Ask HN: Should I quit trying to be a programmer?

When I did a high school paper on functional hypoglycemia in the 1980s, at that time, the only known effective treatment was high dose vitamin therapy and a modified diet.

Studies suggest that children with issues like ADHD benefit more from certain supplements than from standard drug therapies.

Years ago when my now 31 year old son was 8, I found a vitamin therapy protocol on the internet for Aspie kids. He has never been formally diagnosed, but he reads as very Aspie. It was some B vitamins, magnesium and one other thing, I can't recall what the last item was. After a few months on it, his severe handwriting issues improved and he began comprehending social things better. To this day, when he makes me too crazy about certain things, the solution is to get more B vitamins into him -- though we no longer use supplements and the solution these days is beef. He gets a steak for dinner when he is making me apoplectic.

Magnesium helps with noise sensitivity. I frequently run fevers. Afterwards, I am often noise sensitive. At that point, I eat dark chocolate and cashews for their magnesium content.

Firsthand personal experience suggests that many neurological issues can be ameliorated with sufficient B vitamins, good quality salt and the right fats, including cholesterol, found in foods like eggs and bacon.

It all comes down to this. To get really good at this (or anything) requires such an investment in time, and for you to push through all the stops when things get really difficult or tiring.

I know many entrepreneurs have said this repeatedly, but it's something I've really only learnt in the last few years. It's better to find some way to make money doing what you love, than learn to love what will make you money.

I pivoted in my business to an area that made more money and I got a lot more clients. And I was also really good at that area. But as the work load grew, and more clients came on, I started struggling with motivation because I really didn't love the work. I started letting clients down because I just couldn't motivate myself to put in even more hours to really excel for the client. I struggled to find people to hire because the skills were so rare, and that's part of the reason why clients were paying so much. Even though the money was great, it didn't solve the problem of the lack of motivation. It was a real struggle to even get started, and then to continue to work, even with the money.

Now I'm lucky in that I do know what I love to do. But I still haven't found a way to make as much money doing that. But what I did do is scale back the paying work that I didn't love to make way for more of the work I did love. I think with experimentation and persistence I may be able to pivot and find an income stream doing what I love. But one thing is for sure. I am much happier and much more motivated. So I am doing more work in general and of a higher quality. I feel like my life has more purpose, and that it's not 'going to waste'.

So If I were you I'd ask myself that. Do I love programming? Do you really love it? If you don't, what do you love to do? You may have been carried a bit through your degree, but you have it now, and it can open a lot of doors. The tech field is enormous. How can you take what you do love, take your degree, and combine it into a job that can earn you some money doing what you love, and providing your life with purpose?

Your code example is trivial for me. But I've been a professional programmer for nearly 30 years. I've been programming for 41 years. I programmed at least a little bit almost every single day of those 41 years (I'm not sure if I have ever spent even 1 month away from the keyboard). When you have done the same thing as I have done, then this problem will be trivial to you too.

Doing a 4 year CS degree is waaaaay too short a time to decide whether or not you are going to be successful at this stuff. Yeah, some people are super talented and pick it up right away. But then, some of the people that look like they are super talented are that way because they've been programming since they were able to read.

If you are struggling now, then you will struggle at work too. You will probably have to work harder than the people who are talented or the people who appear talented because they have already put in a decade or two before you even started. You may find that the 9-5 work day is not enough for you to make the kind of progress you want in your career. There is nothing wrong with this.

The question you have to ask yourself is, "Do I want to do this?" If you are struggling, do you want to struggle? I struggle too -- even after more than 4 decades of programming every day. I pick away at it slowly, by slowly, by slowly. I have this super, ridiculous ego that fuels me, but I've also gotten old enough to realise that my ego is just that thing that let's me ignore how crap I am -- sometimes you have to do that. "Yeah, whatever. I seem to suck now, but just wait until you see my super awesome computer program that I'm doing on the side." (And... I never finish my side projects either... Don't tell anybody!)

On the other hand, there are lots of jobs in this world. You don't have to be a programmer. There are lots of reasons not to be a programmer and none of them revolve around whether or not you are talented at the job. It's lonely. It's stressful. It's stupifyingly hard to concentrate every second of the day all day long. People yell at you for fucking things up even when you've done a good job. Nobody can agree on what's good and what's not good and often sit around arguing about it all day long. because it's a super ridiculously details oriented job, most of your successful colleagues will have some kind of OCD related mental problem. Because it's a super ridiculously details oriented job, nobody will understand what you do for a living and everyone will think to themselves, "But that's easy. I could do that in 15 minutes. God you suck". The pay is good, but it's never enough to put up with the crap you have to take -- seriously, ask people why they want a raise; the answer is always, "Because if I'm going to have to put up with that crap, I want a lot more money".

So, be a programmer if you want to be a programmer. Not being talented is the least of your worries. That's just a matter of putting in the time and effort. Your rewards will be internal. If you love what you are doing, then the rewards will be great.

And I have a confession. If I did that coding example, I would definitely make an off by one mistake. Definitely. :-)

Sit down in front of a piece of paper with a pen. Draw diagrams to visualize the data structures that you're working with. Sketch different corner cases (for example, arrays of odd and even length). Informally (playfully) derive an algorithm to do what you want and convince yourself that it does what you want. Play through different cases on paper, maybe use markers (coins) to keep track of where you are. Write down the details so you don't have to keep them in your head.

I have plenty of experience now, but I still use paper and pencil when I have to solve a problem I haven't solved before. It's just so much easier to explore the problem on paper, to think about corner cases, to visualize the inputs, outputs, and intermediate data structures, and to wrap your head around everything.