it will be good for me or bad for me; I'm certainly learning a lot about myself and the practicalities of doing this.

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

#183
10/10 - I'm extremely happy after I decided to stop pursuing web development and switch to native mobile. I started doing web development in 1996 (15 yo) and around 2012, I was extremely frustrated. There were too many frameworks, databases, and tools which just made tradeoffs of solving one problem for creating another. It seemed like web products weren't getting better and the brittleness of development was increasing. I started mobile development in 2008 when the first iPhone SDK came out and fully switched over as a career in 2012 and I couldn't be happier.

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

#185

10/10 - I'm extremely happy after I decided to stop pursuing web development and switch to native mobile. I started doing web development in 1996 (15 yo) and around 2012, I was extremely frustrated. There were too many frameworks, databases, and tools which just made tradeoffs of solving one problem for creating another. It seemed like web products weren't getting better and the brittleness of development was increas…

Are you also maintaining Android versions of your apps?

At least the web, with all its faults, targets all platforms at once.

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

#186
post #4

Well, this weekend I'm particular happy. A private equity guy in NY paid me $150 an hour to 'learn PHP immediately and fix his site.' He paid me for all 48 hours because he assumed 'I ate, drank, are his job the whole weekend.' I told him it was too much, I usually charge $100 an hour. He said he hopes I'll be available whenever he needs me. Best believe I will.

Reminds me of a time I was Skyped at 4 AM by a previous client who needed my help. Told him it was 4 AM in my timezone and I was well past when I needed to sleep. Offered an hour at double my usual rate for 10 minutes of work, you bet I was wide awake.

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

#187

Move! Here's the thing: I love programming, I've been working has a web dev since I was 18 (34 now), but I always loved design and creating desktop apps. And recently I've been learning Swift and mobile design. This year, the startup I was working with went bankrupt, and I just dive into depression and self-confidence as a developer. I couldn't stop thinking to myself: "oh no, not again all those web dev interview pr…

I'm just the opposite - I was going mad making microservices with C# and have jumped ship to being a full stack webdev guy. I love JS, it feels so freeing and easy after working with such a heavy compiled language (I still like C# though). I really enjoy doing front-end work and I feel that I can utilize my creativity in ways I couldn't working on the backend exclusively.

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

#188
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its depressing to make comparisons, but 99.9% of developers will never make half of what a specialized MD or successful lawyer or someone in finance might make. What percentage of people with law or finance degrees to you think actually make what you seem to think people with law or finance degrees make?

How many would be specialized MDs dropped out during the course/residency? I'm sure something similar happens to top finance positions. Also, developers have a nice chance of making it big by either starting up or getting equity.

Nice chance is overstating it by a HUGE amount on the 'making it big part', yes quite a few developers in the start up world can get equity, the former rarely happens.

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

#189
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misunderstood me, I am not saying you should exploit your workers, pay them fair wage. What I am saying is that founder who took the risk should enjoy the fruits. > How is the risk the founder takes that different to Employee #1's? Employee #1 will probably be getting a salary, if the company fails he can get a job somewhere else. Meanwhile the founders who worked on the idea probably used their savings initially…

> What I am saying is that founder who took the risk Please describe what "risks" the average high-flying tech startup CEO has taken.

I am not sure what you mean by the high flying CEO, I am talking more from the founder's side who puts his money and time on the line. Take Musk as an example, he invested most of his money in Tesla and Space X and both the companies came close to bankruptcy.

Those companies and many others will not work as a cooperative.

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