Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me • Hacker News Board

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#81

Post by dudul » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 3:17 AM UTC

derekp7 wrote: post #73

My biggest problem with coding for an employer, is that they then own exclusive rights to the code. Essentially, you are solving a problem. If that problem is unique to the employer, then that is fine for them to own the code. But if the project involves writing a bunch of potentially reusable routines, such as what you might find in a third party library, it just seems awful that you can never solve those same probl…

Well, it's not like they pay you to write code for them right?

It is only fair that your are, in theory, not allowed to reuse the code who wrote for them at your next gig. And to be clear, we all do it. If you've implemented it once you can redo it in no time.

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#82

Post by nstart » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 3:55 AM UTC

meric wrote: post #65

nstart wrote: post #60

I almost cried while reading this. During that job, I made and shared two side projects for the first time in my life. But the 9 to 5 hell was impossible to deal with. Fast forward to now, I'm remotely working with a company that pays me a great salary. I live in South East Asia and that means my savings are fantastic. Bonus is that the company is amazing. Dreamt of joining it since 2012. But I digress. Here's where…

Which company is this?! I'd love to talk to you about it!

would be happy to message on a private channel. Still not comfortable talking about it openly till I'm confirmed employee :)

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#83

Post by hanniabu » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 4:00 AM UTC

sly_foxx wrote: post #57

hanniabu wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and decided to quit my job to learn programming at home. Took me a year to get to the point where I'm comfortable and know my way around. However, just because I taught myself doesn't mean that it was free. I had a year of lost wages which is about 65K, so all in all it costed about the same amount for me.

He had 4 years of lost wages + $65k in debt. When you're in college, you don't work. So, again, he's in much worse situation than someone who learns programming at home in 1 year.

I went to college for 4 years as well, so again, you can say we were in the same boat: 4 years of lost wages + $65k in debt for him, 4 years of lost wages + $65k in lost wages for me

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#84

Post by softwaredev__ » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 4:10 AM UTC

I agree that programming at work isn't as fun as it is when you're just hacking away on side projects. But there's also that satisfaction of learning your craft well.

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#85

Post by tomreece » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 4:23 AM UTC

FreedomToCreate wrote: post #36

Wonder what this guy would say to the countless millions who toil away in factories, big box retail, and accounting offices. None of these people do this for the love of the job. They do it because it needs to be done and they get paid for it. I wouldn't be so critical of your feelings but you whine about how society didn't let you do what you want to do on your terms. Change your circumstances. No one is just given…

Some of those people make just as much money as I do once you factor in the fact that they don't pay a huge chunk of it to student loans.

Step-father-in-law is a truck driver, makes only slightly less than money than me.

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#86

Post by tomreece » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 4:24 AM UTC

staunch wrote: post #38

If programmers made twice as much money, it would be such a great job. And yet salaries have been relatively flat for over a decade (adjusted for inflation). Something is wrong that salaries never seem to rise with demand in Silicon Valley. We know there was a secret deal to help suppress wages at one point, but it's not obvious why it's been so successful. Is it new graduates, immigration abuse, internationalization…

I don't want more money. I want to be happy.

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#87

Post by tomreece » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 4:28 AM UTC

Mithaldu wrote: post #22

> I want to get away from coding for you and code for me. > I don't like coding for you. I don't think any of us do. I'm sorry you haven't found anything to like and be excited by, but i assure you it is out there. I personally have never worked in a company with much process, so i haven't experienced that kind of hell. But do keep in mind, there's also another kind of hell: Where everybody is a cowboy coder and walk…

Thanks for the advice. My first job was full stack Java backend (SpringMVC) and jQuery hell front end. Second was full stack, Python backend, AngularJS front end. My new job is writing Protractor tests for multiple AngularJS applications.

I enjoy writing Python. Javascript isn't that thrilling to me. Not super excited by the countless FooJS libraries and Promises and async everything. In Protractor if I want to get the text of an element in the DOM, that's a promise. I mean come on? .getText() should not return a promise. I'm not a Javascript expert, so this will sound whiney-ish, but I think Promise hell is a thing just like Callback hell is.

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#88

Post by tomreece » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 4:33 AM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #50

danso wrote: post #30

Hey, kudos for thinking this: > And then I want to get away from coding for you and code for me. I don't like coding for you. I don't think any of us do. Too many people think of coding as only a career...thus, we shouldn't teach coding to non-comsci-majors because not everyone should be a programmer as a job. Programming is an intellectual and productive pursuit in it of itself, and there is a huge difference betwee…

That said, I've met a few developers where it's just their job. They aren't passionate about code they way I am- their passions lie elsewhere, and that's fine. Being passionate about software development can help you be a better developer- but it's not a prerequisite by any means.

I often feel like I'm surrounded by programmers who just come to work every day, write as much good enough code that they can, and then go home. They seem really happy. I want to be like them. But my care gets in the way. My desire to question why we do things the way we do only to be told "that's just how it is" is difficult to hear and only frustrates me further. The happy people around me don't seem to ask questions, they just do.

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#89

Post by tomreece » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 4:34 AM UTC

sdenton4 wrote: post #29

'One says to me, "I wonder that you do not lay up money; you love to travel; you might take the cars and go to Fitchburg today and see the country." But I am wiser than that. I have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot. I say to my friend, Suppose we try who will get there first. The distance is thirty miles; the fare ninety cents. That is almost a day's wages. I remember when wages were sixty ce…

Excellent.

Re: Coding as a Career Isn't Right for Me

#90

Post by tomreece » Sat, Jan 30, 2016, 4:36 AM UTC

nstart wrote: post #60

I almost cried while reading this. During that job, I made and shared two side projects for the first time in my life. But the 9 to 5 hell was impossible to deal with. Fast forward to now, I'm remotely working with a company that pays me a great salary. I live in South East Asia and that means my savings are fantastic. Bonus is that the company is amazing. Dreamt of joining it since 2012. But I digress. Here's where…

Awesome story friend. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!