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Why I Love Coding (2012)

henrikwarne.com

31–40 of 125 posts

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#31

I love coding on my own projects. When it comes to work, I get so incredibly anxious about not being able to deliver a good solution. I obsess over every detail fearing I'll make the wrong choice ("this _could_ be a foreign key but should it be?" "Redis or postgres for this very crucial counter data") that most joy is completely stripped away. I admire and envy those who can hear unclear requirements and get excited…

I feel the same way. I love obssessing over small details. In professional programming there's no time for that, people just want results and profits as soon as possible and the technology is just the means to that end instead of something that's inherently good. I chose not to pursue a career in professional programming because of this.

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#32
post #14

I also love it :) Just this weekend I was learning about RabbitMQ and setting it up on a free Oracle Cloud VM. Writing some Python code (using the Pika library) to be able to send and receive messages. Also getting around to learning about how to use Flask (Python web framework) and then Gunicorn. All this so I could try to figure out how to have my own webhook receiver accessible on the Internet and then get those e…

I too love coding but as I code complex things I get frustrated when things do not work (may be due to my lack of knowledge) or hard to understand and loose interest

This is always when I double down. For better or worse. I’ll happily spend a week stubbornly chipping away at the same brick wall with no feedback or positive reinforcement. By the end, though, you’ll likely hear me yell “I’m a FUCKING GOD LETS GO GET FUCKED” from down the hall.

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#33

(2012) 7 years ago, 3 pts, no comments. ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7010730 ) 9 years ago, 3 pts, no comments. ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4057897 ) Nothing super insightful really in this article, usual creativity, problem solving allure etc.. Most comments here just self-analysis, anecdotal. This year present time, 67 pts, 19 comments. Meh, why?

[deleted]

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#34

I feel like I’ve lost most of my interest in it. It’s been years since I’ve been truly excited by it and and motivated to do it, but I had been on and off the edge, losing interest for long periods of time before a random spark of motivation would bring it back, only to go out within a few months at most, and after the most recent spark, I’m not sure if I can see myself coming back to programming. It’s a strange feel…

That’s sad, to me, but I tend to have the author’s point of view. I support you in whatever endeavor to which your muse directs you. Having a background in coding generally means you’re a good problem-solver, and good problem-solvers are valuable in any vocation. In my case, I was a manager for the last 25 years of my career, and was forced to do my programming as a “nights and weekends” gig. Since leaving my last jo…

> I support you in whatever endeavor to which your muse directs you. Having a background in coding generally means you’re a good problem-solver, and good problem-solvers are valuable in any vocation.

Ironically for me, the more I got interested in the lower levels of programming, the more I lose sight of the original goal of solving a problem.

I have to juggle between satisfying my curiosity and interest and solving a problem.

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#35
post #19

I love coding too, basically for the same reasons. There’s something about creating things from scratch, making them better, and debugging issues that can’t be matched by other hobbies. You just have more control and speed in working on things versus physical things like working on an engine. That said, I don’t like the business of coding. Doing coding for a living strips away a lot of the joy out of it, but this is…

> Doing coding for a living strips away a lot of the joy out of it

As someone with a lot of interests, I have found this to be true for every one of them. Seems like monetizing yourself is always soul sucking to some degree.

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#36

I feel like I’ve lost most of my interest in it. It’s been years since I’ve been truly excited by it and and motivated to do it, but I had been on and off the edge, losing interest for long periods of time before a random spark of motivation would bring it back, only to go out within a few months at most, and after the most recent spark, I’m not sure if I can see myself coming back to programming. It’s a strange feel…

That’s sad, to me, but I tend to have the author’s point of view. I support you in whatever endeavor to which your muse directs you. Having a background in coding generally means you’re a good problem-solver, and good problem-solvers are valuable in any vocation. In my case, I was a manager for the last 25 years of my career, and was forced to do my programming as a “nights and weekends” gig. Since leaving my last jo…

Reminds me of a former colleague of mine, he was a manager at a bank for 25 years, I don't know the whole story but one day he made a switch and became a self-employed CSS + accessibility guy.

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#37

I feel like I’ve lost most of my interest in it. It’s been years since I’ve been truly excited by it and and motivated to do it, but I had been on and off the edge, losing interest for long periods of time before a random spark of motivation would bring it back, only to go out within a few months at most, and after the most recent spark, I’m not sure if I can see myself coming back to programming. It’s a strange feel…

When I was younger I would systematically read all Linux man pages. I could give much more similar examples. That kind of excitement has vanished, but has been substituted with other things. I try to think longer term. What is limiting me? Is it algorithms? Is it statistics? Domain knowledge? It takes time, but the progress is there. And society is not going to reward you, because it rewards short term, the latest fad. But don't accept your limitations, plan long term.

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#38
post #6

I got hooked on the feeling of power and control. When you're five years old (the age I was when I started programming "seriously"), it's an age when people start expecting things of you, making demands of you, but you are in no position to do likewise to others. The computer is a machine, not a person, but it's more like a person than other machines are (which is part of why it's so mystifying). It can follow instru…

Interesting you were coding at 5, I have 7 and 5 year olds who are pretty good with computers, can install and learn new games by themselves but I haven't considered introducing them to programming mainly because I don't feel they can manage and also it does not seem necessary...considering I personally started coding at the age of 20 when I joined university for my computer science degree and I have been fairly successful, currently working for a US company, remotely from Africa and making more than a US average developer salary which in my city puts me at top 0.1% salary range, and with a quite positive career outlook.

Re: Why I Love Coding (2012)

#40

I feel like I’ve lost most of my interest in it. It’s been years since I’ve been truly excited by it and and motivated to do it, but I had been on and off the edge, losing interest for long periods of time before a random spark of motivation would bring it back, only to go out within a few months at most, and after the most recent spark, I’m not sure if I can see myself coming back to programming. It’s a strange feel…

That’s sad, to me, but I tend to have the author’s point of view. I support you in whatever endeavor to which your muse directs you. Having a background in coding generally means you’re a good problem-solver, and good problem-solvers are valuable in any vocation. In my case, I was a manager for the last 25 years of my career, and was forced to do my programming as a “nights and weekends” gig. Since leaving my last jo…

I have been in a more management or consulting focused role for 3 years now and i already fear that i am loosing my effectiveness as a programmer. How did the transition back to programming go for you?
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