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My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

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Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#191

Post by osweiller »

Does he regret not buying a lottery ticket when he sees that someone else won? He may very well (especially if the winner was someone who intersected in their lives, making it seem more proximal), but that's essentially the argument given that there is absolutely no guarantee that they would have seen any success in the technical management space. It's presumptive and egotistic to assume it would have been a successful pursuit.

And while the leadership path has very high highs, it is also the route to career death for many people who went that route. When companies do cutbacks, "middle management" is virtually always the first target. These are the people who often have the hardest time justifying their value.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#192

Post by StavrosK »

buro9 wrote: post #68

My biggest regret is not shipping more. Sometimes the cause of that is management, and I long to be on that side defining the missing specs, building out the absent project plans, speaking to customers, allocating resource, championing it all and pushing it forward. At those times I despise being a programmer because being a programmer isn't enough to get product shipped. Other times (but it feels less frequently) th…

I think this discontent stems from wanting to fix the problems that you see on the other side, and you make a good point. If you're a programmer, you look at the bad manager and say "I could fix this if I were in his shoes". If you're the manager, you look at the bad programmer and say the same.

Maybe there is a way to just fix problems where you see them?

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#193

Post by stavros »

okyup wrote: post #140

I agree that programming is a dead end job. It's popular and relatively easy. It doesn't require any special skills. Anyone with an average IQ can learn it. There's low cost and barrier of entry to getting started. It's fun and addicting when you're a kid. Then you get trapped and it becomes monotonous. There's only so good you can get at programming. Beyond that, most of your time is spent on debugging trivial issue…

Found the manager!

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#194

Post by hashkb »

Zelmor wrote: post #24

He would have been unhappy with the other choice as well, because then it is the programming side he would be missing out on. I would advise everyone to read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536 You chose one option out of many, and the others may no longer be a possibility. However, the writer's unhappiness does not spawn from his inability to be successful at what he does,…

He quotes Frost in his post. Pretty sure he gets your point. In fact, he was making it.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#195

Post by randcraw »

pjmlp wrote: post #159
buserror wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started working at 17. So that's 30 years for me! Darn, I should have some sort of celebration ;-) My very first paid project was designing the PA audio system in the Lille (france) metro. It was a fancy Mac SE/30 with a IEEE GPIO card. That was driving two big Revox Tape machines, and was playing one, rewinding the other etc. Occasionally it would also play a digital audio file (w000t!). It was all in Pascal at th…

I started coding at the age of 10 with Timex Basic, Z80 and everything evolve from there. On my first internship after high school while waiting for university applications to come out was done in Clipper and Access/Visual Basic. Also starting OS/400 backup jobs. Not the set of languages that I already enjoyed most, but it kept myself busy during the Summer.

I'm 58 too. First program: HP25 assembly (calculator) in 1975; second: Dartmouth BASIC (horrible) in 1976. After a degree in zoology, I went back for a MS in CS part time. I've been programming in various forms of R&D since.

I can't imagine having done anything else. Sure, many other careers sound appealing. But software has been stimulating and sustainable while affording me a managable level of stress and downtime as needed. (Try doing that as a physician or veterinarian, both careers that I once considered).

That said, I sympathize with the OP's frustrations. Software jobs usually imply a rather flat hierarchy, with little opportunity for advancement other than leads or principals. Any further rise in responsibility requires that you leave tech behind and spend your days in meetings. Not for me.

However if you work in R&D without a PhD, I've found a severe glass ceiling (especially at larger companies). In general, no advancement beyond lead staff for you. If I'd known that 10-20 years ago, I would have handled that differently (get a PhD, work at smaller firms, or leave R&D). The road not taken, I guess...

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#196

Post by nunez »

This post resonated with me. I've realized that, more often than not, technical individual contributors have very very little influence over the general direction of a product, let alone a business, and have a very well-understood (and, in my opinion, low) salary cap. Job hopping helps with ensuring that your compensation doesn't stray too far off from market rate, but this only brings you closer to the proverbial glass ceiling. I've also worked in organizations with technical management that were barely technical and happened to get into those positions for other reasons, yet they somehow made more in bonuses and raw salary than ICs.

These two things have made me want to focus on getting into management as soon as possible. (I'm 28.) I might hate the additional responsibility, or I might not, but I feel like going this direction will give me some more upside than I currently have now.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#197

Post by moron4hire »

friendzis wrote: post #101
rajeemcariazo wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

could you elaborate more about using node and npm

I am not node developer, but I don't think it solves the problems it is supposed to. Serving pages rendered with node via webserver (nginx, apache) is not the most pleasant experience compared to e.g. python + wsgi npm packages are not packages. It is simply a dependency definition + repository. Pull in package from npm and it is nowhere near usable until you figure out where it actually puts the files you care. You…

You are right, you're not a node developer.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#198

Post by justaman »

bucma wrote: post #163
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 think people who are picking up on the 10x assets thing are missing the point... Money can help you feel better about things when things in general aren't going well. What he says about missed opportunities, and working for idiotic management, that's the big thing here. You work your ass off, the management does dumb things, so the thing you're working on never really pays off, in money or fun. The fact that his si…

I think the disconnect between management and the developers is worth discussing.

Its important for management to understand the difficulties and decisions made by a development team to properly create a roadmap for the business. I think the author is expressing that the lack of respect for the programmers opinions can be detrimental.

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#199

Post by GeoffreySteven »

I've been both the programmer and the entrepreneur. With multiple exits, I've been choosing my projects for years.

Software is more deterministic that humans. When businesses fail, it usually comes down to the other business partners/clients making and enforcing the wrong call - often in unpredictable ways. If you have to choose, manage the software, control the company.

IMHO, it always works out better for yourself when you own & control everything. If you have partners, have the veto.

Make and keep the gold I say :)

Re: My Biggest Regret as a Programmer

#200

Post by rb808 »

mclovinit wrote: post #124
Zelmor wrote: post #24

He would have been unhappy with the other choice as well, because then it is the programming side he would be missing out on. I would advise everyone to read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536 You chose one option out of many, and the others may no longer be a possibility. However, the writer's unhappiness does not spawn from his inability to be successful at what he does,…

I took a management path at first, thinking it was a natural progression upon obtaining over a decade and a half of experience and being enouraged by my peers over the years. I was never unhappier. I gave it everything I could. My team loved me and I shielded them from mountains of pain and frustration. I got sick from stress and mildly depressed from lack of a technically creative outlet. It took me over a year to r…

I was the same. Its great you shielded all the crap from the team, but it didn't turn out very well. Next time I'm going to try and shield but also delegate lots of crap guilt free!
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