Ask HN: What was your biggest regret about learning programming?

Failing to RTFM in it's entirety, immediately after becoming familiar with the basics of any particular language. You might think you're saving some time by skipping over the tedium, but it ends up costing you.

No regrets, though I'm thinking maybe in a year or two I'll retire completely from programming and work on physical fitness instead. Perhaps find a job that doesn't involve programming. I will probably program as a hobby.

I know if I continue programming as my employment until I'm an old man without trying other pursuits, I will definitely regret it.

I'm 26, and I wrote my first line of code when I was 13 or 14 years old, and perhaps the only sub-fields of programming where I didn't dabble in substantially are assembly and prolog. These days I feel like, with programming, I've seen it all before. C, C++, Python, Objective-C, node.js, Lua, Lisp, Haskell, GPU computation, Django, REST API, React, Angular, Django, graphics programming, mobile apps, iOS, Android.

I've spent time with each of them, most of them in a hobby and commercial capacity and these days everything seems a bit too familiar. I know there's a lot of people who have way more expertise than I do, however, I think it would do me good to get some space. My body is giving me hints I can't continue in the same way I have for the past ten years - I feel my legs getting weaker by the day, random points of tingly pain in my finger tips that comes and goes. I find I really like looking at trees and feeling the wind in my face. I would love to do a lot less sitting and a lot more moving, as in quitting programming as employment completely, starting within 9 to 12 months.

Probably having the screen too close to his eyes. I know one problem for me is that my screens are just past the point where I can see without glasses, but it's probably not a good idea to use glasses when the screen is only a foot and a half away so I can relate to the parent. My room/desk setup also doesn't allow for me to rearrange this to make my screens closer to not need glasses. Guess I'll see how much this affects me in a few years lol

This probably isn't what you are looking for but I wish I never learned, or at least never decided it should be my career. A career writing software has a shelf life. Age discrimination is real, software engineer experience isn't valued like other professions. And yes, there are plenty of firms that will hire engineers over 40, the fact remains that there are vast numbers of employers that won't and once you hit the senior/principal engineer in 5-10 years, you plateau. The pay is ok, for now, but the downward pressure on salaries is palpable. Also, it's difficult to be told how well we are paid when a vast vast majority in the software mecca (SF) can't actually afford a single family home with a sane commute. Some people can afford those homes, but it's not the software engineers. The industry is filled with work that just isn't interesting and of the interesting work that exists it tends to go to those that are the most political. We like to think this profession is a meritocracy but it isn't. We are a managed people without a seat at the big boy table and this means we will never truly have the control over our "destiny" we think we have.

If I could do it over again, after graduating with a CS degree I would explore either going to Wall St to grind and retire after 5-10 years, go to a top 10 law school grind for 10 years and retire, go to medical school. Hell, I'd even just do a DO school in the carribean. Sure you get crapped on for your residency, but after that it only gets better and you don't have shelf life.

Don't get me wrong, I love purely writing software but as a career it's seen as low status work.

Given the choice between 10 years of work that isn't all that interesting followed by the rest of my life doing whatever I want and 40 years of low status work I do find interesting and then the rest of my life doing whatever I want I know which option I'd choose, and I can see why some others would choose differently.