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No regrets, though I'm thinking maybe in a year or two I'll retire completely from programming and work on physical fitness instead. Perhaps find a job that doe

by meric 11y ago

No regrets, though I'm thinking maybe in a year or two I'll retire completely from programming and work on physical fitness instead. Perhaps find a job that doesn't involve programming. I will probably program as a hobby. I know if I continue programming as my employment until I'm an old man without trying other pursuits, I will definitely regret it. I'm 26, and I wrote my first line of code when I was 13 or 14 years old, and perhaps the only sub-fields of programming where I didn't dabble in substantially are assembly and prolog. These days I feel like, with programming, I've seen it all before. C, C++, Python, Objective-C, node.js, Lua, Lisp, Haskell, GPU computation, Django, REST API, React, Angular, Django, graphics programming, mobile apps, iOS, Android. I've spent time with each of them, most of them in a hobby and commercial capacity and these days everything seems a bit too familiar. I know there's a lot of people who have way more expertise than I do, however, I think it would do me good to get some space. My body is giving me hints I can't continue in the same way I have for the past ten years - I feel my legs getting weaker by the day, random points of tingly pain in my finger tips that comes and goes. I find I really like looking at trees and feeling the wind in my face. I would love to do a lot less sitting and a lot more moving, as in quitting programming as employment completely, starting within 9 to 12 months.

thebaer 11y ago
I'm 25 and am definitely feeling its effects on my body too, as well as longing for the outdoors. It's worse because I know the damage I do from sitting around means that I need to spend more time actively counteracting it later through stretching, etc., instead of it being built in to the day, like it would be at a more active job. It just takes a little effort to do it sustainably. For a couple years I never drove my car, instead pedaling around the city enjoying the breeze every morning and afternoon, because work was a 25-minute bike ride away. But now that I'm working from home, I have to make the effort to get outside or work some kind of movement into my day, and it's still entirely up to me to do. Realizing how much better your body feels after running or biking or whatever physical exertion you enjoy can really help. Having a dog helps. Having friends around who like to constantly get outside helps too. You just have to remain vigilant about it, and grab any spare moment of the day to do something with your body other than transcribe code. There will always be improvements you can make to software, but just a little extra activity for your heart and muscles fixes a surprising number of physical "bugs."
- meric 11y ago
  I have no car - I even used to ride a bicycle everyday for 15 minutes to the train station. I've started becoming weaker after I moved to another suburb where it was inconvenient and difficult to ride my bicycle daily. These days while I'm sitting in front of Terminal.app, I often imagine I'm spending the whole day in this giant park riding a bicycle around it's 3km circumference, over and over again. Just as it was right for me to go home, forget my home work and program after thinking about code the whole day while I was sitting in class in high school, I think it would be right for me to plan an exit from employment and spend a year or so to do what I like to imagine myself doing.

by meric 11y ago

thebaer 11y ago

I'm 25 and am definitely feeling its effects on my body too, as well as longing for the outdoors. It's worse because I know the damage I do from sitting around means that I need to spend more time actively counteracting it later through stretching, etc., instead of it being built in to the day, like it would be at a more active job. It just takes a little effort to do it sustainably. For a couple years I never drove my car, instead pedaling around the city enjoying the breeze every morning and afternoon, because work was a 25-minute bike ride away. But now that I'm working from home, I have to make the effort to get outside or work some kind of movement into my day, and it's still entirely up to me to do. Realizing how much better your body feels after running or biking or whatever physical exertion you enjoy can really help. Having a dog helps. Having friends around who like to constantly get outside helps too. You just have to remain vigilant about it, and grab any spare moment of the day to do something with your body other than transcribe code. There will always be improvements you can make to software, but just a little extra activity for your heart and muscles fixes a surprising number of physical "bugs."

meric 11y ago
I have no car - I even used to ride a bicycle everyday for 15 minutes to the train station. I've started becoming weaker after I moved to another suburb where it was inconvenient and difficult to ride my bicycle daily. These days while I'm sitting in front of Terminal.app, I often imagine I'm spending the whole day in this giant park riding a bicycle around it's 3km circumference, over and over again. Just as it was right for me to go home, forget my home work and program after thinking about code the whole day while I was sitting in class in high school, I think it would be right for me to plan an exit from employment and spend a year or so to do what I like to imagine myself doing.