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This is why I never attempted to find a programming job. I am the typical nerdy polyglot, having dabbled in a two-digit amount of programming languages. But I

by lynx23 3y ago

This is why I never attempted to find a programming job. I am the typical nerdy polyglot, having dabbled in a two-digit amount of programming languages. But I somehow always knew, if I had to do this 8 hours a day, for projects I am likely not intrinsically motivated to work on, I'd likely hate it after a few weeks. I envy those which managed to make this passion into a paying job without loosing the love for it.

asddubs 3y ago
So what do you do for a living?
- lynx23 3y ago
  sysadmin.
pseudonym0us 3y ago
>the typical nerdy polyglot, having dabbled in a two-digit amount of programming languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect > But I somehow always knew, if I had to do this 8 hours a day, for projects I am likely not intrinsically motivated to work on, I'd likely hate it after a few weeks You just play with programming languages on the surface. Programming is something different and chances are you won't like it. >I envy those which managed to make this passion into a paying job without loosing the love for it. Why envy? Just find activity you love.
- lynx23 3y ago
  Wait, I have never said anything about my supposed abilities or self-perceived performance regarding programming. How come you are diagnosing overconfidence from afar, without knowing anything beyond the few lines I've written? Being slapped with that link without any further comment feels quite out of place to say the least. Besides, this posting was about deliberately having decided to not become a programmer professionally. I am having a hard time to understand how you diagnose overconfidence from that, quite the contrary actually...
  - pseudonym0us 3y ago
    >Wait, I have never said anything about my supposed abilities or self-perceived performance regarding programming How come? You said you are a ‘polyglot’. Human language polyglots are geniuses who know several languages on a decent level. If you checked several courses on Duolingo, chances are you are not one. The same applies to programming languages. Maybe, stop calling yourself a synonym of ‘genius’ to avoid receiving references to Dunning-Kruger effect. >How come you are diagnosing overconfidence from afar, without knowing anything beyond the few lines I've written? Few lines are enough to see inconsistencies in your words and realize that I was in your shoes. The only difference is that as a script-kiddie “having dabbled in a two-digit amount of programming languages“ I decided to give it a try and shifted to programming in my career. It’s not what I thought it was, so I cleaned out my closet from amateurish illusions, focused on 2 languages and I’m quite satisfied with my job.
kaashif 3y ago
I find my job as a software engineer and programming for fun to be extremely different, to the point where my job hasn't damaged my passion for fun programming on whatever I want. It's like if you had a passion for painting and got a job that consisted of 50% deciding what solid colour to paint walls and 50% painting walls solid colours. This varies a lot. I could imagine a game dev whose hobby resembles their passion a lot more.
VoodooJuJu 3y ago
This is exactly why I'm pursuing programming. I hate it with a passion. I'm an artist at heart, so programming is a great fit because, not only does it pay much more than art, it's completely artless, so it won't ruin my desire for making art at the end of the day.
- wtetzner 3y ago
  Programming is certainly not artless.
- antihipocrat 3y ago
  Programming is used to make a lot of art, you could combine the two. I also think that programming well is an art as much as it is science/engineering/math
- robocat 3y ago
  > programming is completely artless Strong disagree - although it depends on how you define art Is adding form to function artless? Is architecture artless? If you use a highly choreographed engineered process for creating a piece of art - does that make the outcome artless? One way I categorise artists I have met is engineer-type artists versus discovery-type artists: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31981875 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31981875 i also think art is defined by the perception of the viewer (and has far less to do with the creator than is usually presumed!)
- sgbeal 3y ago
  > ... it's completely artless, Then you're obviously doing it wrong. Programming with passion, is an art unto itself.
- lynx23 3y ago
  Can you elaborate a little on why you think programming is "completely artless"? I hear many coders making comparisons of their work with art, so this kind of contradicts my intuition.
ilyt 3y ago
So what's you work and do you enjoy it? For me the key is just having other hobbies. I do less of that (which is vaguely defined ops work + some programming) as hobby because I do it at work, but it's not like I lack other hobbies. I usually go back to it when the job takes me away from it (say we're speccing project for the client or other non-work that is required to get work later down the line). It's essentially sacrificing one hobby for another. Sure I no longer tinker with penguins all day but I can afford stuff for my other hobbies and still not hate my job.
acheron 3y ago
pretty much. I sometimes vaguely remember when I used to like programming.
SoftTalker 3y ago
Yep, I loved programming when I was introduced to it in 6th grade or so. There was an after-school program where we could go to the high school and use their TRS-80 computers. I was instantly hooked. Fast forward through a career of doing it, and I am sick of it. When I retire I want to de-tech my life as much as I can. I'll probably keep a smartphone but I don't think I'll have a computer in the house.

by lynx23 3y ago

asddubs 3y ago

So what do you do for a living?

lynx23 3y ago
sysadmin.

pseudonym0us 3y ago

>the typical nerdy polyglot, having dabbled in a two-digit amount of programming languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect > But I somehow always knew, if I had to do this 8 hours a day, for projects I am likely not intrinsically motivated to work on, I'd likely hate it after a few weeks You just play with programming languages on the surface. Programming is something different and chances are you won't like it. >I envy those which managed to make this passion into a paying job without loosing the love for it. Why envy? Just find activity you love.

lynx23 3y ago
Wait, I have never said anything about my supposed abilities or self-perceived performance regarding programming. How come you are diagnosing overconfidence from afar, without knowing anything beyond the few lines I've written? Being slapped with that link without any further comment feels quite out of place to say the least. Besides, this posting was about deliberately having decided to not become a programmer professionally. I am having a hard time to understand how you diagnose overconfidence from that, quite the contrary actually...
- pseudonym0us 3y ago
  >Wait, I have never said anything about my supposed abilities or self-perceived performance regarding programming How come? You said you are a ‘polyglot’. Human language polyglots are geniuses who know several languages on a decent level. If you checked several courses on Duolingo, chances are you are not one. The same applies to programming languages. Maybe, stop calling yourself a synonym of ‘genius’ to avoid receiving references to Dunning-Kruger effect. >How come you are diagnosing overconfidence from afar, without knowing anything beyond the few lines I've written? Few lines are enough to see inconsistencies in your words and realize that I was in your shoes. The only difference is that as a script-kiddie “having dabbled in a two-digit amount of programming languages“ I decided to give it a try and shifted to programming in my career. It’s not what I thought it was, so I cleaned out my closet from amateurish illusions, focused on 2 languages and I’m quite satisfied with my job.

kaashif 3y ago

I find my job as a software engineer and programming for fun to be extremely different, to the point where my job hasn't damaged my passion for fun programming on whatever I want. It's like if you had a passion for painting and got a job that consisted of 50% deciding what solid colour to paint walls and 50% painting walls solid colours. This varies a lot. I could imagine a game dev whose hobby resembles their passion a lot more.

VoodooJuJu 3y ago

This is exactly why I'm pursuing programming. I hate it with a passion. I'm an artist at heart, so programming is a great fit because, not only does it pay much more than art, it's completely artless, so it won't ruin my desire for making art at the end of the day.

wtetzner 3y ago
Programming is certainly not artless.
antihipocrat 3y ago
Programming is used to make a lot of art, you could combine the two. I also think that programming well is an art as much as it is science/engineering/math
robocat 3y ago
> programming is completely artless Strong disagree - although it depends on how you define art Is adding form to function artless? Is architecture artless? If you use a highly choreographed engineered process for creating a piece of art - does that make the outcome artless? One way I categorise artists I have met is engineer-type artists versus discovery-type artists: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31981875 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31981875 i also think art is defined by the perception of the viewer (and has far less to do with the creator than is usually presumed!)
sgbeal 3y ago
> ... it's completely artless, Then you're obviously doing it wrong. Programming with passion, is an art unto itself.
lynx23 3y ago
Can you elaborate a little on why you think programming is "completely artless"? I hear many coders making comparisons of their work with art, so this kind of contradicts my intuition.

ilyt 3y ago

So what's you work and do you enjoy it? For me the key is just having other hobbies. I do less of that (which is vaguely defined ops work + some programming) as hobby because I do it at work, but it's not like I lack other hobbies. I usually go back to it when the job takes me away from it (say we're speccing project for the client or other non-work that is required to get work later down the line). It's essentially sacrificing one hobby for another. Sure I no longer tinker with penguins all day but I can afford stuff for my other hobbies and still not hate my job.

acheron 3y ago

pretty much. I sometimes vaguely remember when I used to like programming.

SoftTalker 3y ago

Yep, I loved programming when I was introduced to it in 6th grade or so. There was an after-school program where we could go to the high school and use their TRS-80 computers. I was instantly hooked. Fast forward through a career of doing it, and I am sick of it. When I retire I want to de-tech my life as much as I can. I'll probably keep a smartphone but I don't think I'll have a computer in the house.