Non-rich programmer: works on CRUD apps to feed the family.
Rich programmer: works on compilers, OS dev, DB internals, in-house 3D engines/games, AI, etc... to have fun :)
Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
31–39 of 39 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
#32Throwaway for this. I'm virtually there, although not quite: I will inherit ~$1M cash, arguably within the next 1-3 years. I never thought too much about it and did what I thought would interest me anyway; I thought I had to get a sense of what a modern capitalist society really is. I ended up starting a somewhat successful career in CS (I’m in my late 20s), did the 9-5 thing for a few years… but I got to the point w…
Typical programmer in Valley will make much more then $1M in cash, so it's not enough to not care about money
Really - what's that got to do with anything?! I don't see any connection between the two halves of that sentence. Except I guess it's true for you.
Re: Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
#33Are you assuming only rich people do that, or only interested in rich programmers? (Whatever 'rich' means exactly. Whatever definition you have in mind, I mean.)
Re: Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
#34In a team lead role for a big telco, (build my wealth trough stock trading robots, can retire anytime) and every year cannot get myself to leave and retire early... Too much fun, interesting projects and great team to lead (also working from home helps a lot)... Maybe next year :-)
I"m curious, whats the amount you are investing, what's the profit, and what's the risk? I've always been a little bit suspicious of day trading as a way of making money considering the type of ads I see, the fact that I'm an unsophisticated investing unable to access the advantages professionals have (like fast trade execution and much cheaper trading costs), and that slippage means I won't be able to set a hard lim…
The amounts are 6 and more digit accounts, average profit per year double digits (last year was the first with tipple digits return, manly because of one trade, probably won't repeat itself)... The miracle of compounding is that what is working for you in the long run...
EDIT: I do have losing days, weeks, months and years as well, it's not a smooth sailing by any stretch of the imagination...
I am not day trading, you cannot win against HFT shops, and forget about the ads for trading gurus, coaches and mentors, no one will sell you a winning trading strategy, because the more money/people are trading it, the less effective is going to be and eventually will be arbitraged away...
If you trade high quality/high volume stocks, there is basically no slippage (few cents at most), so you can easily calculate the risk for your strategy using tools like Kelly criterion - half Kelly is a good start and you go from there...
Re: Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
#35In a team lead role for a big telco, (build my wealth trough stock trading robots, can retire anytime) and every year cannot get myself to leave and retire early... Too much fun, interesting projects and great team to lead (also working from home helps a lot)... Maybe next year :-)
did you build your own robot or used some existing ones?
Yes, I did... But, I didn't wake up one day with the idea of building killer Wall Street robots, all came together as natural progression:
First I wrote some programs to back test different trading ideas, then I used the best ideas to create sort of stock scanner to give me the best possibilities for a trade, then I wrote an alert system to alert me what to buy, then with the APIs being available from different brokers, I started automating the entries and the last step was to develop sort of monitoring to monitor and exit my trades...
All hosted on few VPS around the world, so I can be truly location independent and I don't have to have internet all the time ...
Re: Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
#36(created throwaway for this) Thank fucking GOD I find myself in this position right now! Through some random luck and the sell of an old startup I am now able to take a few years off and just like think and sleep all day and have inappropriately long lunches. At present I am writing crypto currency trading shit just for fun, having a blast, and most importantly, not having to worry about any meetings or struggling fo…
Since you've made a throwaway for this, I figured I'd ask more intimate details: How much money did you make off of that sale that you consider it good enough to take a few years off but not retire completely? $1 mil, $2 mil, more, less?
I ask since amount of money needed to live without work for a few years in silicon valley/bay area (assuming you're in it) is typically enough money to retire forever in a place like Thailand/Chiang Mai, and so would follow up and ask why won't you do that :)
Re: Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
#37Throwaway for this. I'm virtually there, although not quite: I will inherit ~$1M cash, arguably within the next 1-3 years. I never thought too much about it and did what I thought would interest me anyway; I thought I had to get a sense of what a modern capitalist society really is. I ended up starting a somewhat successful career in CS (I’m in my late 20s), did the 9-5 thing for a few years… but I got to the point w…
Typical programmer in Valley will make much more then $1M in cash, so it's not enough to not care about money
You can retire for life with under half a million in lots of places if you're willing to live (very) frugally (and single/have no dependents).
Re: Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
#38(created throwaway for this) Thank fucking GOD I find myself in this position right now! Through some random luck and the sell of an old startup I am now able to take a few years off and just like think and sleep all day and have inappropriately long lunches. At present I am writing crypto currency trading shit just for fun, having a blast, and most importantly, not having to worry about any meetings or struggling fo…
Since you've made a throwaway for this, I figured I'd ask more intimate details: How much money did you make off of that sale that you consider it good enough to take a few years off but not retire completely? $1 mil, $2 mil, more, less? I ask since amount of money needed to live without work for a few years in silicon valley/bay area (assuming you're in it) is typically enough money to retire forever in a place like…
About 2-3 times my yearly salary (which was pretty comfortable as it was). I have a lot of room to slash my expenses. I'm just looking for some breathing room to get back to what I love about computer science.. I don't mind working again in a few years! :)
Re: Ask HN: Any rich programmers that don't have to work but coding for fun?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
did you build your own robot or used some existing ones?
Yes, I did... But, I didn't wake up one day with the idea of building killer Wall Street robots, all came together as natural progression: First I wrote some programs to back test different trading ideas, then I used the best ideas to create sort of stock scanner to give me the best possibilities for a trade, then I wrote an alert system to alert me what to buy, then with the APIs being available from different broke…
that's very helpful and practical advice, i am a software engineer, but very interested in quantitative trading. If possible, can we connect by email? I want to ask some suggestion, like how to start in this path, my email is in my profile, thanks!