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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?

#291

Post by unknownknowns »

dev360 wrote: post #258
49531 wrote: post #199

I worked in landscaping and then as a custodian making $7/hr before I started learning to code. Working as a programmer has transformed my life. I've got a lot of autonomy in my days, I enjoy solving technical problems, I get to work from home and see my 2yr old grow up. Yeah it sucks when your manager puts heavy deadlines on your team, or having to do things you don't necessarily agree with, or navigating corporate…

I joke with programmer friends that we should become gardeners instead. I guess the appeal of physical labor is you get to leave work at work.

I've enjoyed working in national security and defense. It's a laid-back environment and I can leave work at work without feeling stressed.

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

#292

Post by sethammons »

hibikir wrote: post #223
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…

You are less than 3 years into your career, and you think you have worked for some of the best companies, and yet you are unhappy. How do you know you have worked for some of the best for you? You are going by names. My guess is that you are talking about hot valley companies, and guess what? In those, someone with little experience will not get to work on anything fun, because they have enough talent that almost eve…

$300k? Where? How? While I have metric-tonnes more to learn, I'm a senior developer. I write and maintain (with our team) the main services (it used to be _all_ the services before we grew) at our SAAS providing 10s of millions in revenue. I make less than half that.

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

#293

Post by technofire »

gregthompsonjr wrote: post #5

Can't complain. Great company. Constantly wondering if I'm good enough to keep my job, though. I'm trying to prepare for that day I'm told, "Let's talk. We like you a lot, but we've decided to let you go. If you need referrals, let us know." I mean, everyone says I'm doing well. I just don't feel it, so I work a lot more than I probably should, and I'm always ridiculously paranoid. I'd say I'm happy but I'm worried.…

Second-guessing yourself is a good sign. As Michael Atiyah said, "Only the mediocre are supremely confident of their ability. The better you are, the higher the standards you set for yourself."

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

#294

Post by bobwaycott »

splintercell wrote: post #234
1stop wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paying people the same value they contribute is not socialism. It's called: Being a good person. Capitalism seems to have made us all think it's completely okay to exploit someone else's surplus labour. How is the risk the founder takes that different to Employee #1's? Their payout is usually vastly different, but their contribution not so much.

> Paying people the same value they contribute is not socialism. It's called: Being a good person. I am sorry but the whole disagreement is on what value a worker contributes. According to Capitalism and Capitalism supporters, a productive activity is the sum of (Land/raw materials + Labor + Capital). Capital is nothing but deferred consumption. If you don't consume what you could consume, then that constitutes as ca…

> Karl Marx noticed this phenomenon, but was unable to understand the role of Capital(and yea I know he wrote a whole book on this concept). To him, careful inspection revealed a 'conspiracy theory' among the capitalists which he dubbed as class struggle and class interest.

You possess an either infantile and misinformed understanding of Marx, or you're just being ideological here. Have you read Capital? It's not just one book. Marx very well understood the concept, role, and agency of capital. His careful inspection did not reveal a conspiracy theory; instead, it elucidated the ways capital influences our material existence. There was no conspiracy among capitalists, only naturally flowing consequences of capital's impact on the material bases of society.

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

#295

Post by LesZedCB »

pikzen wrote: post #238
wr0ngway wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working with your brain takes just as much effort as working with your muscles. Think back to taking a multiple hour exam in school, and how knackered you'd feel at the end of it. Now imagine doing that for 8+ hours every day, trying to solve problems that you don't even know have a solution. Yes, your body may still be ready to go, but there's nothing left upstairs to make it happen.

Oh come on. Working with your brain is a breeze. Yes, you get mentally exhausted. Eat some damn sugar, problem solved. You know what you don't get, that manual workers do ? Crippling disabilities, having no energy left once you get home, a terrible salary, dangerous work conditions. We have it easy. Stop lying to yourself.

Exactly. My partner hates it when I mention that I had a boring day with little interesting to work on, so I spent a couple hours reading reddit. Meanwhile she works in a fast-paced, no stopping, energy draining customer service managerial job. She hardly even gets breaks, no less time for catching up on your favorite internet blogs.

And yet, for some reason, I get paid almost three times more than her per hour.

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

#296

Post by oldmanjay »

patrickdavey wrote: post #172
wr0ngway wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working with your brain takes just as much effort as working with your muscles. Think back to taking a multiple hour exam in school, and how knackered you'd feel at the end of it. Now imagine doing that for 8+ hours every day, trying to solve problems that you don't even know have a solution. Yes, your body may still be ready to go, but there's nothing left upstairs to make it happen.

"Working with your brain takes just as much effort as working with your muscles." Well, funny you should say that. Years ago when I first moved to New Zealand (as a backpacker) my mindset was to find a job immediately, then look for a better one. My first "job" was as a labourer. Carrying large marble table tops up narrow windy stairs. Hardest job I ever did! Quit after one day, and my back is probably still thankful…

So you weren't physically strong enough to do the job is what you learned. If you weren't smart enough to program, how easy would you find it?

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

#297

Post by antocv »

Im not even working as a programmer, but everyone says so and pay me well for that title, I get to do perhaps 5-10 minutes per 40h week of "work", actual programming.

The rest is listening to bullshit from coworkers and reading hackernews, reddit etc.

Ive changed workplaces, this is my 3rd in 5 years, and its the same in my experience from those 3 very different "enterprises", "way of working", "agile" and other scrum bullshit methods, manager talk, backstabbing, backtalking and bad coffe.

At work I am quite miserable. Working with technologies I loved and grew up with, Linux, python, distributed systems, yet I look forward to just quitting one day. Maybe start working as a window-cleaner or similar.

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

#298

Post by jrcii »

I'm 30 years old, I started programming BASIC on my Apple IIc when I was 7, so this is the only life I've ever known. It's difficult to see the forest from the trees enough to known if I like it, it just "is." What greatly troubles me is that to continue to push the envelope in the fields I work in as I always have and always looked forward to, I am essentially compelled to violate my personal code of professional ethics and build super creepy technology that violates the privacy of other people. I know that if I don't do it someone else will, but that doesn't help me. It leaves me very conflicted.

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

#299

Post by x0ry »

I don't like being used to make people money. That part of it sucks. Programming is great, the fact that you are making things is incredibly challenging and fulfilling. Being viewed as a boy genius instead of a human being is the trade-off. I feel like this industry has forced me to become more anti-social. Always on the lookout for the next snake trying to steal your work or use you for their next big promotion.

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

#300

Post by Jonovono »

nilkn wrote: post #281
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…

Why do you think most developers should be paid similarly to a highly specialized doctor? First of all, you might be thinking of doctors like neurosurgeons. Less than 1% of practicing physicians in the US are neurosurgeons, and some neurosurgeons make as little as $250k (often ones with special academic appointments). Not all of them make $1M/year or even $700k/year. Second of all, you might in general be overestimat…

They never said programmers SHOULD make as much as doctors (or lawyers or finance).
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