11 ms·

This is what every programmer should know: 1. Life is too short, so get a life. 2. Know that you don't know everything, so get don't arrogant. 3. Don't get c

• nnd 9y ago
  > 1. Life is too short, so get a life. Are you implying there is more to life than programming?
  • smikhanov 9y ago
    It can't possibly be true that there is, so he probably doesn't
    • Tade0 9y ago
      He may be implying manual testing. If not, then I'm out of ideas.
      • LoSboccacc 9y ago
        I've heard stories about the outernet but it's a weird imperfect place
  • amrrs 9y ago
    There's more to Life beyond Programming - [Marriage, Love, Kids] (not a sorted list)
    • BatFastard 9y ago
      My list in order Kids Health Happiness Money Marriage
      • q845712 9y ago
        friends and/or a membership in a community can be nice too, and is one of those "often correlates highly with happiness" kinda things, so i'm just adding specificity from my life to an item in your list.
      • new_hackers 9y ago
        Really? It would seem that: Happiness, Health, Money, Marriage, Kids would be the correct order to process these tasks? Without the previous item(s), the latter item is harder to obtain and maintain at full functionality.
        • SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
          Be careful with that. There's a growing body of evidence that waiting too long to have children causes some disorders. EG Autism is far more common in children born to older parents. Money is an especially difficult one, as it's very easy to move your own goal continually upward. Happiness is also difficult, since it's almost always going to be a transient state and not a long-term thing. A better list is probably: Stability, Contentment, Kids. When your situation is stable and you're content with how things are going, then consider kids. Don't try to wait until you're rich / happy all the time, it won't work.
          • losteric 9y ago
            There is no good list for everyone... Personally, "stability" is antithetical to my contentment
          • BatFastard 9y ago
            Stability is relative. Contentment and kids are an oxymoron. Don't wait is true. Than again, don't get married to someone you can't stand just to have kids.
  • sitkack 9y ago
    One can write a nice version in a couple hours.
• ATsch 9y ago
  I find that saying the phrase "get a life" to people that enjoy what they are doing is extremely condescending. If I enjoy programming all day, or having huge flame wars, or maintaining a huge collection of antique watering cans sorted by volume, then who are you to judge me for that?
  • ColanR 9y ago
    > then who are you to judge me Any psychologist with a rudamentary understanding of what is required for a healthy mind. (not a psychologist myself)
    • Tade0 9y ago
      Psychologists don't judge. They only try to help you if something is a problem for you personally.
      • UnpossibleJim 9y ago
        Well.... I hate to tell you, psychologists judge, they just refrain from exposing their jusgement to their clientele. Psychologists, like doctors and police, are still human. Warts and all. But I get the sentiment and, like those same said psychologists, should probably have kept my opinion for me and my drinking friends =)
  • ritchiea 9y ago
    My guess is in this case the original commenter means "get a life" if you feel pressured to only think about programming or work. If you are happy and fulfilled programming all day, go for it, program all day. Personally I would also encourage you to at least try and pursue some other interests because experiencing new things is fun & exciting, but if you're happy that's what's most important. But many of us, especially those of us in the United States, live in a culture where we can be expected to think of our work as our life. A culture where we are encouraged to memorize CPU cache fetch times rather than picking up a novel, going to a museum or spending time with family. When we say "get a life" most of us are arguing against that culture, not telling you how to enjoy your time.
• MichaelMoser123 9y ago
  are you a programmer or a manager?
• expertentipp 9y ago
  How's the activity on your public github profile? Contributions to open source projects? How often do you voluntarily mentor others? What other programming do you do in your spare time? You better eat and breathe code, trends, frameworks, because there will be no other food and air... and the salary will be USD 40k max anually, because the country you live in is cheap (we've just checked on Numbeo).
• amrrs 9y ago
  Very much like How Naval talks - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13905251 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13905251 (previously on HN)
• koolba 9y ago
  While I agree with the rest, this one is flat out wrong: > 5. You're as much the idiot as the person you consider an idiot. I don't throw the word "idiot" around lightly but when I do, in a work / programming context, it's apt. I'd imagine I'm not the only one in that camp.
  • carlmr 9y ago
    Agreed, there are some people who deserve the term idiot. At the same time you're probably an idiot if you call people idiots, even if they are. You're going to make your own life harder.
  • sbov 9y ago
    My personal version is this: 1. Everyone is ignorant of something, so don't be condescending. 2. Everyone does stupid things, including you, but it doesn't make them stupid.
    • TeMPOraL 9y ago
      I'd add: 3. Everyone has their own incentives, which may or may not be aligned with yours or the organization you work at. Understanding them helps you understand their point of view, and to decide whether to help them, ignore them or fight them.
      • andrei_says_ 9y ago
        4. All actions are strategies to meet basic human needs. Look for the needs behind the actions. This will bring effortless understanding and compassion. Focus on the needs and look for multiple strategies to meet them, thus staying open and flexible in the implementation.
• avip 9y ago
  And, arguably most importantly - 7. If you see a skunk, just slowly cross the road to the other side.
  • oldandtired 9y ago
    Here it would be, if you see a tiger snake, run like hell.
• flavio81 9y ago
  7. 'Dilbert' is a documentary.
• kazinator 9y ago
  You don't need to know everything to be arrogant; you just need to know one complete way to build a system from the ground up and have an implementation to show it. At that point, everything which you don't know is unnecessary and the conditions are set for a vigorous arrogance to flourish.
• LoSboccacc 9y ago
  5: no. Sometimes an idiot is an idiot and if you have a real one in the team, sanity requires either of you change job
• cname 9y ago
  5a. There are some genuinely shitty people out there that don't necessarily deserve a pass just because no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Dealing with such situations can be exceptionally difficult. Avoid talking shit if possible but try not to be apathetic either (for your own sake as well as others').
• psyc 9y ago
  I'm unable to think of any definition for the word "idiot" that would make number 5 generally true. "Human" doesn't work. "Imperfect" is closer, but still doesn't quite work since almost everybody readily admits that already. It's certainly not true that everybody is equally incompetent. Nor is everyone equally rude, or equally impulsive, or equally stubborn.
  • oldandtired 9y ago
    See my explanation above. I have learned the hard way to recognise that though there are obtuse and pigheaded people who will not listen to anything you say and are extremely difficult to deal with, don't for a minute ever treat them as an idiot. I have dealt with various people over the years who are very intelligent and very expert in their fields of endeavour, yet will treat you as a idiot if you don't comport yourself with a total respect for their opinions and viewpoints. If you raise a question that they believe is irrelevant, their responses head rapidly south to treating you as an idiot.
    • psyc 9y ago
      Oh, I agree wholeheartedly with never treating anybody "like an idiot."
• endorphone 9y ago
  Getting to the source of #3, another piece of advice is to never define yourself, or your ego, by the things you use. You might program in C on Linux. You might game on an xbox. You might have tried Rust or Go and think they're pretty groovy. You might have an iphone. None of these are a part of your ego. They aren't a part of your image. You don't need to feel attacked if someone criticizes, rightly or wrongly, your choices.
• tugberkk 9y ago
  This post has extra meaning when one looks at your nickname! I am with you, we are dealing with too much unnecessary stuff.
• js2 9y ago
  Submit a PR adding this to a "meta" section?
• oldandtired 9y ago
  I have had some fun reading the responses. So I'll add some commentary to my list. 1. I have been programming for nearly 40 years, even though I now care full time for my wife, I still create and modify various programs nearly every day. I am a geek, but talking with people (especially the young, including my children, my grandchildren and my nephews and nieces) opens my eyes to different wonderful perspectives. Learn new things every day, and share with people every day, it's a wonderful way of living. As well as that, there is a cultural difference between the US and other places. Get a life is about rounding out as a person. Programming is but one small aspect of our lives as people. As a geek talking with my geek nephews we often talk about geek things, but our conversation get quite broad. I suppose the one thing I am glad about is that none of my children became programmers. I have a high functioning autistic grandson. His younger sister and brother have no such problems. Watching them and seeing them grow is an incredible, delightful and wonderful experience. Seeing my grandson in operation has opened my eyes to who I am and the slight autism that I have. I see him look at the world in a light that is so unique. I have seen and shared in other autistic children lives over the years and the universe is a more wonderful place for them being in it. So when you go and get a life, see the unique, wondrous world around us, especially in the people whose lives you interact with. 2. After nearly forty years programming, arrogance (I am very specific about using that word) is an occupational hazard for all programmers. We often forget that we really don't know everything. Good ideas come from all sorts of places. Been there, done that and have watched so many go down the same path. 3. There are many different programming "religious" wars. Many times each side has a valid point that can be used in conjunction with each other. So keep learning new languages and their basic concepts to see what is useful to you as a programmer. Understanding different conceptual bases often will give an insight in how to solve problems at hand. 4 Pretty self explanatory. 5. I thought this one was self explanatory as well, but, here goes. It doesn't matter how much knowledge you have in a specific area, if you start treating people as imbeciles and idiots for their lack of knowledge or the "silly" (are far as you're concerned) questions they ask, you have become very much what you consider them to be. In reality, we know little, and it should be fun to share our knowledge and in turn share in the viewpoints of others. This was a lesson I have had to learn a number of times over many years. There are no "silly" questions. 6. How many of you over your time of programming have had "critical" deadlines to meet which were no more critical than the specific coffee blend you have in morning? There are many who believe their project is of a "critical/important/world shattering" nature and yet if it misses by weeks or even months or never even reached completion, the world still goes on. You do what you can, you don't kill yourself over inconsequential things. [Have made an edit to slightly more comprehensible]