Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I just want to code (2023)

zachbellay.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 183 posts

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#41

Post by jes5199 »

Macha wrote: post #9
androng wrote: post #6

>No one likes schleps, but hackers especially dislike them. Most hackers who start startups wish they could do it by just writing some clever software, putting it on a server somewhere, and watching the money roll in—without ever having to talk to users, or negotiate with other companies, or deal with other people's broken code. Maybe that's possible, but I haven't seen it. >One of the many things we do at Y Combinat…

A lot of why people didn't build Stripe before was that to enter the payments space you needed connections to get the banks and payment processors to work with you. In comparison, you don't need anyone's permission to make uber for dry cleaners or something in line with other trends of the time. I doubt the Collison brothers would have been as successful getting Stripe off the ground if it had been their first compan…

yeah. I worked on the internal banking connection at Square in the old days (~2011) and it was a _nightmare_. like, pre-TCP/IP connectivity that depended on dedicated copper to do teletype in COBOL-style fixed length fields in a cryptic format that was only specified in scans of paper documents. We had to write an adaptor that looked like, you know, REST on one end but then shoveled all of the traffic onto that single upstream connection, and then had to try to map responses that came back out of order to the right client. Miserable stuff and a threading nightmare.

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#42

Post by alganet »

Honestly, the text looks like it was written by someone who does not understand hobbyist programming.

It's not fun. The activity is not an enjoyable act of entertainment. It's stressful, time consuming and miserable.

The result is what matters. You did something. Learned something. For you, not because it was in some work planning. It provides catharsis.

That sort of catharsis does not exist in some work related environment. It never will, unless stars align magically, which they almost never do.

I am highly skeptic of this "code is fun" perspective. Always was.

That's why "all your base belong to us" kind of contracts in which stuff made outside work COULD become property of the hiring company makes otherwise happy developers into depressive under-productive nightmares. Let them code the toy thing unharmed in their spare time, for fucks sake.

Let it be the real thing. Stop this nonsense fairytale.

It is for your own good. It prevents companies from hiring con men, it prevents young folk from being drawn to a career they will despise, it prevents massive loss of investment.

I wanted to code for catharsis. To learn. To feel I made something. Wanted, past tense. These "code for fun" people were serious contributors to my burnout.

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#43

Post by gmoque »

Coding is another tool, just the same way you buy a piece of furniture online you can also build it yourself, if you have the tools and skills. It's up to you how you want to use your resources (time and money).

Coding is a tool to solve data problems, I've been doing it for close to two decades now and I still find it fulfilling and fun. Many years ago I used to think, I love my job that I would do my job for free ... I was wrong! Others will paid for doing things you find fun, make sure you know your worth.

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#44

Post by delusional »

gmoque wrote: post #43

Coding is another tool, just the same way you buy a piece of furniture online you can also build it yourself, if you have the tools and skills. It's up to you how you want to use your resources (time and money). Coding is a tool to solve data problems, I've been doing it for close to two decades now and I still find it fulfilling and fun. Many years ago I used to think, I love my job that I would do my job for free .…

I understand your point, and I don't disagree with it as a matter of utility. It just doesn't capture all of what code is.

I find computer systems beautiful. A system of parts interacting in a complex dance to process data. Each part effortlessly modifyable and reusable, executable by the generic machine people already own.

I love the puzzle of putting data together, of shaping it in main memory, and the joy of finding that previous shaping makes the current problem easier. The joy of finding a hidden algebra or transitivity.

All of these things go beyond the "tool" view of software and touches the "art" view. A painter doesn't find the painting useful, they find it beautiful.

I would be writing software, even if I want paid. I would however be working on vastly different software, and I think that's the OP's point.

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#45

Post by IvanK_net »

I have no idea why they mention coding. It is the same in any kind of job. You can bake cakes for fun, make music for fun, write poems, novels, play chess for fun, practice sports, grow potatos ...

At a certain stage, you realize that in order to be able to do only that job, you must make someone pay you for it. You must do it in a way (or in a volume) which makes others happy. The fact that it makes you happy is not enough anymore.

I don't think there is an angel and a devil. It is still the same thing. If you like the result of your work, there is a high chance that others will like it. You don't need to change what you do by a 100%. Changing it by 5% - 10% is often enough.

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#46

Post by ankurdhama »

When you start coding and start having fun, please remember that the "fun" doesn't apply to coding as profession. The same goes for any other profession. Doing something for fun vs professionally are two different worlds.

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#47

Post by tczMUFlmoNk »

wodenokoto wrote: post #39
vicapow wrote: post #3

Just a suggestion: The github permissions your comment login thing requests is a bit too aggressive. > This application will be able to read and write all public repository data.

Can’t everyone read public repo data?

Not everyone can write it…

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#48

Post by xnickb »

ankurdhama wrote: post #46

When you start coding and start having fun, please remember that the "fun" doesn't apply to coding as profession. The same goes for any other profession. Doing something for fun vs professionally are two different worlds.

Confidently wrong. Life is a bit more nuanced than that.

Look at any popular open source project and tell me not a single contributor was having fun while writing it.

I can give you examples of very high quality open source projects where I know for a fact that the person/team behind them were just having fun.

Re: I just want to code (2023)

#50

Post by blahgeek »

IvanK_net wrote: post #45

I have no idea why they mention coding. It is the same in any kind of job. You can bake cakes for fun, make music for fun, write poems, novels, play chess for fun, practice sports, grow potatos ... At a certain stage, you realize that in order to be able to do only that job, you must make someone pay you for it. You must do it in a way (or in a volume) which makes others happy. The fact that it makes you happy is not…

I think it's more common because one doing only coding can get paid reasonably. On the contrary, few people who "bake cakes for fun, make music for fun, write poems, novels, play chess for fun, practice sports, grow potatos" can get paid enough for a living, so that's usually not an option to consider. (Which is the reason that I find us coding people very lucky.)
Post reply on HN