Something many businesses seem to forget is that if you want a developer to be the technical face of your business then they need to be able to write great code, but they also need to be able to chat to people at networking events, make small talk with clients, explain things in non-technical ways to investors, and so on. Employing people who have interests outside of coding really helps with that. Likewise, if you'r…
Top developers can have a life outside coding
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Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#32I disagree. If you want to be the best and be highly successful, then you have to work hard. If you don't, someone else will. There are plenty of companies and positions where you can have a great work/life balance, but if you want to be the best, just as in everything else in life, you have to work harder than everybody else.
I take great pride in the quality of my work. That's exactly why I stop working when I go home. That's why I demand an excellent work-life balance from my employers. If what being "the best" gets you is no life outside of work, then I'd rather be bad at my craft and retain the ability to pursue multiple interests.
But for me, it's not about actually having a life. It's about having time for my own side projects, because I want to grow both professionally (where the project may have code that I can't talk about) and personally (where I can completely gush about everything that I've done).
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#33Something many businesses seem to forget is that if you want a developer to be the technical face of your business then they need to be able to write great code, but they also need to be able to chat to people at networking events, make small talk with clients, explain things in non-technical ways to investors, and so on. Employing people who have interests outside of coding really helps with that. Likewise, if you'r…
You are referring to a spokesman or entrepeneur. A good developer is not necessarily those.
That's what he's saying
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#34I disagree. If you want to be the best and be highly successful, then you have to work hard. If you don't, someone else will. There are plenty of companies and positions where you can have a great work/life balance, but if you want to be the best, just as in everything else in life, you have to work harder than everybody else.
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#35I propose the Daenerys Targaryen test. If you know who Daenerys Targaryen is, you do not have "no time." You have priorities which included "I wish to know who Daenerys Targaryen is." No judgement! I do, too! But if you know who Daenerys Targaryen is and you're dissatisfied with your career growth, you should attempt to consciously be aware of the fact that you can choose different things in the future. It takes minu…
I'm only 27, but I don't believe this. I know just enough to know I don't know anything deeply. Does the internet need another github page regurgitating the same stuff as everyone else?
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#36The people who are working, be it white collar "tech" employee or manufacturing/service worker are those either who are forced to do so because they will starve if they don't, or, in our industry (and perhaps social/medial work), the monastic types who write Free Software (or similar) because it is the morally correct thing to do. To say that it's because they are white or young or male (or even that this kind or service is a privilege and not a moral imperative) is the kind of misguided, thinly-veiled class erasure that the predominant strain of big-C Capitalism is currently benefiting from.
Don't let people stereotype you. If you want improve your standing in the labour market, ORGANIZE, don't stereotype. Neoliberal capitalists are taking advantage of young people and poor people. Don't let them! If we play our cards right, they won't for much longer anyway! But please keep in mind that this kind of "ingroup/outgroup" mentality is a divisive thought pattern that deliberately works to their advantage! It has become common and tedious for a deliberate reason!
Your heart is in the right place. All workplaces mistreat you. Blame your bosses, not your co-workers!
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#37You're looking at this entirely the wrong way. You shouldn't expect your employer to spend thousands paying to train you. If you need those skills, or if they'd be useful to you, then it's in your best interests to learn them. Perhaps things are different if you're digging holes for a living but IT is currently about constant change and if you don't keep up then you're not as much use as people who do.
Your employer doesn't care how you earn your living, and they don't care who does their work for them. They just want it done. If someone else can do it better than you, you're out.
Frankly, though, you should want to keep up. If I were interviewing I'd be more interested in someone who was interested in development, not someone who's going to want to just sit there and wait for a personal, pre-paid invite to an overpriced training course.
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#38You can be hired into a position in an arbitrary hierarchy by having a life outside of coding. You can be popular while having a life outside of coding, or have something you wrote become popular. If that's what you mean by "top developer", then yes, I completely agree. If you mean "the skill of actually programming", then no, that's absurd. Would you tell someone they can be a "top sports player", if they have a lif…
I've been living at a tennis academy for the past two months, and I've seen firsthand what's expected of the top players. To keep up the necessary training intensity, regular recovery periods away from tennis are built into their schedule.
In other words, having a life outside the sport is not only possible, but necessary for top performance.
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#39I think this article is detached from reality. Most people who contribute to OS are on low income, unemployed or students. Top developers in banks and startups dont have time for that, or are forbidden by their company. Being "top developer" is one of the most family friendly jobs that ever existed. You can work remotely at your own time. I quit cubicle and started working on opensource because I had family. > you mi…
Do you have little kids? If yes, how many hours can you cut off daily without feeling bad for not spending time with them?
It has some trade-offs, we dont have a car or macbooks, but it works just fine.
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have little kids? If yes, how many hours can you cut off daily without feeling bad for not spending time with them?
All hours? Sometimes I code with a baby on my lap. They are in next room when I take break. And little baby sleeps like 16 hours a day. It has some trade-offs, we dont have a car or macbooks, but it works just fine.
That will end soon :)