hand-made board games
interesting choice!
Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
81–90 of 570 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#82I think about law school or an MBA at least once a week. The opportunity cost is extremely high though. It's pretty hard leaving six figures of income in a low cost of living (and the grass is always greener I'm sure).
Did the MBA thing, didn't manage to land an MBA job so I'm back in tech, six figures poorer. It's not a slam dunk by any means, and yes the opportunity cost stings as much as the sticker price.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#83Programming is a creative art, and when I say that to my non-programmer friends, they laugh it off, but if you think about it, it is true.
Just like artists, the programmers, coders, developers all design and create new things that didn't exist before, and no 2 programs or applications or completely functioning code will be identical for anything other than a fizzbuzz type test.
So it is natural for the creatives to experience burnout and falsely interpret that as having lost interest in our craft / art. I went through this too at a fairly young stage in my career as I had accomplished a lot in 5 short years. I had the pedigree and training -- internship at Magnum Photos in New York -- so I tried being a War photographer like my Grandpa and traveled to Iraq in 2008. 1 week in there and I came running back. It was a fairly freaky experience.
You think you are there to document something big and consequential to the world and initially it is exhilarating leaving the cube and CRUD applications, but all it is for most part is an online newspaper or blog paying you a few $ per shot. Totally not work the risk. Plus the Radical Islamic Jihadis (ISIS) crossed a new line and started kidnapping and beheading journalists.
I also realized I didn't truly have the stomach for it. Imagine actually being on the scene at 1 of these photographs, and having the courage to shoot, only to find out the media (AP, Reuters) won't publish it. => http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/the... ( When Kenneth Jarecke photographed an Iraqi man burned alive, he thought it would change the way Americans saw the Gulf War. But the media wouldn’t run the picture.)
Like someone else has stated here, we have it really cushy indeed. So don't get used to it and "itch" for something else. Just work on your side-projects, or learn a new language, or simply stop by to smell the roses and live a little.
Your passion will soon come gushing back and you'll start to wonder why you ever thought of leaving this creative, immensely satisfying craft in the 1st place!
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#84I took a year off in my 20's for spiritual pursuits and volunteer work. Best thing I ever did, it wasn't well planned and on a shoestring. If I could do over I would have done the finances differently. I cam back to software, but with a much different outlook and world view.
Interesting, could you share how your views have changed after this experience please?
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#85Yes, mathematics. After studying computer science problems for a while I fell in love with math.
oh yeah! Thats a vortex you cannot escape!
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#86my thoughts of other work are often fanciful, I keep thinking cancer cures are taking too long and I'm sure my debugging experience would sort that field out. Nuclear Fusion power reactors are taking far too long to sort out, and I'd kind of like to get stuck into that problem.
Then I sometimes wish I was a full time philosopher.
Other times when I've moved between countries and thought I'd take a break from programming to refresh myself.... I end up thinking about ideas around coding and end up coding anyways. So I think I'm a lifer. Not quite sure what role I'll take if there is a zombie apocalypse though, however I have played through a lot of computer simulations of such events and I seem to be a kick ass warrior
... as I said, fanciful ideas of other jobs :)
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#87my thoughts of other work are often fanciful, I keep thinking cancer cures are taking too long and I'm sure my debugging experience would sort that field out. Nuclear Fusion power reactors are taking far too long to sort out, and I'd kind of like to get stuck into that problem.
Then I sometimes wish I was a full time philosopher.
Other times when I've moved between countries and thought I'd take a break from programming to refresh myself.... I end up thinking about ideas around coding and end up coding anyways. So I think I'm a lifer. Not quite sure what role I'll take if there is a zombie apocalypse though, however I have played through a lot of computer simulations of such events and I seem to be a kick ass warrior
... as I said, fanciful ideas of other jobs :)
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#88I'm an electrical engineer via a nontraditional path. Like software dev, it still involves large swaths of time spent staring at screens while inside a box. I've been mulling over the possibility of some kind of work that would be more conducive to my long term sanity. My imagination has me developing and deploying instrumentation for environmental science. 1/3rd screen time 1/3rd workshop, 1/3rd fielding instruments…
Sounds a bit like my story, although I suspect I'm a bit older. I wanted to bail for several years and then one of the recessions led to my department being downsized. Took the opportunity to move abroad. Missed some of the tech work but having a hardware background made it hard to do much where I live. Then with the rise of MOOCs I was able to pick up software skills and do some projects. And now with so much cheap hardware and components coming out of China with free shipping to my location I can do all manner of hardware + software projects. Currently into creating robotics projects for young kids.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#89I love programming. Even if I still had to use Perl I still wouldn't give it up.
Admittedly that's because I like Perl, but I also freely admit I'm more productive with full-stack JavaScript.
That said, I wouldn't mind writing about programming, but I can't afford to stop my day job.
I'd love to write an ebook on JavaScript, a spiritual successor to Marijn Haverbeke's Eloquent JavaScript but using ES6/ES7.
Maybe also a book effectively about making your own JavaScript framework — beginning as a way to build a simple website or MVP without jumping on a framework bandwagon. The book would later develop into a cautionary tale, warning against reinventing existing frameworks like Angular or Ember. All culminating in a sober recommendation to choose vanilla JavaScript and direct DOM manipulation for simple websites and MVPs; later upgrading to React and Redux for a large-scale, client-side applications, esp. if a team is involved.
I'd also like to write an ebook about CSS and how to use it effectively — not as in "pure CSS solution to problem x which is actually in JavaScript's domain" rather "CSS doesn't work like that, it works like this, see?"
Maybe also a series of primers: CORS, React, ES6, CSS, 60fps animation/UI on the web, web accessibility...
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#90I would do what I love, which is playing the piano and writing about cultural and political things