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I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

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Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#141

Post by mcantor »

johnx123 wrote: post #99
johnx123 wrote: post #76

Yes, you're a bad programmer as you do it for earning. Good programmer code if for satisfaction, contributes to open source, /., HN....

Down voting?? I think, it's for poor comments--not for disagreements.

"Poor comment" is very subjective; I think that people are downvoting you not only because they disagree, but because of the type of argument you made: you imposed a value judgment on a certain kind of decision-making without really backing it up. You just said, "People who do X are 'wrong' and people who do Y are 'right'." There was no logical basis or evidence for what you wrote, and on HN, I feel like people value the rationale behind opinions as much--if not more--than the opinions themselves.

Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#142

Post by georgieporgie »

DanI-S wrote: post #6

Unless you have a super-awesome job (and lots of people do), programming in your own time may be the only way to discover and play with new things. If you work backend at a C# shop but would like to start writing Ruby, you're unlikely to get the opportunity to learn unless you do it in side projects. Practically, you may be totally happy in your current niche, but you're at higher risk from technological obsolescence…

but you're at higher risk from technological obsolescence unless you diversify.

For the same reason that a developer can produce something using a new technology on spare time, the same developer can pick up a new technology, at work, in a brief period of time.

In other words, I think it's largely B.S. to talk about 'obsolete' developers. You could only be obsolete if you entirely forgot how to learn, which I think is impossible, barring something like singularly maintaining the same COBOL system since the 70's.

Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#144

Post by mattdeboard »

weaksauce wrote: post #33
DanI-S wrote: post #6

Unless you have a super-awesome job (and lots of people do), programming in your own time may be the only way to discover and play with new things. If you work backend at a C# shop but would like to start writing Ruby, you're unlikely to get the opportunity to learn unless you do it in side projects. Practically, you may be totally happy in your current niche, but you're at higher risk from technological obsolescence…

What about the auxiliary scripts that need to be written for some tasks to automate some task that is ancillary to your product? If you are writing a ruby script for those tasks that are useful but could be done by brute force methods I don't see a problem with that. Automation of deployment or some menial task, sanitizing test data, gleaning statistics from a csv dump of the database, cron jobs, etc... I'm sure you…

Hey, I'm working on deployment/provisioning automation. It's not menial!

Ok,it's menial.

Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#145

Post by notatoad »

do you code for fun? as long as you do, it doesn't matter whether you do it at work or at home. if you can experiment with new technologies and learn new things at work, your skills are going to improve and it's probably healthier to spend your free time doing something other than coding.

if your work is drudgery where you are maintaining old stuff and it isn't helping you keep your skill set current, then you should be programming in your free time as well.

Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#146

Post by Calamitous »

jemfinch wrote: post #129
k7d wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess not everybody caught the irony

I catch the irony, but I'm not confident that it really contributes to the discussion here. Look at the comment thread it's produced: practically nothing of any consequence or interest.

Yes. Good programmers must also be humorless drones that post disapprovingly when others are clearly enjoying themselves.

Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#147

Post by gcb »

k7d wrote: post #67
reedF211 wrote: post #23

A good programmer should wake up at 6 am in the morning get a solid 2.5hrs of coding done by 8:30 am, at 8:30 leave for work, work till 6 (it goes without saying that the lunchbreak must be spent trying to learn the Haskell or if you are feeling lazy answering questions on stackoverflow). Commute from 6 to 6:30 (it's a bonus if you listen to a technical podcast during this time and no stuff like TWIT does not count,…

I guess not everybody caught the irony

I tried... but that's a description of what now I consider my sad-teen-years.

Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#148

Post by crpatino »

demallien wrote: post #93
mtviewdave wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In California, physicians are required to put in 50 hours of continuing education every two years ( http://www.medbd.ca.gov/licensee/continuing_education_option... ). Let's call that 25 hours/year. That's something you can accomplish by going to seminars. By contrast, a software developer who codes recreationally for 5 hours a week, 50 weeks out of the year, is spending 250 hours per year coding outside of work. That…

A physician is not generally creating new stuff, just using stuff that is created by someone else. Programmers create, and creation requires a much deeper understanding of a subject than just using.

I find your comment profoundly unappreciative of the skills needed for a good physician. I really hope you never get treated by an idiot with equivalent expertise to the one expressed here.

Doctors do not blindly apply "stuff that is created by someone else". For the most part, they use known techniques within the context of each individual patient and each individual ailment. The techniques are mere tools, used to diagnose and treat cases. Some cases are routine, but some others are really challenging.

Programmers, not surprisingly, use known techniques writing the context of each individual project and each individual requirement. The techniques are mere tools, used to design and implement projects. Some projects are boring, but some others are really challenging.

A minority of physicians or programmers develop a career in research, where they push the limits of their respective professions. But most people end up working on operative, day to day, jobs. And the skills are not transferable. Excellent researchers do not necessarily make excellent practitioners, and viceversa.

Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#149

Post by blahblahblah »

reedF211 wrote: post #23

A good programmer should wake up at 6 am in the morning get a solid 2.5hrs of coding done by 8:30 am, at 8:30 leave for work, work till 6 (it goes without saying that the lunchbreak must be spent trying to learn the Haskell or if you are feeling lazy answering questions on stackoverflow). Commute from 6 to 6:30 (it's a bonus if you listen to a technical podcast during this time and no stuff like TWIT does not count,…

Hats off to you, sir. That is the most excellent troll post that I have seen in a very long time. Well done!

Re: I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

#150

Post by jemfinch »

Calamitous wrote: post #146
jemfinch wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I catch the irony, but I'm not confident that it really contributes to the discussion here. Look at the comment thread it's produced: practically nothing of any consequence or interest.

Yes. Good programmers must also be humorless drones that post disapprovingly when others are clearly enjoying themselves.

Humor is funny. That post was a sarcastic expression of an obvious truth. Neither the tone nor the obviousness was what I come to HN for.
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