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Programming is a Terrible Job

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Re: Programming is a Terrible Job

#61

Post by osmsiberiano »

I think this is the direct consequence of the way IT is taught in many places. The guy was truly a researcher, a scientist. He was able at doing theoretical tasks well, and this is also an important work and good calling. But as I understand he chose the "commercial IT" career. This is not science, in fact they don't need smart people, although they hire them. And the result is you work in a wrong place: too much chore, brain not needed, technical dishonesty, and often you cover your management's ass with your work.

I think programming is easier for those who learned it at non-IT work: they don't have passion for theoretical, ideal things, and every chore solved is a holiday. I did like this. I had no time to argue about semantics/approaches/OOP, just to resolve problems with very limited time. Then I went to professional IT companies, and except for money and some smart guys around, the work isn't inspiring.

Re: Programming is a Terrible Job

#62

Post by lshemesh »

I can totally sympathize with the way the author feels but at the same time I'm very aware of how much of à luxury it is to be a software engineer. especially nowadays with so many emerging technologies. if you're current job has become stagnant and your not afforded the flexibility or the ability to influence change then it's time to move on. if you're afraid of losing a opportunity coming from equity or share s then that does factor in. best you can do is try to apply all the amazing things you learn from sources like hacker news and wait until you're next move becomes clearer. wrote this from my nexus 7 . really like this hackers news app.

Re: Programming is a Terrible Job

#63

Post by iSnow »

pilif wrote: post #47

Of course the day job isn't always fun. That's why it's a job and that's what we get paid for. But: I f'ing love my job as a programmer. There is nothing in this world that I'd rather do. There's nothing that constantly fills me with as much joy as programming does. I admit that I might be a bit lucky here, having founded the company I'm working for; that allows me to pick my battles and find a good balance between s…

I think, as a founder you are missing the point that 99 out of 100 times you are told - explicitly or by work schedule "do not do it in an interesting, performant or elegant way, just get it working somehow and move on"

Re: Programming is a Terrible Job

#64

Post by nicpottier »

antocv wrote: post #55
nicpottier wrote: post #32

There's a reason it is called work and not play. If work was always enjoyable, then they wouldn't need to pay you to do it. I think the author is delusional if he thinks any programming anywhere doesn't have large swaths of time that are a bit mind numbing. And my experience has been the programmers who think themselves 'above that' are the ones that provide the least value. Our job is not to program, our job is to c…

> If work was always enjoyable, then they wouldn't need to pay you to do it. Why do football players, musicians and movie actors get payed 1000x as much as the software engineers who made the technology to make possible their success? TV, Internet, radio, now all HD quality. So that some people can enjoy their work and earn millions while we who invent and produce the infrastructure should suck it up and call it work…

> Why do football players, musicians and movie actors get payed 1000x as much as the software engineers who made the technology to make possible their success?

Do you think their jobs are cake walks? You think football players really enjoy the training, really enjoy destroying their bodies on a weekly basis? You think musicians haven't toiled for years and years making no money at all before reaching the level where they can make a living?

Even if you believe that they enjoy every minute of it, you are pointing at an extreme minority. Software engineers are in the top 5 best paid jobs and frankly, our jobs are ridiculously easy and enjoyable.

Re: Programming is a Terrible Job

#65

Post by iSnow »

rfnslyr wrote: post #57
BillyMaize wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hate the attitude in the first few sentences. The "your life is better than others so be grateful" idea never really applies, its like saying "your neighbor gets beaten three times a day, so don't complain when you only get beat once!". Just because someone else's life is worse than yours doesn't mean your own is so great. Also, the person breaking their back on a farm might be doing that because they made c…

That's not the same at all. Comparing getting beaten vs getting beaten more is not the same as working in an air conditioned office vs a farm. To make any job "fun", I always have IRC and messages going so I can talk to people a lot of the time. Keeps the day exciting.

>I always have IRC and messages going so I can talk to people a lot of the time

In a lot of software shops, you are not allowed to chat, use IM or even bring headphones (like here)

Re: Programming is a Terrible Job

#67

Post by pilif »

iSnow wrote: post #63
pilif wrote: post #47

Of course the day job isn't always fun. That's why it's a job and that's what we get paid for. But: I f'ing love my job as a programmer. There is nothing in this world that I'd rather do. There's nothing that constantly fills me with as much joy as programming does. I admit that I might be a bit lucky here, having founded the company I'm working for; that allows me to pick my battles and find a good balance between s…

I think, as a founder you are missing the point that 99 out of 100 times you are told - explicitly or by work schedule "do not do it in an interesting, performant or elegant way, just get it working somehow and move on"

Oh I know (I also said so in my comment). And that's why I consciously try to distribute the interesting work between my coworkers and I. That way everybody gets a nice mix between "job" and "fun". Does that mean that sometimes I have to do crap? Yes. Does that mean that everybody gets to have fun at times? Yes.

If I can help it at all, I will not be the person responsible for somebody to write the rant that OP has posted.

Re: Programming is a Terrible Job

#69

Post by AlisdairSH »

nicpottier wrote: post #32

There's a reason it is called work and not play. If work was always enjoyable, then they wouldn't need to pay you to do it. I think the author is delusional if he thinks any programming anywhere doesn't have large swaths of time that are a bit mind numbing. And my experience has been the programmers who think themselves 'above that' are the ones that provide the least value. Our job is not to program, our job is to c…

"Our job is not to program, our job is to create value."

This bears repeating. Rare is the job that allows the job-holder to write code for the sake of writing code. Most of us have to build software that adds value to some other business process.

That takes a lot of thought and research, a little bit of code, and a lot of testing, documentation, and maintenance.

If we're lucky, we get to pass off what we consider the most mundane of those tasks to other employees. BUT! If we're good, we can (and do) perform all of those tasks when needed.

Re: Programming is a Terrible Job

#70

Post by seanhandley »

Sounds to me like you're externalising the blame for your boredom. We all pass through crappy jobs.

If you find yourself in those kinds of jobs: move on. There's plenty of interesting projects and companies out there that will allow you to apply yourself. Keep looking.

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