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

Hello, World

hello-world.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 174 posts

Re: Hello, World

#41

Post by atmosx »

Demiurge wrote: post #19

This article is very uplifting and easy to empathize with. However, I can only hope he ends up as happy as he might think he will. I've done farming when I was young as well as some manual labor jobs. It's not fun, you sweat a lot, your back hurts, the sunlight burns, at the end of the day you are physically burnt out so much that you can't actually think. I am much more happy to be closing tickets that are undoing p…

Actually, I do both daily. I program only for fun, but work on the computer and also do manual work. I also started a little bit with farming, but for pleasure mostly and healthy food, not as a way of living.

It's very good thing to switch between totally different tasks, makes you miss all of them occasionally and in the end you remember only the good things about each one of them :-)

Re: Hello, World

#42

Post by leothekim »

So this guy:

- Changed his major overnight from whatever it was to computer science after writing a Hello, World program

- Left "so-called higher education" to work at a real-life job "without even thinking about it twice"

- Quit real-life job to be a bartender and chef

- Quit doing that after getting girlfriend pregnant to 'go back to the "real world" to get a job'

- Quit that to build a house and work on a farm

Every life event he describes here is a movement to extremes out of frustration or anxiety from what he was currently doing. I'm sure there's much more to this story, but if anything, this is an example of how peace of mind can't be found on either ends of a see-saw.

Re: Hello, World

#43

Post by jcadam »

I envy people who can simply walk away from a career like this. As the single source of income for a family of 5, I will be slinging code for The Man for years to come.

I started programming shortly after learning to read, so it's not something I'll ever give up totally -- I do find side projects help in alleviating the ennui somewhat (given that you can at least challenge yourself, rather than solving the same problems over and over and over and over.... ).

Re: Hello, World

#44

Post by grubles »

vegancap wrote: post #18

This seems the natural progression for programmers now. 10 year slog of hope decaying; relatively monotonous work, then a sudden urge to do something antithetical in pursuit of happiness. I guess I'll be in a log cabin in Iceland in 5 years time!

It seems the author of the article had spent a lot of time in a windowless, fluorescent-lit room. No wonder the urge to be outside is so great for them.

Re: Hello, World

#45

Post by Demiurge »

atmosx wrote: post #41
Demiurge wrote: post #19

This article is very uplifting and easy to empathize with. However, I can only hope he ends up as happy as he might think he will. I've done farming when I was young as well as some manual labor jobs. It's not fun, you sweat a lot, your back hurts, the sunlight burns, at the end of the day you are physically burnt out so much that you can't actually think. I am much more happy to be closing tickets that are undoing p…

Actually, I do both daily. I program only for fun, but work on the computer and also do manual work. I also started a little bit with farming, but for pleasure mostly and healthy food, not as a way of living. It's very good thing to switch between totally different tasks, makes you miss all of them occasionally and in the end you remember only the good things about each one of them :-)

There are things I liked about it, like delicious food I grew myself, watering can be kind of fun, at the start... and I try to get out there. But picking weeds, digging earth, pushing/carrying heavy things... gets tiring even if it's just 4 hours a day.

Re: Hello, World

#46

Post by thrillgore »

lawl wrote: post #10

> I am burnt out on having a “40 hour” work week that actually occupies the majority of my mental time. This really resonated with me. I can't just stop thinking about this stuff just because I'm at lunch or at home if I'm working on a hard problem. But I don't get paid for that time.

You need to find an activity to snap your mind out of that once the day ends. I go to the gym, run, work on robots at home, or play video games.

Re: Hello, World

#47

Post by jakejake »

leothekim wrote: post #42

So this guy: - Changed his major overnight from whatever it was to computer science after writing a Hello, World program - Left "so-called higher education" to work at a real-life job "without even thinking about it twice" - Quit real-life job to be a bartender and chef - Quit doing that after getting girlfriend pregnant to 'go back to the "real world" to get a job' - Quit that to build a house and work on a farm Eve…

I think this is the result of the relative ease of getting programming work and good salaries. It attracts a lot of people who are not really in it for the love. Some of those people are going to feel like their soul is being sucked out. This guy is one of them which explains his extreme reactions.

I personally would rather work at the shittiest programming job than go out and work on a farm. But that's just me.

Re: Hello, World

#49

Post by otakucode »

Weirdo.

I'm just going to quit my job and give freelancing/consulting a shot. In the middle of West Virginia. I don't think I could ever leave programming. I started around 9 years old, I've already been through my slump and come out the other side more interested than ever. In programming, that is. The way most companies handle software development, though? That is certainly downright terrible. My knowledge of history and economics encourages me that this is probably a somewhat temporary situation, though. Companies are disemboweling themselves with astonishing fervor while the infrastructure their employees need to serve customers directly is becoming ubiquitous. It should be fun to watch.

Re: Hello, World

#50

Post by Bahamut »

One of my friends got similarly burnt out of 10 years of coding - he left software engineering for teaching English to kids in Vietnam.

Everyone's desires in a career/life are different. We also are wired differently. For me, I would like to become wealthy enough to live comfortably & support my friends, financially & coding-wise, in their endeavors (many of them are musicians)

Post reply on HN