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Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

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Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#101

Post by blobbers »

mikewarot wrote: post #29

I took a job making gears in a job shop. I learned quite a lot of interesting things. However, the pay and commute were both horrible. I caught Covid in March 2020, and have been dealing with Long Covid ever since. Now I find myself needing to jump back into programming, and my strongly preferred language is Pascal. It's going to be an interesting ride. If you do this yourself, make sure you have planned for continge…

Hope your covid gets better. How does one "jump" into Pascal?

I used Pascal in 1992 programming in high school on a Mac LCiii, and never really thought about it again. Do modern compilers even exist for this language?

What genuinely curious what you could possibly want you to program in Pascal let alone prefer using it for anything meaningful?

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#102

Post by ClumsyPilot »

xeromal wrote: post #33
tartoran wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plumbing is gross and wet but you clearly know where the bullshit is from the beginning. In software it is creeping from everywhere, changing patterns every coouple of years as well. I probably wouldn’t want to be a real plumber but I hear the people who would. And I definitely get the urge to find something else but generally trading off for something else is problematic as well and generally comes with its own type…

You can't catch ecoli from software at least though

Joint and back issues?

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#103

Post by jbirer »

I have worked as a steel worker in a construction site. The pay was shit but I got a really nice toned body, good skin, girls looking at me, all day banter in the workplace and parties afterward, I went from being a depressed anxious nerd to a talkative hot dude in about 7 months. Sometimes I wonder if I should go back but I am earning 10 times more than the people around me which allows me to travel (before covid) and have almost anything I want, it's a hard decision.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#104

Post by _trampeltier »

I think the software world has to slow down anyway. Now there is software anywhere build in and has just to work. Things could last for 50 years before software. Now everything need updates all the time because things are unfinished.

I'm in industrie automation and everything with software gets worse really update by update

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#106

Post by Sebb767 »

dsego wrote: post #74
banana_maker wrote: post #22

Occasionally that thought pops up. Then I remember I’m making insane amounts of money, from the comfort of my desk in my house. At 25 I’m making more than my parents ever did, with a fraction of the physical effort. If I really hated it, I could save up for some time and do something else, because again… I’m pulling insane amounts of money for software work. Trades like plumbing, electrical work etc are -hard- work.…

> I recognize that I have the privilege of not sacrificing my body and health for my income Oh, sitting in a chair in front a screen for hours on end does wonders for the body. It's still early, you'll appreciate it in ~10 years.

But you don't have to to ruin your body. You can get a standing desk and a gym membership (remember, you have money) and stay perfectly healthy. Crawling in tight spaces, on the other hand, will ruin your body and is not necessarily avoidable.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#107

Post by RHSeeger »

malshe wrote: post #58

OT but still tangentially relevant - In the cold wave a couple of weeks ago in Texas, our pipes froze and the tap on the outside of the house burst. We were not sure about the extent of the damage so we called a plumber. He charged a cool $350 to simply replace the tap. Took all of 15 minutes.

> We were not sure about the extent of the damage

> He charged a cool $350 to simply replace the tap

No, he charged you $350 for his knowledge that replacing the tap was the right solution in this case. If all you had to do was replace the tap, you could have done that yourself and saved a bunch of money. But you didn't know that was all that needed to be done; he did. You paid for his knowledge, not simply the act of replacing the tap.

See also: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#108

Post by cpsns »

banana_maker wrote: post #22

Occasionally that thought pops up. Then I remember I’m making insane amounts of money, from the comfort of my desk in my house. At 25 I’m making more than my parents ever did, with a fraction of the physical effort. If I really hated it, I could save up for some time and do something else, because again… I’m pulling insane amounts of money for software work. Trades like plumbing, electrical work etc are -hard- work.…

> I recognize that I have the privilege of not sacrificing my body and health for my income.

Sitting for longer periods in any amount is incredibly bad for one's health long term, every study on the subject has confirmed this.

You are sacrificing your health, just in a different way.

Re: Anyone else feel the constant urge to leave the field and become a plumber?

#110

Post by akemichan »

inglor_cz wrote: post #8

Plumber, no. Too dirty. But being an electrician would probably suit me just fine.

I have worked as an electrician. It's not particularly a clean trade and you get spaghetti too, in the form of hundreds of wires of the very same color and air conditioners connected to the lights circuit.
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