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The software industry messed me up big time. Often, I wish I had chosen a simpler career. It must feel amazing to spend most of your time thinking only about re
by cryptica 6y ago
The software industry messed me up big time. Often, I wish I had chosen a simpler career. It must feel amazing to spend most of your time thinking only about real, simple tangible things.
I imagine that having a simple practical mind as an adult must feel like childhood but I will never know.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- elevenoh 6y ago>but I will never know. Nature, solitude, psilocybin mushrooms, & you'll know.
- joshspankit 6y agoThere are definitely tradeoffs and I suspect that having chosen software, you might have gotten cabin fever before you were 20 years in. With software, you can tweak the rules that create a forest and press a button to have - in your hand - a board that’s better than the last: solid, straight, and knot-free. These are things that take decades in simpler disciplines.
- toomuchtodo 6y agoOne must ask, “do I need the leverage tech provides to live a well lived life?”
- joshspankit 6y agoThis comment feels out of left field. Was I accidentally arguing that tech is more important than a well-lived life?
- toomuchtodo 6y agoI might have misunderstood your comment. If so, my apologies for the hot take.
- grecy 6y agoHow old are you? I got out of software when I was 27, got back in when I was 30 and then out again at 34. I won't go back. I drive around the world instead, writing about what I do, and teaching others how they can do it too.[1] It's never too late. I met people in their 70s driving around Africa, having a great time! [1] youtube.com/theroadchoseme
- forgotmypw17 6y agoI started when I was 10, first paid job when I was 15 or 16, got out in my 30s. I still love coding, and do it every day, but I can't see myself doing it for money again. I urge you to put your skills to good use at your leisure and for your own pleasure, not as a job, but as an art. You can make the world a better place. Thank you for sharing your YouTube channel, I find it inspiring.
- grecy 6y agoThanks! I do still tinker and write code on things I find interesting or challenging. These days most of my efforts go into photography and writing (I've just finished my second novel). I find working on the "real" world a lot more satisfying than purely digital where not a lot is tangible. Good luck!
- wensley 6y agoI started my first programming job at 28. Before that I did computer repairs and support. Starting that job was the first time I experienced still thinking about work, outside of work. In a lot of jobs, your thoughts are free to wonder and you can think about whatever you feel like, whilst also working. Not so in software development, to do a good job your thoughts must only be about the task in hand and those thoughts can persist long after the task is over.
- jakupovic 6y agoThat's an interesting way of thinking of the problem. Personally I have been involved with manual and not so manual effort. Obviously digging a trench ends after you stop, but building an algorithm that does the equivalent thing, whatever that is, is not comparable as you don't stop thinking at 5PM?
- happy-go-lucky 6y agoI can relate, and I guess the same holds true for any other knowledge work that requires such intense concentration.