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Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

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Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#51

Post by matthewking »

clistctrl wrote: post #15

I have this ambition to move into the middle of a forest some where. I'd love to spend my day tending to a garden, and maybe a few animals supporting myself. To live life the way it used to be. At night i'd hack on code again, or actually spend time with my girlfriend (maybe wife?). At least in that case if I worked 70 hours a week, I personally would receive the value from 70 hours of work. Right now I'm just gettin…

You'd probably find this quite interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#52

Post by jfornear »

etaque wrote: post #26

One friend of mine did the same, here in France: high level degree, but only one year working in front of a desk. He totally switched to a sailing instructor job. As a computer engineer and sailor, that's really appealing me, but my skin wouldn't bear it. I know he's 100% living during the day, I know I'm making mouldy on my chair...

I can relate 100%. I have a good friend who quit his desk job in finance to go to Marine OCS. He runs around in the woods, climbs on mountains, and sleeps on the ground everyday. This might be dumb, but I feel like he's already done more with his life than I ever will.

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#53

Post by blackguardx »

bmj wrote: post #32
clistctrl wrote: post #15

I have this ambition to move into the middle of a forest some where. I'd love to spend my day tending to a garden, and maybe a few animals supporting myself. To live life the way it used to be. At night i'd hack on code again, or actually spend time with my girlfriend (maybe wife?). At least in that case if I worked 70 hours a week, I personally would receive the value from 70 hours of work. Right now I'm just gettin…

It is is entirely possible to work in the software industry, on interesting projects, without living this way. I average about 45 hours a week, with no more than 35 from the office. I ride my bike to and from the office, spend most weekends outside either climbing or riding my bike, and spend the warmer evenings with my family in the backyard. Oh, and I just got back from a one month road trip. Certainly, I've put in…

Where do you climb?

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#54

Post by bmj »

blackguardx wrote: post #53
bmj wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is is entirely possible to work in the software industry, on interesting projects, without living this way. I average about 45 hours a week, with no more than 35 from the office. I ride my bike to and from the office, spend most weekends outside either climbing or riding my bike, and spend the warmer evenings with my family in the backyard. Oh, and I just got back from a one month road trip. Certainly, I've put in…

Where do you climb?

We live in Pittsburgh, so primarily at the New River Gorge and Coopers Rock. We'll take several trip to the Red River Gorge, too, and we just returned from three weeks at Hueco Tanks.

Yourself?

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#55

Post by thefool »

krschultz wrote: post #22
thefool wrote: post #16

The only problem I have with this is that he left a job where he had the potential to make a net positive change in the world to one where he is a tool in destroying the environment. Sure personally he feels less obligation, but it just seems like eventually that will catch up with him, i know it would to me... especially for someone who professes to love the outdoors, and then contributes to its destruction. The mot…

I'm not sure if I agree with that assesement. Considering that the lumber industry gets the bulk of their wood from farms and tracts that are continusouly replanted, they aren't cutting down old growth forests like "the old says". Compared to aluminum or steel, wood frame construction is fairly renewable and to be encouraged. Google is creating new products and services that increase demand for energy. Everything the…

Thats a good point. It'd be interesting to see someone do the calculations to see how the energy levels required for building and running electronics (in addition to the destruction of areas that possess various necessary minerals) compares with the amount of energy required to do stuff manually.

The argument about wood as a good renewable building material is a good one, however, not getting the "bulk" and not getting most are two completely different things, and the world really needs to get on a renewable system fast.

Also, while in a lot of places you will find reference to there being zero net change in the amount of trees being cut down, the fact of the matter is that a lot of old growth forest is still being destroyed.

This reasonable looking article: http://ecology.com/features/paperchase/, says that 9% of wood for paper is taken from old growth forests.

Here is another place that lays it out in a graph: http://www.greenfacts.org/en/forests/figtableboxes/figure-2-.... http://www.greenfacts.org/en/forests/.

After reading the IAMA more closely, I think that I was wrong in my initial assessment of him, he is doing it because he want the exercise, and is still participating in more "real" projects on the side in a less stressful setting, which is cool. My real point was that it would be really easy to do something like this, thinking that it would be great, and then realizing some time later that you were part of something that you really didn't like on principle.

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#56

Post by jemfinch »

yason wrote: post #13
thaumaturgy wrote: post #8

I have a story to share: I started programming computers when I was very young. Because of the skills I developed, and because of some connections I had, I got a very high paying job in the data processing department of the Livermore School District while I was still a junior in high school. (I was on independent study at the time.) I literally made more money than I knew what to do with, unfortunately. A couple of y…

The value of a programmer is not in what he has learned but in that he can learn fast.

The latter typically depends in significant degree on the former.

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#57

Post by dunstad »

exit wrote: post #48
stinkytaco wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds good, but I worked hard enough to get a job in my field that pays me enough to live comfortably and have a good college savings plan for my daughter. What advice for those of us who did not have outstanding early success, good savings and obviously immense talent?

why would you bring life into this world without having absolutely everything in order?

Can someone provide a rationale for the downvotes? While I feel there's a decent one, I'm unable to articulate it.

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#58

Post by eitally »

dunstad wrote: post #57
exit wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why would you bring life into this world without having absolutely everything in order?

Can someone provide a rationale for the downvotes? While I feel there's a decent one, I'm unable to articulate it.

Because until you have children, you may think you have all your affairs in order, but once that baby comes, everything is out the window. The down votes are almost certainly from parents.

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#59

Post by jacquesm »

exit wrote: post #47
thaumaturgy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea who he is, and a quick Googling didn't help much.

he's a ceo type who attacked "job hoppers" as the worst kind of employees / "never hire them". this ties into the incident with calacanis labeling a gen-y ex-employee who had the audacity to quit his job a "flake"/"trophy kid". i genuinely hate suster and calacanis. they're a big part of what makes me want to leave this fucking industry. http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/04/22/never-hire-job...

So stop reading them. That's the easiest way out, you get some time back that you can use in more productive ways too, and you lose absolutely nothing.

Re: Reddit IAMA. An ex Google programmer switched to a job in the lumbering industry

#60

Post by jacquesm »

exit wrote: post #48
stinkytaco wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds good, but I worked hard enough to get a job in my field that pays me enough to live comfortably and have a good college savings plan for my daughter. What advice for those of us who did not have outstanding early success, good savings and obviously immense talent?

why would you bring life into this world without having absolutely everything in order?

That reminds me of the opening scene of 'idiocracy'.

I didn't downvote you, but I think that there is something missing here. Nobody that has ever brought a child in to the world had absolutely everything in order. And even if they thought they did they would have soon found out that it was not the case.

Then there is the period (pun not intended) between conception and delivery, in which a lot can change.

Waiting for the 'perfect time' is the best way to guarantee that you will never have children, there never is a perfect time, there will always be one more thing to fix.

Instead, if you want children, go for it while you are young, adaptable and have tons of energy. Worry about fixing problems if and when they appear. Try to do the best you possibly can and if you fail at something try to do it gracefully.

That is not a call to go and procreate if you for instance are not able to feed your kids or take care of them, but let's not overdo it on the having everything in order, that's a complete illusion.

My parents had 'everything in order' when they got me and my sister, fast forward 6 years and they had a very messy divorce, there are countless examples like that. And there are plenty of counterexamples too, of people that had a pretty tough life, decided to have children and simply did an amazing job of creating a place for them in the world.

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