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My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

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Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#51

Post by labster »

studentrob wrote: post #44
Zelmor wrote: post #24

He would have been unhappy with the other choice as well, because then it is the programming side he would be missing out on. I would advise everyone to read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536 You chose one option out of many, and the others may no longer be a possibility. However, the writer's unhappiness does not spawn from his inability to be successful at what he does,…

OP referenced the poem at the end. > I came to a fork in the road and took the one less traveled. Perhaps now I realize why. He seems to disagree with Frost that the road less traveled is the one worth taking, judging from the title and overall tone of the post.

The roads are equally travelled; Frost says that at the beginning of the poem. Life is a process of narrowing possibilities, and looking back at a particular decision doesn't have a lot of meaning.

But everyone get it wrong: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10071717

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#52

Post by henrik_w »

dcw303 wrote: post #38
Zelmor wrote: post #24

He would have been unhappy with the other choice as well, because then it is the programming side he would be missing out on. I would advise everyone to read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536 You chose one option out of many, and the others may no longer be a possibility. However, the writer's unhappiness does not spawn from his inability to be successful at what he does,…

I'm still coding after almost 20 years in the job, and have no intention of stopping. I tried some other options - teacher, artist, entrepreneur. None of them give me the thrill that I get from programming. I still get locked into a flow where time shifts, and before I know it hours have passed. The only other activity that does that is Civ, and no-one is going to pay me to play that ;) If 10x assets is what drives y…

So true!

I've been programming professionally for 25 years, still love it! http://henrikwarne.com/2012/06/02/why-i-love-coding/

Also, it's easy to forget that being a SW developer today has a lot going for it - especially the demand. At least here in Stockholm, if you are good at what you do, you can pick and chose where to work. So no reason to stay at a place where you are not happy. http://henrikwarne.com/2014/12/08/5-reasons-why-software-dev...

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#53

Post by rheeseyb »

owenwil wrote: post #10

I'm curious what the path is to move from developer into a CTO/VP/Product Lead type role, for anyone here who has made the jump from nuts and bolts. How did you go about it? Did it just happen, or did you actively need to push for it? Would love to hear more from someone experienced, because from where I sit, it's hard to figure out how to jump that divide.

One possible path is to push for a senior developer role and then afterwards a tech lead (or similar) role (perhaps not at the same firm). That will then open up CTO or dev manager roles in startups. It won't "just happen" - it will require a whole load of work on your behalf (you'll need to learn your way around a broad selection of technologies rather than focussing on mastering one language and one platform, as well as learn a number of managerial skills including effective communication, negotiation etc.). Good luck! Disclaimer: I'm not a CTO but have been offered a number of CTO and dev manager roles at startups and small companies.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#54

Post by zelos »

iopq wrote: post #11
jareds wrote: post #2

If you can't retire comfortably as a programmer where was all your salary going? I enjoy programming, but also realize I'm limited in how much I will make. I'm ok with knowing I won't own a 5000 square foot house or buy the newest laptop every two years because I'm putting money away for retirement.

Buying the newest laptop every two years is what like $2000 every two years? That's only $1000 per year, hardly a dent in a programmer's salary.

When you factor in kids, mortgage, pension, car, travel costs etc, it probably ends up being a bigger dent than you'd think for a lot of programmers.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#55

Post by dakics »

Swizec wrote: post #25
Swinx43 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind me asking where most of their clients are located as well as themselves?

Exactly what ddorian43 said. My particular friends (and me of old) are located in Slovenia, clients are in San Francisco. You can have a decent life in Slovenia for $20k/year. You can easily get a gig in San Francisco for $60k/year. Probably even easier for $100k/year because of the whole signaling thing. I wasn't able to save as much as my friends are because of lifestyle inflation, but I sure had a lot of fun. My m…

$48k/y gig for US client converts in less than 2000 eur/month net with some creative book-keeping.

Rent and utilities in Ljubljana cost us about 800 eur. What is left is maybe enough for one person, who will never own any property.

$20k/y is close to a welfare level in Slovenia, except maybe in countryside.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#56

Post by forgottenacc56 »

rajeemcariazo wrote: post #41
askyourmother wrote: post #37

Regrets as a programmer: 1. Every piece of unpolished, unfinished code that management decided should ship to the customers regardless 2. Ever using node and npm. 3. Seeing and living through the train wreck of J2EE and the XML horrors that ensued. 4. Not seeing the beauty in simple functions early on. Not everything needs to be a class or module. 5. Most business problems are political/social - regret every time we…

could you elaborate more about using node and npm

I used to hate npm with the burning heat of a thousand supernovas. I think maybe they changed the way it works because now it tends to work instead of assaulting you viciously with a massive cascade of dependency errors every time you try to install a package.

Until recently it was quite the absolute worst experience of software ever for me and I used DOS and Windows 1.0.

Every time I realized I had to use npm I would be filled with deep dread and the knowledge that I was about to have my time burned in a bonfire of errors, confusion and complexity.

Someone needs to make a sincere apology for npm.

Why has it not bothered me lately? Either it has been improved or I am using it differently somehow.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#57

Post by romanovcode »

rajeemcariazo wrote: post #41
askyourmother wrote: post #37

Regrets as a programmer: 1. Every piece of unpolished, unfinished code that management decided should ship to the customers regardless 2. Ever using node and npm. 3. Seeing and living through the train wreck of J2EE and the XML horrors that ensued. 4. Not seeing the beauty in simple functions early on. Not everything needs to be a class or module. 5. Most business problems are political/social - regret every time we…

could you elaborate more about using node and npm

Javascript was designed so that clown on your website moves when you click on it.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#59

Post by studentrob »

labster wrote: post #51
studentrob wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP referenced the poem at the end. > I came to a fork in the road and took the one less traveled. Perhaps now I realize why. He seems to disagree with Frost that the road less traveled is the one worth taking, judging from the title and overall tone of the post.

The roads are equally travelled; Frost says that at the beginning of the poem. Life is a process of narrowing possibilities, and looking back at a particular decision doesn't have a lot of meaning. But everyone get it wrong: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10071717

I guess we all have our own takeaways. What in your view is meant by the last lines?

> I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#60

Post by Swizec »

dakics wrote: post #55
Swizec wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly what ddorian43 said. My particular friends (and me of old) are located in Slovenia, clients are in San Francisco. You can have a decent life in Slovenia for $20k/year. You can easily get a gig in San Francisco for $60k/year. Probably even easier for $100k/year because of the whole signaling thing. I wasn't able to save as much as my friends are because of lifestyle inflation, but I sure had a lot of fun. My m…

$48k/y gig for US client converts in less than 2000 eur/month net with some creative book-keeping. Rent and utilities in Ljubljana cost us about 800 eur. What is left is maybe enough for one person, who will never own any property. $20k/y is close to a welfare level in Slovenia, except maybe in countryside.

These are specifics and probably not interesting to the rest of HN.

BUT, you can open a sole proprietorship, fill out some forms, and voila: you pay 4% taxes. After all the healthcare and stuff, you end up with 1068 euro net on a $20k (17k eur) yearly revenue.

At $48k/year, you get 3040 euro/month net. Now you're getting paid almost as much as the president. Your taxes will go up a bit next year, so save up, but for the first year you have plenty of extra money in the bank that you can leverage for making even more money.

And if you target San Francisco, you're competing with people who are asking for $130k+/year.

;)

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