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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?

#411

Post by sten »

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.

No worse than any other profession. Sure, most days I do more of the same, build reports for finance/corporate problems. It's rolling stones up a hill every morning, but that has nothing to do with programming itself. The issue you're describing is that you're working to haul someone else's stones. Fine, all well and good, pay is good. Wouldn't be any different if I was a musician or a painter... all they ever request is that I play Piano Man.

For me the art comes in doing it a different way each time. Maybe it's a function of my inexperience, I've only been doing this for a few years so far but the horizon seems so far away and there's so much to learn that I can't imagine getting bored anytime soon. Everything is amazing and I can't learn it all! In the meanwhile there's stuff to learn outside of tech. Like gardening or baking. Baking bread is a series of simple tricks (temperature of the yeast, bowl type, kneading techniques, etc.) that people do in order to produce an outcome (a certain crust or flavour). I'm struck often by how similar I find it to writing code.

Try rolling the stone with one hand tied behind your back.

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

#412

Post by pc86 »

crypt1d wrote: post #220
nf05papsjfVbc wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though I know that your intentions were harmless, I'd like to add that it's not a good idea to do such a lookup without a sound reason. At some places where I worked, I could have been fired for doing that unless I was looking to fix a bug and this particular bit of data was essential.

I'm going to assume that those companies u worked at had good intentions as well, but this seems like an unfounded fear. Unless u are working on a heavily confidential project that has a certain legal anonymity requirement (in which case the user's IP should be scrambled anyway), I don't see how doing a whois query could create any damage.

You should generally have a reason to do anything in production regardless of the confidentiality.

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

#413

Post by cloverich »

segmondy wrote: post #346

A bit too late, but if I could do it all over again, I would have gone into health care. I have lot's of friend in the industry. Ask them about their day, they just saved lives - heart surgery, brain surgery, trauma stabilization in ER, just saw a toddler through cancer treatment, and so on and so forth. What did I do? Oh, I wrote code.

I came the other way -- I quit medicine (completed Medical school then did not do residency) for programming. I very much enjoyed the material and rigor but the day-to-day work ultimately left me feeling extremely bored and depressed. What I found in the field was it was incredibly bureaucratic, inefficient, and quite frequently unprofessional feeling. Depending on the hospital, many patients were sick because they outright didn't take care of themselves. Surgery is much less precise than you'd imagine and depressingly impersonal. In the six week rotation I did in the pediatric ER, I saw extremely few cases where the treatment was actually urgent and made a difference (like I can count on one hand). I don't want to bash it too hard, because ultimately I just wasn't a good fit for it. It has its good parts and the social perception you get when you say "I'm a doctor" is real. But you are very much a cog and if you ever think you want to change (and you can, if you want) -- make sure you spend some real time shadowing the profession you think you'd go into.

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

#414

Post by pc86 »

asveikau wrote: post #380
Fifer82 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get over it man.

Is that ever a valid response to a disorder or illness? Cancer? Get over it man. Depression? Get over it man. This is not cool.

His comment was aimed at @iand, not at Asperger's.

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

#415

Post by ambicapter »

bsenftner wrote: post #384
clentaminator wrote: post #256

I think about leaving programming every day. I love programming, but I'm not sure I enjoy software development as a career. I enjoy coding and understanding how computer systems work, but I don't care for the constant changes in tools and techniques in certain domains of development. I'd rather practise with and improve my existing knowledge of a subject, instead of constantly playing catch-up with someone else's too…

Look for older development companies, where the developer staff is all over 40. The work tends to be in C/C++, you'll find none of the modern programming fashions (Agile, whatnot...) and they expect you to be a mature adult capable of self managing. They don't care how one works, as long as you own your work, can fix if issues or bugs are found, and can generally operate as a respectful peer to the other developers.…

> honest, hard work that includes machine learning, advanced math and stats, 3D and GPU programming, plus responsibility for the entire UI, software documentation, and support of your development

What kind of company is this?

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

#416

Post by bjornlouser »

jitix wrote: post #403

Back home in India I used to work for one of the big IT services company in a support/maintenance project. Due to the bureaucracy, lack of innovation and the general self-righteous attitude at the company I used to think that all software development jobs are like that. I wanted to get out of the entire industry once my two year bonded term was over. Once I left and ended up joining a small startup, I then realized t…

"I wanted to get out of the entire industry once my two year bonded term was over."

Can you give any details about the terms of the contract you signed? IT in India is not 'at-will'?

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

#417

Post by baccheion »

NobleLie wrote: post #279
baccheion wrote: post #156

Not really, but it could easily be the case that most programming jobs suck. That is, it was clear to me from a young age that programming was my favorite thing to do, but the mundane, backward, pointless, political, and/or stupid nature of most jobs can make things unbearable. My solution was to eventually either become a consultant/freelancer, or create my own startup. When I then realized that a tech lead (Staff S…

Would you mind explaining what you mean by targeted individual? Did you do something to attract someones attention in a really negative way? How did this come about through programming?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=targeted+indi...

Most end up saying I have some sort mental illness (Paranoid Schizophrenia, usually) and am imagining everything.

I'm not sure what was the cause of me being in this situation, but I had to deal with enough idiots and idiot managers along the way that I'm not entirely surprised.

Based on information available online, it seems TIs are usually whistleblowers, activists, minorities, LGBT, women, and/or people with good morals. They are also usually smart. That is, it seems to be something done to people out of jealousy/envy, or because they seemed like a threat.

At the end of the day I'm not sure what started it all, but I strongly suspect it was the idiot manager I had while at my first job out of school (the place was rated one of the 50 worst companies to work for by Glassdoor).

The puzzling thing was that the workplace harassment portion continued at the next job. I don't know how anyone would be dumb enough to keep it going like that.

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

#418

Post by rmdashrfroot »

bsenftner wrote: post #384
clentaminator wrote: post #256

I think about leaving programming every day. I love programming, but I'm not sure I enjoy software development as a career. I enjoy coding and understanding how computer systems work, but I don't care for the constant changes in tools and techniques in certain domains of development. I'd rather practise with and improve my existing knowledge of a subject, instead of constantly playing catch-up with someone else's too…

Look for older development companies, where the developer staff is all over 40. The work tends to be in C/C++, you'll find none of the modern programming fashions (Agile, whatnot...) and they expect you to be a mature adult capable of self managing. They don't care how one works, as long as you own your work, can fix if issues or bugs are found, and can generally operate as a respectful peer to the other developers.…

Do you have any examples of this type of company? I'm a sophomore CS student looking to work in Aerospace, and this type of company, where the work is done in a self driven manner and where the work matters, that I'd love to work for.

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

#419

Post by allsystemsgo »

JaumeGreen wrote: post #195

I left programming for dancing. I'd been working at the same job for about ten years, and I started to work on a different group that made the same product with a never technology. I hated that, I found it hard to work in that and I wasn't that productive. Also I had some burnout, some depression, and not much to look forward to... Except for dancing. I had begun some years prior and I became somewhat good, and I eve…

Hey, shameless plug but, my SO runs danceweekly.org. Check it out and let us know if you like it.

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

#420

Post by oftenwrong »

Yes. I love programming, but I really dislike how inactive I must be to work as a programmer. I don't like sitting/standing all day, and being chained to the computer. Short activity breaks, and workouts in the morning and evening don't cut it.

When I'm outdoors and active, I am so much happier. If I am on a multi-day outdoor trip to hike or rock climb, I feel like a completely different person. This is especially true on long trips that last more than a week. I have much less stress. I smile compulsively, instead of baring my usual strained expression. I have more energy. You might think at first that is simply because I am on vacation and I don't have to think about work obligations, but when I am on a normal (non-outdoor) type of vacation, I don't get the same feeling at all. I think it has more to do with the outdoor environment and physical activity.

I recently met someone who works as a park ranger, and I became envious of her job. I would love to patrol the woods all day as a ranger, or to be a mail carrier walking from house to house. I make much more money as a programmer, but "money cannot buy happiness", and I wonder often if I should change course.

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