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Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#241

Post by SFJulie »

I had a lot of fun being a mover: just be at embauche at 7:00am, no BS required, no love of the job, being outside, seeing awesome landscapes ... being tired at the end of the day, with your job let behind and able to enjoy a simple life.

It was a simple life, but fun. And now season is over. So I look for a job in the IT.

It really changed my life.

I also learned doing bread, alcohol (wines and ciders), playing more music, and did some gardening, illegal picking of (common) plants in the wild ... brawling (movers are no angels) and winning. I grew a spine and a pair of balls.

Don't be scared, life out of programming is quite awesome.

In fact, life is amazing as long you don't feel like in a jail that sometimes is only in your head. I now live with my true colours ; I love to be dirty, mean and sweaty.

Raaah. It feels good to finally be yourself.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#242

Post by amelius »

cyberferret wrote: post #146
david927 wrote: post #114

I currently work in a good environment where I'm appreciated and paid well. Not many people in the world can say that, so I have a lot to be thankful for. Programming has done good by me. But I don't love it. Alan Kay is right, it's like building "an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves". There's no eleg…

> It's an Asperger profession; smart but artless. Sorry, but I would have to disagree with you on this. I've been programming now for over 35 years, and really cannot see myself doing anything else. I find I can channel my creativity into programming in many ways, and writing a good piece of code gives me the same satisfaction as writing or recording apiece of music. Yes, I am a musician too, and while they are very…

But at least those jobs don't have the stigma of being (in the words above) Asperger professions. This makes it difficult to share your problems with other people, and of course, also because people in general would, I suppose, find the problems that musicians or theatre writers have more interesting, and more approachable than the problems of a software developer.

Also, this makes that a musician can be a "musician" in normal life. He or she doesn't need to change their identity. Developer culture does not blend with the normal world, and as a developer I believe you really have to switch between two worlds. That can be tiring.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#243

Post by [deleted] »

mellett68 wrote: post #151

I think about it often, but I assume it's some kind of burnout. None of my hobbies would translate into even my current pay level. There's that nagging idea of the 'real programmer' who is getting paid big money to solve interesting problems. Almost certainly a myth but still a frustrating idea.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#244

Post by tehwalrus »

tantivy wrote: post #170
SyneRyder wrote: post #68

I'm mostly happy with programming, but I often think I'd like to try working in a coffee shop, especially a Starbucks. I spend so much time in cafes as a customer, and I really appreciate the difference that a barista's smile or greeting can make to my day. I'm curious to experience that from the other side for a while. I also read books about retail businesses & brands & Starbucks & customer experience for enjoyment…

Barista-turned-programmer here. I was fond of it much of the time, and it was a good experience for me, and I think you would also like it based on what you've written. But keep in mind what you often don't notice from the outside is a lot of standard bullshit like mopping floors, keeping composure toward rude customers, worrying about food-handling/health provisions, etc. And, of many differences between the occupat…

I quite enjoyed working at Starbucks as a teenager, because it gave me a cool that a nerd like me hadn't had before.

Careful about the drudge work though (especially cleaning floors/toilets at the end of the day), and if you're not used to spending all day on your feet you'll feel pretty sore at the end of the first few days!

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#245

Post by tehwalrus »

cycomachead wrote: post #204
SyneRyder wrote: post #68

I'm mostly happy with programming, but I often think I'd like to try working in a coffee shop, especially a Starbucks. I spend so much time in cafes as a customer, and I really appreciate the difference that a barista's smile or greeting can make to my day. I'm curious to experience that from the other side for a while. I also read books about retail businesses & brands & Starbucks & customer experience for enjoyment…

Apparently, there are quite a few of us who enjoy the idea of a coffee shop. I doubt I'll ever do it, but a year ago, I did a cost analysis spreadsheet of opening my own shop, but now a coffee cart seems like a fun side project. :)

I want to start a math-cafe, where the loyalty cards are replaced by puzzles (you solve today's puzzle, tomorrow's coffee is free.)

They have such high margins on individual drinks (and people will totally buy a pastry if the coffee is free) that this shouldn't cost too much. Plus you can always make the puzzles harder, or have 2 or 3 easyish ones and then graduate people onto harder ones that they'll take a few days to solve.

You can imagine how to decorate the place - blackboards for walls, encourage the customers to use them to practise the spare puzzles lying around today, etc...

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#246

Post by expertentipp »

david927 wrote: post #114

I currently work in a good environment where I'm appreciated and paid well. Not many people in the world can say that, so I have a lot to be thankful for. Programming has done good by me. But I don't love it. Alan Kay is right, it's like building "an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves". There's no eleg…

> "an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves"

True for outsourced departments of big corporations (Java chicken farms). Not everywhere creating the software is at this stage of development though. There are many creative and agile (not necessary "Agile") businesses and places where creating the software evolved. They are at the stage of XIXth century civil engineering - a lot is being built, plenty of experimenting, people are getting hurt, and most of it collapses. Only couple of magnificent monuments will survive but the rest will be discarded.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#247

Post by perlpimp »

cyberferret wrote: post #146
david927 wrote: post #114

I currently work in a good environment where I'm appreciated and paid well. Not many people in the world can say that, so I have a lot to be thankful for. Programming has done good by me. But I don't love it. Alan Kay is right, it's like building "an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves". There's no eleg…

> It's an Asperger profession; smart but artless. Sorry, but I would have to disagree with you on this. I've been programming now for over 35 years, and really cannot see myself doing anything else. I find I can channel my creativity into programming in many ways, and writing a good piece of code gives me the same satisfaction as writing or recording apiece of music. Yes, I am a musician too, and while they are very…

remark on a tangent - before siting down to a bunch of tasks I ask myself how I can make this funny/creative, how is it hilarious and how interesting can this be made. suddenly perspective changes.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#248

Post by jventura »

Aitizazk wrote: post #126

Well the next best thing for me would be teaching programming. still couldnt forget the awesome feeling when I made a calculator in a cs101 course :D

That's what I'll be doing in two weeks.. I started my working career as a teacher, but didn't like it that much as I was teaching smaller kids learning MS Word, Excel and similar tools. Eventually I worked as researcher, finished a PhD and start working as web developer.

But doing crud apps all day got boring pretty fast, and I think my current expertise on web and mobile development will be great for my classes as I'll be teaching older students (MAster's degree). Since I have some freedom on the way I get to teach those students, I'm really looking forward to be really practical (teach them over the command line, etc.), instead of being highly theoretical.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#249

Post by a1studmuffin »

david927 wrote: post #114

I currently work in a good environment where I'm appreciated and paid well. Not many people in the world can say that, so I have a lot to be thankful for. Programming has done good by me. But I don't love it. Alan Kay is right, it's like building "an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves". There's no eleg…

> smart but artless

This depends entirely on what you're working on - programming is just a tool to make something after all. As an example, I'm a video game programmer who specializes in gameplay (characters, weapons, metagame, other mechanics), AI, and user experience. This means I'm also part game designer, so there is a ridiculous amount of creativity required for my role on a daily basis (which I absolutely adore). It's really nice not working to a hard spec, a lot of my job is trying different approaches and seeing what's fun.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#250

Post by pathsjs »

mpfundstein wrote: post #150
BucketSort wrote: post #54

Yes, mathematics. After studying computer science problems for a while I fell in love with math.

functional programming then? if you are into javascript, check fantasy-land

That has really little to do with mathematics...
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