There's a certain sense of irony that we're all here disagreeing on a Saturday.
Hahahaha. Should we be coding, reading about code, or doing fun non work stuff? Voting for the latter. Thanks for the wake up!
Top developers can have a life outside coding
81–90 of 241 posts
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> And little baby sleeps like 16 hours a day. That will end soon :)
No doubt. My wife and I are fostering twin 2 yr olds. There's no way I could code with them both here. Adorable, but in to everything. :)
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the same time, programming isn't some noble rigorous science. Computer science is. Most jobs require slapjack programming. Physics, mathematics, chemistry, those jobs could benefit from the employee having an academic interest. But your 10 year+ experienced programmer is not going to benefit from having a "blazing passion." The best they'll do is learn how to use a new framework to make the code less arduous - the…
>> it's more experience than anything. I don't buy this at all. I have encountered hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who have a very large amount of experience but really can't be said to be any good at their job. Experience is important in making a great programmer but experience does not make a great programmer. And equally I know great programmers who are very experienced who do themselves a great disservice b…
The field isn't rapidly evolving. It's about cramming new pointless APIs and frameworks that are pushed by $company in order to dominate some market segment.
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#84A lot of comments are bringing up top athletes as a counterexample, which leads me to believe they don't understand what a high-level training regimen is actually like. I have a relatively unique persepective on this[1], so I thought I'd clarify a few things. Any sport is both mentally and physically exhausting, and it only gets more strenuous as you reach the higher levels. Nobody can keep this up all day, every day…
OT: Have you read Infinite Jest? I'm wondering how much of the life described in that tennis academy reflects reality.
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#85I 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…
I'm from Romania, Europe. Don't know what a "top developer" is, but I'm not unemployed, I'm not a student, I have a wife and a son and I'm not low income, in fact being paid at least 4x the national average for software developers, my salary being on equal footing with the US, not the Bay Area mind you, but given the high cost of life there, my income is higher relative to where I live. And I also contribute open sou…
> I'm not low income, in fact being paid at least 4x the national average for software developers
Out of curiosity, what is the average salary for software developers in Romania?
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#86A lot of comments are bringing up top athletes as a counterexample, which leads me to believe they don't understand what a high-level training regimen is actually like. I have a relatively unique persepective on this[1], so I thought I'd clarify a few things. Any sport is both mentally and physically exhausting, and it only gets more strenuous as you reach the higher levels. Nobody can keep this up all day, every day…
OT: Have you read Infinite Jest? I'm wondering how much of the life described in that tennis academy reflects reality.
I haven't, but it's now next on my reading list; thanks for pointing it out.
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> it's more experience than anything. I don't buy this at all. I have encountered hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who have a very large amount of experience but really can't be said to be any good at their job. Experience is important in making a great programmer but experience does not make a great programmer. And equally I know great programmers who are very experienced who do themselves a great disservice b…
The field isn't rapidly evolving. It's about cramming new pointless APIs and frameworks that are pushed by $company in order to dominate some market segment.
Not evolving? Maybe you're just not learning enough to know what the newest evolutions are. Are you one of the people who see new technology as pointless fashion?
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#88This article is a bit lopsided. I work for 8 hours and I work on open source projects when I have the time. This means that it is no more than 5-6 hours per week on average. I don't feel that I don't have a life after spending a Saturday morning with some OSS contribution. Life is not black and white. If you contribute or have your own projects you don't have to work on them all day. Several hours per week will quickly add up! The same stands for education. I am very concerned by work-life balance and few hours per week is not much. I can also read about the trends or some tech book when I travel or commute.
Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#89Re: Top developers can have a life outside coding
#90There's a certain sense of irony that we're all here disagreeing on a Saturday.
I'm actually having a break while working on my OSS project. I will spend 2 more hours for a total of 5. And this is all I did this week. Not so hard, right?