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Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#561

Post by fuqted »

terminalcommand wrote: post #383
amelius wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But at least those jobs don't have the stigma of being (in the words above) Asperger professions. This makes it difficult to share your problems with other people, and of course, also because people in general would, I suppose, find the problems that musicians or theatre writers have more interesting, and more approachable than the problems of a software developer. Also, this makes that a musician can be a "musician"…

As a law student, I experience this a lot. Computers and programming were/are my only passion and obsession. My life is dedicated to computers, but professionally I have to be a lawyer. I just had an interview at an IT Law Firm, and made a fool of myself. That's why I completely agree that, we as "people who are good at computers" need to keep seperate identities. Because if you go full Aspergers, you make yourself v…

Smart people should never have to feel ashamed for what they know. The other day I - as an underemployed 24 year old teaching myself software development - was at the cafe of a software company. Some guy was telling his coworker that in the near future we may have patches that read our temperature and heartrate throughout the day (I'm thinking contact lenses). He's coworker answered with a sarcastic "Okay..?" and pretty much had nothing to say on the subject. I've been that guy. People are intimidated by things they don't know the same way a baby is intimidated by the cup without a sippy lid. You have to train them to let them know they're able to use the cup and sadly society at large hasn't trained themselves to accept new information.

Cold world but I'm sure there's a way to go about it that inspires more awe than resent.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#562

Post by asveikau »

rnovak wrote: post #550
asveikau wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Balls is calling you out for your behavior. What have you done here except pick on people for standing up to it?

Many people who are actually on the autism spectrum (such as myself, though technically I was diagnosed with Aspergers a long time ago) don't want your help. I'm continually annoyed that I actually have to say "autism spectrum disorder" to describe MYSELF, lest I be called politically incorrect. Many just want to live a normal life, and having other people (with no vested interest whatsoever) rushing to our "defense"…

> Many people who are actually on the autism spectrum ... don't want your help.

Many, sure. But all? And even regardless of the answer to that question, I don't think that's a good reason to not call someone a jerk for being a jerk about it.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#563

Post by sctb »

Fifer82 wrote: post #529
asveikau wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His comment was aimed at someone defending those with a disorder they cannot help. I call that bullying.

Oh please. Grow a set of balls.

You can't comment like this here.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#564

Post by sprocket »

digler999 wrote: post #543
sprocket wrote: post #406

I graduated with a degree in CPSC in the early 2000's and worked in the field for about 10 years before my wife and I moved to a more rural locale, bought a small herd of dairy goats, and started making cheese. It's a very different and difficult life, but on the whole is very rewarding. The money will never be the same as working in tech, and you'll almost certainly have to scale back your lifestyle expectations. I…

random idea: why not open a hostel/retreat for programmers to come work on your farm for weeklong increments. Free room/board in exchange for 8hrs labor. Post videos of exactly what kind of work is awaiting them, and interviews of people who have tried it. You get free labor on your farm, and a passive "income" source, they get to step away from their burned-out, fluorescent-lit cubicles and actually get to try livin…

Honestly, I'd rather hire someone at a reasonable wage, train them, and turn them loose without my supervision, or spend 10k and automate part of my production, than have to supervise people. It's likely a bit different in dairying than it would be for something like vegetable production - I don't have lots of repetitive, low-skill tasks (sorry, vegetable farming people!) like weeding or harvesting that I could safely unleash untrained people upon.

I have a hard enough time finding reliable paid help (and we're well above minimum wage); managing people with even less incentive to put in a day's work isn't that appealing. :)

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#565

Post by hermitcrab »

No. I have been programming professionally for the last 30 years and I still enjoy it. I did get a bit fed of working for other people though. So I set up as an independent, selling my own software products (http://www.perfecttableplan.com and http://www.hyperplan.com) 11 years ago and never looked back. It was financially hard for the first 12 months, but now it pays better than I ever did in a permanent job. I probably spend about half my time programming now and the rest doing marketing and support. I don't have any meetings and no management BS. The biggest downside is having to take a laptop on holiday. But that seems a small price to pay for the freedom and lifestyle.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#566

Post by mpweiher »

david927 wrote: post #114

I currently work in a good environment where I'm appreciated and paid well. Not many people in the world can say that, so I have a lot to be thankful for. Programming has done good by me. But I don't love it. Alan Kay is right, it's like building "an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves". There's no eleg…

Yes, I use Alan Kay's pyramid image[1] in my talks about software architecture[2][3][4]. But then I compare it to the Cologne Cathedral, which encloses a vastly larger space with vastly more light using 1/50th the material, yet it's the same kind of material: cut stones piled on top of each other.

So there is hope, I think, and that hope, I think, is improving our understanding and practice of software architecture[5].

And it's not like there we don't have examples in software. Let's take Bentley's challenge[6]: Don Knuth with 12 pages of (literate/web) Pascal, Doug McIllroy with 6 lines of shell. Or Nile/Gezira, a modern graphics subsystem (think Cairo or Quartz) in ~500LOC. Yes, 500LOC.

So we need to figure out what makes these examples work so much better and how we can apply what we've learned to make our lives better. That's what I am doing, care to join me? [5]

[1] http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1039523

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5hGmXFHQS4

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKY-0atLDAo

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OAtHOLIg84

[5] http://objective.st

[6] http://franklinchen.com/blog/2011/12/08/revisiting-knuth-and...

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#567

Post by biinui »

cyberferret wrote: post #146
david927 wrote: post #114

I currently work in a good environment where I'm appreciated and paid well. Not many people in the world can say that, so I have a lot to be thankful for. Programming has done good by me. But I don't love it. Alan Kay is right, it's like building "an Egyptian pyramid with millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity, but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves". There's no eleg…

> It's an Asperger profession; smart but artless. Sorry, but I would have to disagree with you on this. I've been programming now for over 35 years, and really cannot see myself doing anything else. I find I can channel my creativity into programming in many ways, and writing a good piece of code gives me the same satisfaction as writing or recording apiece of music. Yes, I am a musician too, and while they are very…

whoa, interesting perspectives. do you have more?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#568

Post by Aitizazk »

jventura wrote: post #248
Aitizazk wrote: post #126

Well the next best thing for me would be teaching programming. still couldnt forget the awesome feeling when I made a calculator in a cs101 course :D

That's what I'll be doing in two weeks.. I started my working career as a teacher, but didn't like it that much as I was teaching smaller kids learning MS Word, Excel and similar tools. Eventually I worked as researcher, finished a PhD and start working as web developer. But doing crud apps all day got boring pretty fast, and I think my current expertise on web and mobile development will be great for my classes as I…

That is exactly what we need in the Education sector I guess. teachers with experience in working on real world products. I completely agree CS overall is very practical field and too much theory should be avoided

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#569

Post by ktkization »

barbs wrote: post #299
clentaminator wrote: post #256

I think about leaving programming every day. I love programming, but I'm not sure I enjoy software development as a career. I enjoy coding and understanding how computer systems work, but I don't care for the constant changes in tools and techniques in certain domains of development. I'd rather practise with and improve my existing knowledge of a subject, instead of constantly playing catch-up with someone else's too…

I'm in an eerily similar situation. Been doing software development for about 5 years (though at different places, doing primarily Android development), am just over 6 weeks at a new job and I'm beginning to feel that software development's just not for me anymore. I don't feel passionate about most aspects of it - constantly playing catchup with the latest frameworks, the development/management methodologies/process…

Have you checked this out before http://www.bountysource.com

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#570

Post by biinui »

berntb wrote: post #218

Regarding all discussion about creativity and programming, I heard a usability expert that had been painting for 30 years say this about GUI engineering: Usability as a subject is the opposite of art, it is kitsch. You actively try to make simple and obvious; to have just one possible meaning. She also said that art/painting was the best of hobbies, but would have been the worst possible of jobs. Too little money and…

it's interesting to see outputs of colorblind artists :) https://www.google.com/search?q=colorblind+artist&ie=utf-8&o...

give it a shot perhaps?

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