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Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

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Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#51

Post by geocrasher »

cschep wrote: post #38

It's possible, though I don't know you, that you're too smart to be a programmer. And maybe "programmer" is the problem. Be a _____ who can also code. Zed Shaw said it best in the final pages of learn python the hard way. Programming as a career is rarely fulfilling to anyone. But being a teacher/doctor/librarian/entrepreneur/warehouse worker/farmer/etc. that can code is a super power. I'm basically talking to myself…

This. My own suspicion is that you the OP is highly intelligent and recognizes all of these weaknesses due to his own intelligence rather than a lack of it.

I can relate to some of these things in a way. When I was 15 I tried to teach myself TC++. I got hung up on pointers and thought that I just wasn't smart enough to understand them. Many years later I had somebody who helped me understand pointers and I realized that I just wasn't interested in learning past that point.

I had kicked myself many times for not following through on learning TC++. I thought that I was too dumb to be a programmer. Turns out I just don't want to be a programmer! Sure I can bash script pretty well and I can knock together some PHP to do something if I absolutely have to or even a little python, but I only get out those tools when I neede them to accomplish a primary goal.

It turns out that I'm quite good at writing, teaching, and identifying areas where specific tools can help the people who I am teaching. So I write, teach, and build tools as needed.

And just because I do them in bash or do them poorly in Python doesn't mean that I'm bad at programming. It just means it's not where my strengths are and that I focus on what I am good at and love doing.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that you aren't a bad programmer. You're just better and more interested in something else and you need to figure out what that thing is and pursue it and put programming on the back burner as a superpower as was mentioned in the previous comment above this one.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#54

Post by pinkrobotics »

Do art. Find passion. Do passion.

Or,

Find love. Have children. Be a great parent.

Coding is just a tool, a means to an end, not a career. If you don't like using a keyboard/multimeter/hammer, don't work in an area that requires a keyboard/multimeter/hammer.

Painting and parenting can both be very rewarding, and make you very happy over a lifetime.

As for money, enough to get by, can be enough. Life doesn't have to be about ways to get money.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#55

Post by throwaway88p »

t-writescode wrote: post #15
godelski wrote: post #4

I may be off base here, but it sounds to me like you just aren't interested in the subjects. One of the biggest factors to learning is how much interest you have. There are tricks you can do to get yourself more interested, but it does take a fair amount of work and isn't always effective. But if you wonder why sometimes we can remember silly details or whole complicated plotlines from stories but can't remember a si…

I think you hit the nail on the head here. This person tries to get us to believe they're stupid; but, if they believe that themselves, truly, then they're going to create self-fulfilling prophecies. They need to find something they're interested in to work on every day. 8 hours is a long time each day to be doing something, it's better if you're interested in it, so that at least some of those hours are fun. And I w…

I don't think I'm stupid, but I do believe that most people have a sort of "ceiling" in regards to their capabilities, intellectual or otherwise. I'm mostly curious about what to do when those something they're interested in's fall outside of your capability.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#56

Post by fabatka »

I don't think you are supposed to "find your dream job" or whatever. Work is just a slice of life, and I think you should try to find something outside work that makes you happy (art? forming a serious relationship and devoting yourself to it? anything, really). If you are so lucky that you work in IT, you don't have to do much more than the minimum to live a relatively comfortable life, and be able to concentrate on things outside of your work. That world is much bigger, and you surely can find something that makes you feel fulfilled.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#57

Post by twowatches »

emsy wrote: post #17
farias0 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I guess the real question here is "do you love programming?" If you do you can make it work, it's a matter of not giving up and instead tweaking your learning system, practicing more and better, etc. If you don't you need to find another area. Programming is a very demanding trade, and I don't think you can do it just for the paycheck, you need to have some degree of passion for it. If someone disagrees with me…

I’ve seen enough colleagues who are just in it for the money and found a niche inside the company that avoids anything demanding. In that regard you can work in a mind numbing fashion that other, often lower paid, professions also have. I wouldn’t recommend it though because the trouble comes when switching jobs can’t be avoided.

This describes me to a certain degree, and it's perfectly doable. I'm sure a lot of people do this, and I think a lot of the "find something you love" kind of posts are idealistic and unrealistic. I used to love software when I was younger and it was fresh and I still thought I might be a genius who could do something amazing, but then I went it to the real world and discovered that I was fairly average in what I did and, much importantly, anything you do for 40 hours a week becomes boring and a drag. That's why I keep my real interests and hobbies to my spare time where they're limited in time so they can't get boring. But at the same time this means I will never get that good at anything.

There are a small percentage of folk who are really good at programming and are at the bleeding edge making really cool stuff but for the vast majority it's just brick laying for a wage, which I think is fine but programming is exhausting so it's hard to find comfort and not burn out. I manage by having found cool guys to work with so it's a good laugh. I do wonder what I'll do when I finally just don't have the mental resilience to write code anymore and have to find another job.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#58

Post by cschep »

geocrasher wrote: post #51
cschep wrote: post #38

It's possible, though I don't know you, that you're too smart to be a programmer. And maybe "programmer" is the problem. Be a _____ who can also code. Zed Shaw said it best in the final pages of learn python the hard way. Programming as a career is rarely fulfilling to anyone. But being a teacher/doctor/librarian/entrepreneur/warehouse worker/farmer/etc. that can code is a super power. I'm basically talking to myself…

This. My own suspicion is that you the OP is highly intelligent and recognizes all of these weaknesses due to his own intelligence rather than a lack of it. I can relate to some of these things in a way. When I was 15 I tried to teach myself TC++. I got hung up on pointers and thought that I just wasn't smart enough to understand them. Many years later I had somebody who helped me understand pointers and I realized t…

I appreciate this insight so much. I'm in the thick of working through the feelings of failure that are associated with an honest preference. There is a voice in my head that says "you're a failure" or "you just can't hack it" when I honestly just don't have the preference to keep learning in that direction.

Someone else in this thread mentioned therapy and that has helped me immensely in this pursuit but.. It also helps to relate to other people in the same situation.

May we all feel some peace!

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#59

Post by rexreed »

Have you thought about jobs that involve some sort of manual labor / physical activity? Maybe you have "physical" intelligence (it's a thing) or perhaps something more aligned with creative arts? Try doing a bunch of different things. If you're not strapped for money, see if you can shadow a bunch of different careers and see which one sparks interest in you. I agree that it has to do with interest, not aptitude.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#60

Post by fileeditview »

throw3848yui wrote: post #14

I am something you could consider smart; wrote first program as 6 years old, gave talks at conferences, worked on crypto-concesus algos, now I do research oriented consulting. Some points: - pattern recognition is basic brain function and everyone has it - you need PERFECT health to be smart; check testosterone, sleep, weight, nofap, exercise etc.. 90% people have brain fog for some stupid fixable reason - there is n…

Avoiding relationships is one of the dumbest ways to fight dissatisfaction.
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