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Moving from academia to work, one of my biggest challenges was actually using tools. If I couldn't roll out my own stuff, it felt like cheating, and I would al

Moving from academia to work, one of my biggest challenges was actually using tools. If I couldn't roll out my own stuff, it felt like cheating, and I would always get fixated on being able to write my own libraries. Whenever I'd lift perfectly fine and working code off StackExchange, or use some libraries that did mostly everything for me, I'd get the same anxious feel that I got in college, when writing a report/paper and not citing my sources. This kind of behavior made me waste a lot of time and energy, trying to re-invent and optimize the wheel, over and over again.

mtberatwork 6y ago
Well, I believe much of the satisfaction in programming (at least for me) lies within building something with your own hands and creativity. When you are simply writing glue code between libraries and services, that satisfaction is stripped away and leaves you without much fulfillment. Of course, there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to writing your own libraries - the pendulum can easily swing to frustration - but I think finding a balance in having contributed your own creative energy and third party libraries is the sweet spot.
- agustif 6y ago
  Well it's pretty easy to find a balance if you at least try, you can use widely available, documented and tested open source libs, for most of your (technically hard) problems. and not roll your own there. (Not invented here syndrome?) And you should also leverage the fact that you own 100% of your codebase, to add as much custom stuff and custom business logic where it pertains, but it is not wise to reinvent the wheel (or the engine, or the carburator) in 2021, when everything from, hosts, db, etc, is available at a few clicks... also depends much on what tools you're using/projects are doing, YMMV
  - Craighead 6y ago
    Never roll your own crypto
agumonkey 6y ago
Oh I concur... I'm in the 'if I didnt build it I dont understand it' and have all kinds of anxieties about that.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

mtberatwork 6y ago

Well, I believe much of the satisfaction in programming (at least for me) lies within building something with your own hands and creativity. When you are simply writing glue code between libraries and services, that satisfaction is stripped away and leaves you without much fulfillment. Of course, there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to writing your own libraries - the pendulum can easily swing to frustration - but I think finding a balance in having contributed your own creative energy and third party libraries is the sweet spot.

agustif 6y ago
Well it's pretty easy to find a balance if you at least try, you can use widely available, documented and tested open source libs, for most of your (technically hard) problems. and not roll your own there. (Not invented here syndrome?) And you should also leverage the fact that you own 100% of your codebase, to add as much custom stuff and custom business logic where it pertains, but it is not wise to reinvent the wheel (or the engine, or the carburator) in 2021, when everything from, hosts, db, etc, is available at a few clicks... also depends much on what tools you're using/projects are doing, YMMV
- Craighead 6y ago
  Never roll your own crypto

agumonkey 6y ago

Oh I concur... I'm in the 'if I didnt build it I dont understand it' and have all kinds of anxieties about that.

deleted 6y ago
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