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Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

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Re: Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

#381

Post by recfab »

yurishimo wrote: post #264
vlovich123 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most modern development is gluing components together and wrangling packages. It's so far removed from the machine and the distance is only growing. That’s actually what I love most about things today. Hard components I might want to use probably already have a ready to made library I can start with. Time from inception to prototype to production is so short that it really removes a lot of the tedium. I wish it cou…

Same for me as well. I don't want to talk to hardware because the ideas I have in my head are so removed from that problem space. I want to build tools to help normal people do stuff or create automation. I fully understand and appreciate that to make all of that work, the low level stuff also needs to be fast and functional, but I'm not the person to make that optimization. I really enjoy being a web developer despi…

It's not even new. I've been doing this professionally for 15 years, and the "web development isn't real development" was a common attitude at least since I started. If anything, it was worse.

Re: Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

#382

Post by asveikau »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #377
jimt1234 wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly ^^^ Here's how it went down in my case; it's so bad. ... The dude played in a rock band in his free time. He had a show up in LA (we're in San Diego) on a "school night". The next day, Wednesday morning, he showed up to an 8am meeting looking like shit. He said that he got zero sleep the previous night. He played the show up in LA, packed up his gear (he was a drummer), then drove back to San Diego, got home…

I think the takeaways here are that: A lighthearted joke from a director is often power-talk that implies more, and that looking like shit in the office is a big no-no (some phrases that come to mind are "perception is reality" and "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down").

> A lighthearted joke from a director is often power-talk that implies more

> looking like shit in the office is a big no-no

Both of these can be true, for better or worse, but the director is probably also over-reacting. It doesn't seem appropriate to fire somebody over that. Such a director probably has an unhealthy focus on image.

Re: Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

#383

Post by samstave »

ed_mercer wrote: post #379
samstave wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made the mistake of entering management WAY too early in my career. I wish I had not. it relegated my time to many tasks other than tech implementation. FN having to train CFOs on financially managing cloud environs, managing people, pestering people for status reports, c-level presentations on this that and the other thing, etc... My biggest mistake in my career was thinking I was "climbing the ladder" when accept…

I'm not sure there's a better way to climb the ladder though.

i did it too early.

Re: Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

#385

Post by yCombLinks »

ed_mercer wrote: post #379
samstave wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made the mistake of entering management WAY too early in my career. I wish I had not. it relegated my time to many tasks other than tech implementation. FN having to train CFOs on financially managing cloud environs, managing people, pestering people for status reports, c-level presentations on this that and the other thing, etc... My biggest mistake in my career was thinking I was "climbing the ladder" when accept…

I'm not sure there's a better way to climb the ladder though.

The point being it's the wrong ladder. I'll stick to the enjoying life more ladder

Re: Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

#386

Post by pmarreck »

justsomehnguy wrote: post #12

> I’m not sure if that is a good thing. I am back to coding late into the night, and back at it after coffee and an English muffin the following morning (thankfully though I quit the cigarettes decades ago). *sigh* It's 5AM and I'm out of coffee and cigarettes. At least I found a stupid bug tonight.

tip- late night coding is good for creativity

early morning coding fresh after sleep is good for bug-hunting

Re: Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

#387

Post by turtleyacht »

awongh wrote: post #155
aeturnum wrote: post #25

For me, at least, programming is simply the most profitable articulation of an underlying personality trait that involves productivity, play, mischief, sardonicism and critique all together. This is what people mean when they point out that "hacking" isn't about software. The tantalizing just-out-of-reach articulation of a compelling concept. Satiating.

How is sardonicism involved in programming? It is a trait many in tech have, I'm not sure if you're saying that it's positively involved in doing programming....

It may describe a baseline cynicism about the problem or situation. It's a healthy skepticism, a low-priority thread on the mental backburner.

Sometime later, something triggers it or an idea related to it. You can instantly jump back to it. You think "Hmm, I wonder if I can try X on it..."

Where X is a technique, method, or process you may have done before, but in a different context.

Re: Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

#388

Post by syngrog66 »

One of the biggest changes for me, after decades of programming, is I've learned to be more of a stickler for best practices -- at least on projects I lead or ones I do solo. I'm more cognizant of the fleeting nature of time, that big one-way arrow-O-doom. So I don't "suffer foolish things" as much as I was willing to when younger.

I prioritize better. Or try to.

And I'm more efficient during sessions at keyboard / in terminal/shell. Effectiveness is king.

I do things in a different order, too. More likely to order my sequence of tasks/milestones so I achieve the most de-risking upfront. Test my assumptions. Flush out those "dark spots" on my mental map of the problem or solution space.

Age sucks. Experience rocks.

Re: Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple

#390

Post by tomcam »

60+, caretaker for several family members, programmer for 35 years. Still love it, tho I am self-employed. Energy level is exceptionally low due to severe sleep issues. Can still pull all-nighters with no problem. But if I have to mow the back 10… I cry age and exhaustion.
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