My Biggest Regret as a Programmer • Hacker News Board

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#181

Post by kdamken » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:39 PM UTC

Chris2048 wrote: post #117

henrik_w wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It didn't take me 30 years, only 15, but I did develop problems - RSI in my arms. Luckily, it recovered, but it took a lot of effort: http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/

As a 30yo dev, I started getting pains in my wrist, and numbness on one side of my hands (the pinky and finger-next-to-it). I switched to a ball-mouse at work, and no longer get this. I believe the large amount of time using a mouse had compressed and damaged my nerves somehow. I'd recommend the switch for anyone spending hours with a mouse.

Just for your info - that numbeness is your ulnar nerve flaring up. There are three main nerves in your arms, the radial, median and ulnar. If you start having those issues again, there may be an issue in your ulnar tunnel, aka where your funny bone is in your elbow.

Typically, if the issue is worse when your arm is bent, you know it's that. Just wanted to save you some trouble googling things if it happens to comes back.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#182

Post by HCIdivision17 » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:42 PM UTC

lucaspottersky wrote: post #176

woofyman wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be 57 in 3 months. I've been coding professionally for 35 years.

I'm about to write my first Hello World and I already dislike it.

Stick with it - it really pays returns down the line. Specifically, do some real soul-crushing busy work for a while (Excel is a good place to start) and then realize that you can automate large chucks of that in just a few minutes. It'll take days/hours at first, but eventually hours/minutes.

It's hard to beat the feeling of having a computer make your life easier. There's a triumph in it.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#183

Post by matwood » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:42 PM UTC

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #173

dcw303 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still coding after almost 20 years in the job, and have no intention of stopping. I tried some other options - teacher, artist, entrepreneur. None of them give me the thrill that I get from programming. I still get locked into a flow where time shifts, and before I know it hours have passed. The only other activity that does that is Civ, and no-one is going to pay me to play that ;) If 10x assets is what drives y…

I'm in my late forties and have been a professional developer for 25+ years. I agree with what you said in your comment, but this stood out: "You might be dead tomorrow; you might as well enjoy today." This is not a bad way to live, but as I get older I am increasingly aware that there will be a day when I'm dead tomorrow. And for that reason I'm increasingly less interested in spending time in the state where "time…

I'm only in my late 30s, but have also been thinking a lot about this. I see older people and wonder what they are thinking. Are they happy with the choices they made, the memories they have? What will I think when I'm 50, 60, 70?

Then I remember how lucky I am. I started with next to nothing, worked through college, and now basically get paid to play with computers all day (something I would have done for free anyways). I get to travel and have other amazing experiences. Biggie said it best, "when I was dead broke man, I couldn't picture this".

One of the reasons I think programmers always end up in this existential plight is that we are successful enough to have time to think about it. When I was young and worried about eating or having enough money to put gas in the car so I could get to work or school (or even having a car) I never thought about these things.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#184

Post by flatline » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:43 PM UTC

BatFastard wrote: post #151

woofyman wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be 57 in 3 months. I've been coding professionally for 35 years.

Noob, 58 and 40 years under my belt! I have been down the VP route, started my own successful company (at someone made a lot of money from it, not me). But I choose to program, I sleep well at night, I feel great about what I do (usually, every once in awhile I hit some problem that is incredibly frustrating). And I love to create things! I worked as an electrical engineer for a few years, but the turn-around time on…

> What is it about flo? That your life goes by so quickly...

The past is just a memory, the present moment is so fleeting that it cannot be grasped, and the future hasn't happened yet:) I think being in a flow state is about living with this fact, in the moment, as it is, without all the mental overhead that is past and future. You're not 58, you are brand new, right now, just as you are.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#185

Post by ThomaszKrueger » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:43 PM UTC

While I appreciate the OP's point of view, I have to say that in my experience once you start making more than you really need your job becomes taking care of that extra money, and the drive to do what took you there in the first place diminishes.

One (like myself) must have a sense of need or urgency to feel compelled to do things such as development. Once the need is gone, so is the will, and I could argue, the thrill.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#186

Post by StavrosK » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:43 PM UTC

gear54rus wrote: post #87

wtbob wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> JavaScript is actually an incredibly flexible and effective language. == vs === No integers. Assignment is declaration. Prototypes. Curly brackets & semicolons. Semicolon insertion. It may be flexible (in the sense that an Alfa Romeo driven into a telephone pole at 120 mph is flexible), but it sure as heck ain't effective. JavaScript is the great shame of the computing industry: that it exists, and that it is used,…

No amount of cute phrases will change the fact that it is being spread by people who actually understand its flexibility instead of focusing on something that rubs them the wrong way (which, most of the time is the result of working with other, often shiver enterprisey language(s) and thinking that that's how it's done) quite effectively and there's no sign of stopping for its growth. And that is good. With things li…

My litmus test for whether an argument for JS is valid is replacing "JS" with "PHP" in my head and seeing if it reads the same. PHP did all the same things, but that doesn't make it a good language, it just makes it a language that's easy enough to learn for it to get popular.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#187

Post by WesleyJohnson » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:44 PM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #155

forgetsusername wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My sister has 10X the assets I have. That gave me pause as well. Work 10x as hard for 10 assets? Not worth it for everyone.

Do you think his sister worked 10x the hours? So say a 400 hour week?

Working harder doesn't always mean working more hours. After 8 hours sitting at a desk programming, sometimes I realize how lucky I am to not have to hand-load semis all day in a blistering hot distribution center. And then sometimes, after a particularly grueling programming session working on the same bug for 8 hours, I yearn for a day of work where I can shut my brain off and chuck some boxes.

'Harder' is subjective.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#188

Post by valine » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:45 PM UTC

joshmanders wrote: post #158

woofyman wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first program was written in Dartmouth Basic. The original version of Basic. In college, for the first 2 years I used punched cards. Then after college I programmed a jet fighter. Then realtime embedded avioinics stuff. I got tired of working with custom hardware which was challenging distinguishing between hardware and software bugs. After 20 years of Windows programming, I re-invented myself as a HTML, CSS, Coff…

Thanks guys, you all make me feel better about turning 31 in a month and a half and have been coding since 15.

I stated coding when I was 11. I turned 19 a couple months ago. I guess that makes me one of those junior developers everyone talks about.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#189

Post by RodericDay » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:46 PM UTC

scandox wrote: post #45

"I can still feel the regret of not seeking the challenge of just leadership." He's right. Programmers need to get into leadership, because they have a chance of knowing what "just leadership" might look like. When non-technical people lead technical people, the chance of getting into a good flow is less (though by no means impossible). The problem is that many technical people are not "people" persons. Part of that…

This is pretty ridiculous.

Lawyers, Bankers, and Doctors get to play in intellectual sandboxes, and they get paid really handsomely for it, even if they are completely anti-social people.

The reason we get paid less is that we don't have any of their safeguards:

- Lawyers aim to become partner. It's very socialist-y this way. The goal working in a firm is to become an owner of the firm and share in its successes.

- Doctors have a guild. They keep their bottom end tight by regulating who becomes a doctor, keeps them always in demand.

- Bankers know how much things are worth. That's their business. They know how much they generate, even if they are far from the point of sale. They also aren't squeamish about asking how much their co-workers make, and negotiate aggressively.

Programmers should start realizing that the main reason we make little is that we undercut each other a lot, and are outright hostile to many tools that other professions use to safeguard their position.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#190

Post by ulkesh » Wed, Apr 06, 2016, 1:46 PM UTC

kdamken wrote: post #174

I think this guy may actually just be dumb. Yes, C-Suite positions make more money, and get to make more decisions. If he wanted to do that, it sounds like he could have at any time. Of course just being a programmer would earn you less. > Being a programmer for nearly 35 years... > I doubt I will ever be able to really retire. How do you have a good paying job like being a programmer/the other high level gigs he men…

I agree that materialistic thinking and living certainly contributes to lack of savings/retirement assets. But so does simply having a family, especially as a single parent or when the spouse doesn't work.

You might say "well, the spouse can go work," but it's rarely that simple considering the costs of child care and how it may weigh on the spouse's potential salary. Then factor in if the spouse can even get a higher paying job to offset said costs. Then add in the trouble with the spouse even obtaining a job due to not having a bachelor degree.

Everything feeds into everything else. No one situation can easily have the same resolution as another situation.

I agree that there is no excuse to not trying. But there may be reasons for not succeeding.