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I'm curious; what do you consider of something working with your hands? I came from the opposite background (former chemist, process engineer, chemical engineer

by lolptdr 11y ago

I'm curious; what do you consider of something working with your hands? I came from the opposite background (former chemist, process engineer, chemical engineering) and opposed the minimal work that hardly anyone cared for. With programming, moving electrons makes it a much bigger impact with much ease.

Ronsenshi 11y ago
I can sympathize with anexprogrammer and I think by working with your hands he might mean something like woodworking, metalworking, generally working "in the shop" making stuff. I'm not unhappy being a programmer, but from time to time I immensely enjoy fixing things at home myself - I see result of my work here and now. Being a programmer I may not see finished result of my work for a long time. I think it is quite beneficial for programmers to dabble in some hobbies that involve some handiwork - be it knitting or making playing dices out of metal.
- anexprogrammer 11y ago
  I'm now in conservation and restoration, so a bit of all of those. I considered restoring old vehicles, but didn't want to end up "just" a mechanic. It was working on cars that was my trigger to get out - I felt so much more satisfaction from restoring a car than I ever did from meeting a ship date. I think because it has a tangible sense of progress and completion, and there's something to point at that's more "real"
  - randcraw 11y ago
    There's a (fair) book on this very subject: "Shop Class as Soulcraft" by Matheww Crawford. He earned a PhD in economics and after working briefly in a Washington think tank he quit and opened a shop repairing antique motorcycles. (That was the plan anyway. I think he really makes his living writing.) I can totally relate to the need to have a life outside the virtual world. I've been programming for 30 years (data analysis in R&D mostly), and while I love the intellectual stimulation from writing code to do something new, I also crave physical contact with the world. But it's still not clear to me how best to make that work. Can I do this as part of a job, or must this happen only after hours? I considered working in robotics, since that seemed an ideal mix of the two realms, but I'd rather not feed the military maw, which is where 95% of the work is. Maybe I should just reorg my garage to add room for a workbench and join the ranks of shadetree mechs. Lord knows I have enough machinery that need wrenching...
  - lolptdr 11y ago
    Ah, I agree, we all need to see progress and potential eventually. I was previously working in semiconductor and it would take 3-8 months to see any effect of my work. That long cycle time pushed me away. Now I am a front-end developer and love it. The feedback of aesthetics, no matter how small, reminds me that I can still have an impact. Thank you for sharing your new found love!
anexprogrammer 11y ago
Conservation and restoration. Some of the things I do will hopefully outlast me. Your typical piece of software is replaced or rendered obsolete in a year or two. Unless you do something out of the ordinary, in five or ten years time the app, game or website you built is long forgotten or replaced.
- cableshaft 11y ago
  That's why I'm losing some of my excitement in programming and getting it back again in designing physical board and card games. Video game development used to excite me, but now most games are made to be consumed in an hour or two and forgotten for the next game. Meanwhile board games last, there's value in old editions (I picked up a 40 year old copy of Diplomacy recently), and people still play games that are decades old (not all games, but enough to be worthwhile). Also, even if I never get a single board game published (unlikely), I will still leave prototypes behind for my family to encounter. Meanwhile, my video games are on my hard drive and could disappear if they don't keep perpetuating digital copies of them. Also you can make a video game version of the board game you made and now you can sell in two different mediums.

by lolptdr 11y ago

Ronsenshi 11y ago

I can sympathize with anexprogrammer and I think by working with your hands he might mean something like woodworking, metalworking, generally working "in the shop" making stuff. I'm not unhappy being a programmer, but from time to time I immensely enjoy fixing things at home myself - I see result of my work here and now. Being a programmer I may not see finished result of my work for a long time. I think it is quite beneficial for programmers to dabble in some hobbies that involve some handiwork - be it knitting or making playing dices out of metal.

anexprogrammer 11y ago
I'm now in conservation and restoration, so a bit of all of those. I considered restoring old vehicles, but didn't want to end up "just" a mechanic. It was working on cars that was my trigger to get out - I felt so much more satisfaction from restoring a car than I ever did from meeting a ship date. I think because it has a tangible sense of progress and completion, and there's something to point at that's more "real"
- randcraw 11y ago
  There's a (fair) book on this very subject: "Shop Class as Soulcraft" by Matheww Crawford. He earned a PhD in economics and after working briefly in a Washington think tank he quit and opened a shop repairing antique motorcycles. (That was the plan anyway. I think he really makes his living writing.) I can totally relate to the need to have a life outside the virtual world. I've been programming for 30 years (data analysis in R&D mostly), and while I love the intellectual stimulation from writing code to do something new, I also crave physical contact with the world. But it's still not clear to me how best to make that work. Can I do this as part of a job, or must this happen only after hours? I considered working in robotics, since that seemed an ideal mix of the two realms, but I'd rather not feed the military maw, which is where 95% of the work is. Maybe I should just reorg my garage to add room for a workbench and join the ranks of shadetree mechs. Lord knows I have enough machinery that need wrenching...
- lolptdr 11y ago
  Ah, I agree, we all need to see progress and potential eventually. I was previously working in semiconductor and it would take 3-8 months to see any effect of my work. That long cycle time pushed me away. Now I am a front-end developer and love it. The feedback of aesthetics, no matter how small, reminds me that I can still have an impact. Thank you for sharing your new found love!

anexprogrammer 11y ago

Conservation and restoration. Some of the things I do will hopefully outlast me. Your typical piece of software is replaced or rendered obsolete in a year or two. Unless you do something out of the ordinary, in five or ten years time the app, game or website you built is long forgotten or replaced.

cableshaft 11y ago
That's why I'm losing some of my excitement in programming and getting it back again in designing physical board and card games. Video game development used to excite me, but now most games are made to be consumed in an hour or two and forgotten for the next game. Meanwhile board games last, there's value in old editions (I picked up a 40 year old copy of Diplomacy recently), and people still play games that are decades old (not all games, but enough to be worthwhile). Also, even if I never get a single board game published (unlikely), I will still leave prototypes behind for my family to encounter. Meanwhile, my video games are on my hard drive and could disappear if they don't keep perpetuating digital copies of them. Also you can make a video game version of the board game you made and now you can sell in two different mediums.