21–30 of 72 posts
I like solving puzzles. Often that puzzle in my world is "How do we make sense of all this data for business users" or even as simple as "How do we make this faster?". Also, its well compensated. If this was a 50k/year job I'd have found a new career by now.
I think its a great technical field that also rewards creativity. I'm also and hobbyist musician and I feel that the two skills really work well with each other.
Honestly, I don't even become interested or inspired to solve a problem until I experience it for myself (unless it's a job).
I feel that my interest in coding stems from the fact the I enjoy challenging conventions. I like asking why things are the way they are, and then breaking the rules to better the creation process & product.
The fact that I can learn on my own (as opposed to lectured) is what also drives me to code more. When I finally find something I want to build, I can learn how it's been done in the past, and develop my own opinions on how it should be done.
Also, coding is probably the first thing that I've ever felt I could do with my life.
Age 9: It's fun
Age 13: It's fun, and my parents won't buy me any games for my C64 so I have to write my own
Age 24: It's fun, and I can automate all this boring repetitive business stuff to get my work done faster so that I can play more Freecell and Tetris.
Age 26: It's fun, and The Internet just happened and suddenly everybody wants to pay me three times what I'm worth to do it. Woohoo!
Age 31: It's fun, and if I do just one day of it for freelance clients each month I can live on this beach indefinitely.
Age 37: It's fun, and if I put up a credit card form on one of my side projects, people seem to be willing to pay me money every month just to use it.
Age 43: It's fun, and I seem to still be doing it even though I could probably pack it in and live off that SaaS income.
There seems to be a common thread there. I suspect I'll still be doing it in another 10 years.
because it is fun!
* Enjoyment. I like constructing intangible things inside computers such as data structures, and manipulating them.
* Problem or task solving. I like making tools that do things to take away burden from my and others' lives.
* Self-fulfillment. I like guitar but I'm terrible at it. I like snowboarding but I'm mediocre at that. I love rock climbing but again I'm not remarkable. I'm not very good at lots of things, but I'm pretty good at coding.
* What else is there to do? As someone who has leanings towards existential nihilism, eventually one sees no value in anything. So one might as well do something to pass the time. Writing code ticks that box.