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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

#121

Post by pjmorris »

nkozyra wrote: post #24
torrent-of-ions wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in the suburbs and hated it. I hated the idea of having to go long distances to get milk and eggs. I'm happy now in a city centre.

I have this feeling that kids tend to hate where they grow up due to all of the perceived failings and things they're missing out on. I grew up in a relaxed beach town in Florida, and hated it. My family all moved from NYC and fell in love in a heartbeat. Something about not being in the same place for too long applies here, too.

I also grew up in a relaxed beach town in Florida, and hated it (then).

I've moved to larger, and larger, and larger cities since, pursuing academia and career, and they have their charms and I'm glad I went. But now I miss the beach town, and hope to get back. I guess we are the sum of our experiences. Maybe the feeling you're missing out helps by driving you to seek new things out.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#122

Post by tlear »

brianwawok wrote: post #107
coldtea wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have this feeling that kids tend to hate where they grow up Even so, you don't hear as many kids hating on the big city as they hate on the suburbs or the countryside. I mean, kids hatred for the suburbs have inspired tons of movies and songs, for the city, not so much.

Really? My daughter hated the big city. "I can't even go outside alone". Who knows, maybe she will move back when she is 20 and love it.

Thats a problem with messed up North American culture. Kids should be able to go outside by themselves in cities. They do exactly that all over the world. In places much more dangerous then normal city in US. I commuted to school at age of 9, having to switch streetcars and walk for 15 mins. Total time of about 40 mins one way. Often I would walk back through the city instead, this would take about 2 hours of wondering through city of more then 2 million. I love cities, but I also love countryside in different way. I despise suburbs.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#123

Post by VLM »

EliRivers wrote: post #91
steego wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many Americans don't see the value in a local shop because local shops tend to be more expensive and offer fewer choices. It's easier to consolidate your errands and hit a big grocery store and a big box store.

That conflicts with a different cultural "fact" I have about US citizens. They love convenience (for example, "convenience stores") and willingly pay extra for it.

Its a class thing.

Middle levels have the money to burn and often prioritize time over money. Plus complaining about paying $3 for an apple at the gas station quickie mart is a rare and cheap conspicuous consumption opportunity for them. I only have about 2 hours "off" unallocated tonight and I'm not going to spend 1/4 of my time off today saving $2 on the cost of an apple by going out of my way to shop at the food store.

For poor people its a poor people budgeting thing. As per the previous recent discussions on HN, poor guy has $3 in pocket, gas station has $3 apple on shelf, he buys it because 1) he doesn't have $5 to buy a 5 pound bag from the supermarket 2) no idea when/if he'll ever have an extra $5 again to spend on an extra luxury like an apple 3) travel isn't free when you're poor so bus fare and hours spent taking public transit to the store and time spent not working means that $5 bag is more like $15 total systemic cost and thats a bit steep for a poor guy who just has a taste for an apple today?

Upper levels have their personal assistant / admin assistant buy the apple for them. Its all going to be expense-d and its a rounding error anyway and the admin assistant is in a hurry so fine here take this $3 convenience store apple and I need a receipt for that thanks.

And thats how we love our $3 convenience store apples. Despite most apple sales being in 5 pound bags at the supermarket of course.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#124

Post by pjc50 »

iagooar wrote: post #28

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and this post definitely gives me some motivation. I'm a programmer who loves to code and build stuff, learning new programming languages and frameworks, discussing about architecture, etc. I love shipping new features and making customers happy. BUT inside of me a desire has been growing to go back to the roots, to live a life closer to the nature. I feel the need to spend…

This is essentially the hippy commune / kibbutz concept, with the wrinkle of generating most of its "foreign exchange" through tech work rather than pure agricultural produce. With a bit of careful tax planning you could offset all the fun unproductive stuff against tax and claim both R&D and small farmer allowances.

Division of tasks is where this kind of thing tends to fall down.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#126

Post by logicalmind »

ryandrake wrote: post #48

I don't know--good for this guy, but there's no way I'd do it. I got into technology in order to avoid a life of back-breaking manual labor. When I was a kid I had to go help bail hay on a farm, and then graduated to assisting my father doing construction jobs. Nailing shingles to a roof under the sun all day in the middle of the summer is great motivation to go for that job in an air conditioned office.

I was in the same boat. The comparison should really be about the long-term downsides. Sure, the sedentary lifestyle of computer work could cause various ailments. But the farm lifestyle will cause its own long-term ailments. Everyone is built differently, so there is no guarantee of health on either side. Eventually, both forms of work will catch up with you. It's just a matter of which one you can personally handle better. ie. carpal tunnel vs slipped disks. Not to mention the difference in possibility of serious injury or death. There is a lot of opportunity on a farm to get injured temporarily or permanently. If serious, you either die or are unable to continue farming. I find this piece very short-sighted.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#127

Post by joshrotenberg »

I applaud the author for having the guts to make such a drastic change and see it through. I get it.

I'd be curious to know, though, and without being too critical, how this change affects his kids? Did they have to change schools? Leave friends and be further away from family? I ask mainly because as a kid I was often a victim of my mother's fickleness, and as a parent it has been a goal of mine to give my kids the stability I didn't have. Again, not a judgement here, just interested in hearing about that aspect of this endeavor.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#128

Post by emodendroket »

Apocryphon wrote: post #58
emodendroket wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of them end up going back to the not-so-simple life in a few years so I'm hesitant to read too much into an early account like this.

Worked for Thoreau.

He spent more time editing his manuscript than he did actually living in his cabin.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#129

Post by javajosh »

tsunamifury wrote: post #74
charlysisto wrote: post #20

Not to question this guy's remarkable decision or the article itself, just one expression I see quit often and makes me cringe each time, that is : the real world (referred here as a little haven of nature). Is the 19th century Industrial revolution just an illusion, the factories, the cars, the towns, the wars just a view of the spirit, and the little birds singing in the trees the real world ? Is the current (elect…

I think, comparatively, given all the human and computer driven computation to create simulations on a screen resulting in something 1/100,000,000th as complex as a sqft of rainforest... Yes its not real. Computation has been trapped inside boxes and tiny screens, virtualization with behaviors that don't even approach the richness and complexity of reality outside that box. Don't get me wrong, it's a noble and passio…

I wish I could upvote you more. This is the proper context for our work.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#130

Post by mod »

nkozyra wrote: post #24
torrent-of-ions wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in the suburbs and hated it. I hated the idea of having to go long distances to get milk and eggs. I'm happy now in a city centre.

I have this feeling that kids tend to hate where they grow up due to all of the perceived failings and things they're missing out on. I grew up in a relaxed beach town in Florida, and hated it. My family all moved from NYC and fell in love in a heartbeat. Something about not being in the same place for too long applies here, too.

I grew up in a relaxed beach town in Florida (Venice), and I liked it pretty well--but all of my peers hated it.

"There's nothing to do here."

I just thought "seriously? We have everything but a theme park." Go carts, beaches, movies, skating rinks, arcades, everything!

I've since learned that kids say that no matter where they live, seemingly.

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