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Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

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Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#261

Post by CrackpotGonzo »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #92

I couldn't do this; I'm too addicted to always being "on". I'm constantly checking my work phone for email (even after hours and on weekends) just to see what's going on (I'm a remote worker). I constantly look at my phone (reading everything and anything; not using FB as I'm not very social that way). I lie down to go to sleep at night and my brain is literally buzzing. My focus is shit. The other day I thought I'd…

Have you tried getting rid of your smartphone? I switched my iPhone for a simple Nokia and the benefits to my focus and general happiness were amazing. Highly recommend. I had the same feeling of always being "on" and not being able to disconnect.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#262

Post by tete »

jalcazar wrote: post #249
crimsonalucard wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as we "say" we love programming and farming if ever we became so filthy rich that we could pay other people to do these things for us... we would. I've never heard of a tech billionaire profess his love of programming so much that he's diving right back into the trenches. We're all human, we may love programming and farming, but let's be real, programming and farming are still work and we're all working towar…

No. Matthew Dillon doesn't need to work but keeps working on DragonFlyBSD. Also it is possible to live and work as in retirement http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/fisherman.html

Addendum to that. The story in the link actually seems to be "Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral", by Heinrich Böll.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anekdote_zur_Senkung_der_Arbei...

An English translation as PDF:

https://www.uea.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.33246!np_vol_5_article_8...

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#263

Post by juliangregorian »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #259
juliangregorian wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal, but Mark Zuckerberg was (and may still be) committing code at Facebook very recently. Some of us actually love programming for its own sake.

Dabbling in coding and being in the trenches are two different things. Look up Bill Gates. Unlike Zuckerberg, who was just a mediocre programmer, Gates was actually an elite programmer who "loved" programming. Nowadays he mostly travels the world with his family, and does philanthropy.

Bill Gates said on his Reddit AMA he still writes code. Not everyone is like you dude.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#264

Post by ics »

xrange wrote: post #239
jorgeleo wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The farm life works for some people" I agree. I couldn't do farm, I have bad allergies to pollen, dust, and too much time under the sun and I become red as a lobster, and it is painful But programming is what I love to do. So I will say "The programmer life works for some people" I wouldn't call the original article "The death of a programmer", I would call it "The born of a farmer". He figure out were he feels happ…

>I have bad allergies to pollen, dust Interestingly enough, if you had grown up on a farm, you many not have developed allergies... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20497148 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=allergies+and+growing+u...

I grew up around farms and have a really bad pollen allergy. Still gets bad even in NYC around this time. Still, I don't think people should fear the outside because of it– my reaction sometimes takes me out for a couple days at a time, but it's still better than what it feels like to always be avoiding it and then one day getting a blast of discomfort that you aren't used to.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#265

Post by crimsonalucard »

jalcazar wrote: post #249
crimsonalucard wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as we "say" we love programming and farming if ever we became so filthy rich that we could pay other people to do these things for us... we would. I've never heard of a tech billionaire profess his love of programming so much that he's diving right back into the trenches. We're all human, we may love programming and farming, but let's be real, programming and farming are still work and we're all working towar…

No. Matthew Dillon doesn't need to work but keeps working on DragonFlyBSD. Also it is possible to live and work as in retirement http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/fisherman.html

I don't think their is any quantifiable data to prove what either of us say... but I think what I say applies to most programmers, not all.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#266

Post by randomdata »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #92

I couldn't do this; I'm too addicted to always being "on". I'm constantly checking my work phone for email (even after hours and on weekends) just to see what's going on (I'm a remote worker). I constantly look at my phone (reading everything and anything; not using FB as I'm not very social that way). I lie down to go to sleep at night and my brain is literally buzzing. My focus is shit. The other day I thought I'd…

My home farm has fibre and LTE internet access. No need to give up being "on" while on the farm. We're better connected out here than a lot of urban locations.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#267

Post by crimsonalucard »

juliangregorian wrote: post #263
crimsonalucard wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dabbling in coding and being in the trenches are two different things. Look up Bill Gates. Unlike Zuckerberg, who was just a mediocre programmer, Gates was actually an elite programmer who "loved" programming. Nowadays he mostly travels the world with his family, and does philanthropy.

Bill Gates said on his Reddit AMA he still writes code. Not everyone is like you dude.

He dabbles in code, on occasion. I'm talking about a love of code that takes you back into the trenches. I never said everyone is like me.

But in my opinion most people are like me. If you look at the world around you and how career paths are set up, how society is setup and the general nature of most human beings... imo it is the most logical conclusion.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#268

Post by rsync »

Symbiote wrote: post #240
waffle_ss wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also grew up on a farm - a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin to be precise, which my father and younger brother still operate. Farming can be awesome. The hard physical work and exercise are satisfying, and you'll often encounter problems that need to be solved quickly and ingeniously (e.g. some implement breaks and you need to come up with a quick fix while the sun's still up). You can really build a camaraderie wi…

> The downsides are that the work never ends and you can never take a vacation Agriculture workers in Britain are entitled to paid holiday, sick pay, etc. Does anyone know how this works in practise in the UK, or any other Western/Northern European country? (Is their leave fixed at the employer's convenience, are temps employed in the worker's place, or what?) [1] https://www.gov.uk/agricultural-workers-rights

You're comparing apples to oranges.

The underlying assumption for an agriculture worker in the UK, who is entitled to these protections, is that he is an employee ... not an owner.

Contrast this to your parent comment which was very likely a family owned farm at wich they were self-employed. They didn't have worker protections as there was nobody from whom to be protected.

Also, it should be noted that your parent comment was speaking of a dairy farm which are notorious for being "prison sentences" - you really can't ever take a vacation if you own your own dairy farm. It's the worst case scenario that he is skething out.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#269

Post by xwintermutex »

jroseattle wrote: post #81

I grew up on a farm. Not surprised to see this decision in the slightest. Farming is tough -- physically, financially, and in the end emotionally. But it is still a very rewarding life. I can remember sitting on my grandfather's lap, riding on his John Deere two-cylinder (it was called a Johnny Popper.) Pre-school? I went to pre-farming. I was probably 3 years old the first time I rode a tractor. By the time I was 8,…

Trivia: a Johnny Popper is a John Deere model M. I am currently in the process of restoring one. It is called a popper because of its distinct sound, caused by the non-180 degree angle between the two cylinders on the camshaft. I dream about every day to become a farmer.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#270

Post by learc83 »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #236
jorgeleo wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The farm life works for some people" I agree. I couldn't do farm, I have bad allergies to pollen, dust, and too much time under the sun and I become red as a lobster, and it is painful But programming is what I love to do. So I will say "The programmer life works for some people" I wouldn't call the original article "The death of a programmer", I would call it "The born of a farmer". He figure out were he feels happ…

As much as we "say" we love programming and farming if ever we became so filthy rich that we could pay other people to do these things for us... we would. I've never heard of a tech billionaire profess his love of programming so much that he's diving right back into the trenches. We're all human, we may love programming and farming, but let's be real, programming and farming are still work and we're all working towar…

I love to cook, but I don't love to peel potatoes. Just because a chef pays someone else to do the drudge work doesn't mean he doesn't love to cook.

When people say they love programming. They mean they love building interesting things, solving interesting problems, and using interesting tools.

Unfortunately, actual programs are full of boring parts. Yes, most programmers would pay someone to finish the boring parts, but I don't think that means they don't love programming.

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