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After banging out code all day, I really really really pine for a physical trade like smithing. My logical side tells me that after a few months of that I'd be

After banging out code all day, I really really really pine for a physical trade like smithing. My logical side tells me that after a few months of that I'd be pining for a "cushy desk job." But man. Doing something physical and tangible. You just don't get that very often in the tech world.

skeaker 3y ago
Could always do some robotics as a hobby if there's a group for that near you
- mikepurvis 3y ago
  As someone who has been doing robotics professionally for fifteen years.... robots are also mostly code. There is a certain tangibility to it, but unless you're just deploying an off-the-shelf stack like Ardupilot, you're going to end up spending 95% of your project time on it writing code and tweaking configuration files. If you want a tactile hobby, actually build something— make some shelves for your basement or garage, put up a bike shed, make a deck, redo your kitchen floor, weld together a teardrop camper, dig up a tree stump, whatever. Or if it can be physical without needing to be back-breaking, do partner dancing or an endurance sport like distance swimming or road cycling.
  - JohnBooty 3y ago
    Yeah, I definitely have tangible and physical hobbies! I think what I might really be missing is a sense of meaning in my work. In "physical" work there's an inherent satisfaction. You look at the pile of leaves you raked. You see the plate of food you prepared. You see the wall you built. Etc. Code can be equally satisfying, but I think generally I need to be more in touch with the actual users to feel that satisfaction. In my last few roles I've been way too distant from users. Luckily in my next role I think I'm going to be able to remedy that.
vorpalhex 3y ago
Do it as a hobby. I just handmade a knife (using a preforged blank) using nothing but manual tools and it was a really pleasant experience.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  Haha, yeah. I do physical stuff in my spare time. I build some things, I hike, I do sports. That's really cool about the knife. Could see myself really digging that.
derivagral 3y ago
Worked in warehouses for trucking as a kid. Sometimes I miss it... other times I remember that the warehouses were never climate controlled, the vans never had functional AC either, and my teenage sleep habits combined with that early commute were not a safe combination. There's a fun side, but imo its more of the "glad I got through it" than a "i want more of it." Maybe that's just me.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  It's also a lot more bearable if you know it's not forever. I worked in a restaurant as a kid/teen. It was a lot of fun, in a way, even though it was dirty and hard. Nasty dead-end jobs were kinda fun back then because we were kids and we had the luxury of being on the way "up" in life, or at least we assumed we were. We had college and/or careers ahead and weren't going to be busboys and dishwashers and grill cooks forever. I felt like I'd be a dishwasher forever, that'd be tough. Not that there is anything wrong with washing dishes. I don't think that it is more or less dignified than being a fancy software engineer. But the money is crap and it's tough to have much of a life on dishwasher money. I think the so-called "skilled trades" could be a different story. Plumbing or HVAC or whatever. Hard-ass work for sure. Always wonder how I would have fared.
kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 3y ago
That's why hobby farms have cropped up. Also, hobbies like car restoration, woodworking, etc.
ngaheer 3y ago
I had the same urge i.e. do something physical but something that was still technical in nature and you could use it as hobby income. I bought a laundromat 5 years ago. Learned to fix mechanical issues, troubleshoot electrical issues. Learned to use tools to pull bearings out, using heat torches to remove worn out sleeves from a shaft, understanding how water valves, solenoids works. Learnt a lot. While it is not as crazy as building something new, it is the closest I could get to with my software engineer career. My friends thought I was nuts.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  Oh man, that's pretty cool. You still running it?
- swores 3y ago
  Although it sounds like my idea of hell personally (well not quite, but very much not something I can imagine enjoying at all), I love that you don't feel the same way and that it actually was a good choice for hobby / side gig. Can I ask how it's been as a money maker? I'm curious whether it's a bit of extra change here and there as a nice side-benefit to all the learning it's given you, or if it actually pulls in decent profits? (And to contextualise the answer, in which country?)
Turskarama 3y ago
The reality is that the happy medium is.. the happy medium. In an ideal world your job involves some amount of physical movement as well as rest time, going all in on either isn't ideal. That said, the desk job is probably the better bargain of the two since you can always do your moving around outside of work hours, however you can't rest more to make up for overworking yourself physically.
beachy 3y ago
I believe that having a side hobby like wood working makes you a better developer. A key aspect of physical hobbies is that there is no backspace key. If you've been working on a piece of wood for an hour, and you muck up and make a cut where it shouldn't be, or split the wood due to hand holding it on the router table instead of clamping to a jig, you're going to experience an unparalleled level of frustration. After a while, by osmosis, you will develop a "measure twice and cut once" style of working that is more efficient (for wood working anyway). I believe that attitude trickles into and benefits your coding. Of course you do have a backspace key, so it's not efficient to be measuring everything twice, but somehow that extra level of care pays off on the keyboard as well.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  That's really interesting. It somewhat flies directly opposite to one of my main attractions to coding and computing in general - there IS a backspace key, metaphorically and literally. And yet, I dunno. I think I'm feeling what you're saying.
  - beachy 3y ago
    I guess smithing might be different again from wood working. I get the impression that each hammer blow can only do a little bit, so perhaps you wouldn't wish for a backspace key for smithing.
    - morjom 3y ago
      I feel like Woodworking is mostly about removing material, while blacksmithing is a little less so? Disclaimer all my woodworking experience is from shop class in elementary and all blacksmithing is from YouTube.
      - Sander_Marechal 3y ago
        Blacksmithing is mostly moving material around. If you fuck up, you can probably just move it back.
josiahpeters 3y ago
I watched this: https://youtu.be/paCyA9ypEOE?si=IESpvZcyUzPeyt0x https://youtu.be/paCyA9ypEOE?si=IESpvZcyUzPeyt0x video about 10 years ago and it set me on a path to learn blacksmithing.
matheusmoreira 3y ago
What about electronics?
- pjc50 3y ago
  Quite a lot of it is either coding in a different CAD app, or "closework" which tends to have you hunched up and peering at small things. And it's not very physical.
grogenaut 3y ago
hobbies try something out and do it for fun I made a leather jacket in the last 7 months. I really like it. Welding, etc. Community college is fun when you're employed.

skeaker 3y ago

Could always do some robotics as a hobby if there's a group for that near you

mikepurvis 3y ago
As someone who has been doing robotics professionally for fifteen years.... robots are also mostly code. There is a certain tangibility to it, but unless you're just deploying an off-the-shelf stack like Ardupilot, you're going to end up spending 95% of your project time on it writing code and tweaking configuration files. If you want a tactile hobby, actually build something— make some shelves for your basement or garage, put up a bike shed, make a deck, redo your kitchen floor, weld together a teardrop camper, dig up a tree stump, whatever. Or if it can be physical without needing to be back-breaking, do partner dancing or an endurance sport like distance swimming or road cycling.
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  Yeah, I definitely have tangible and physical hobbies! I think what I might really be missing is a sense of meaning in my work. In "physical" work there's an inherent satisfaction. You look at the pile of leaves you raked. You see the plate of food you prepared. You see the wall you built. Etc. Code can be equally satisfying, but I think generally I need to be more in touch with the actual users to feel that satisfaction. In my last few roles I've been way too distant from users. Luckily in my next role I think I'm going to be able to remedy that.

vorpalhex 3y ago

Do it as a hobby. I just handmade a knife (using a preforged blank) using nothing but manual tools and it was a really pleasant experience.

JohnBooty 3y ago
Haha, yeah. I do physical stuff in my spare time. I build some things, I hike, I do sports. That's really cool about the knife. Could see myself really digging that.

derivagral 3y ago

Worked in warehouses for trucking as a kid. Sometimes I miss it... other times I remember that the warehouses were never climate controlled, the vans never had functional AC either, and my teenage sleep habits combined with that early commute were not a safe combination. There's a fun side, but imo its more of the "glad I got through it" than a "i want more of it." Maybe that's just me.

JohnBooty 3y ago
It's also a lot more bearable if you know it's not forever. I worked in a restaurant as a kid/teen. It was a lot of fun, in a way, even though it was dirty and hard. Nasty dead-end jobs were kinda fun back then because we were kids and we had the luxury of being on the way "up" in life, or at least we assumed we were. We had college and/or careers ahead and weren't going to be busboys and dishwashers and grill cooks forever. I felt like I'd be a dishwasher forever, that'd be tough. Not that there is anything wrong with washing dishes. I don't think that it is more or less dignified than being a fancy software engineer. But the money is crap and it's tough to have much of a life on dishwasher money. I think the so-called "skilled trades" could be a different story. Plumbing or HVAC or whatever. Hard-ass work for sure. Always wonder how I would have fared.

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 3y ago

That's why hobby farms have cropped up. Also, hobbies like car restoration, woodworking, etc.

ngaheer 3y ago

I had the same urge i.e. do something physical but something that was still technical in nature and you could use it as hobby income. I bought a laundromat 5 years ago. Learned to fix mechanical issues, troubleshoot electrical issues. Learned to use tools to pull bearings out, using heat torches to remove worn out sleeves from a shaft, understanding how water valves, solenoids works. Learnt a lot. While it is not as crazy as building something new, it is the closest I could get to with my software engineer career. My friends thought I was nuts.

JohnBooty 3y ago
Oh man, that's pretty cool. You still running it?
swores 3y ago
Although it sounds like my idea of hell personally (well not quite, but very much not something I can imagine enjoying at all), I love that you don't feel the same way and that it actually was a good choice for hobby / side gig. Can I ask how it's been as a money maker? I'm curious whether it's a bit of extra change here and there as a nice side-benefit to all the learning it's given you, or if it actually pulls in decent profits? (And to contextualise the answer, in which country?)

Turskarama 3y ago

The reality is that the happy medium is.. the happy medium. In an ideal world your job involves some amount of physical movement as well as rest time, going all in on either isn't ideal. That said, the desk job is probably the better bargain of the two since you can always do your moving around outside of work hours, however you can't rest more to make up for overworking yourself physically.

beachy 3y ago

I believe that having a side hobby like wood working makes you a better developer. A key aspect of physical hobbies is that there is no backspace key. If you've been working on a piece of wood for an hour, and you muck up and make a cut where it shouldn't be, or split the wood due to hand holding it on the router table instead of clamping to a jig, you're going to experience an unparalleled level of frustration. After a while, by osmosis, you will develop a "measure twice and cut once" style of working that is more efficient (for wood working anyway). I believe that attitude trickles into and benefits your coding. Of course you do have a backspace key, so it's not efficient to be measuring everything twice, but somehow that extra level of care pays off on the keyboard as well.

JohnBooty 3y ago
That's really interesting. It somewhat flies directly opposite to one of my main attractions to coding and computing in general - there IS a backspace key, metaphorically and literally. And yet, I dunno. I think I'm feeling what you're saying.
- beachy 3y ago
  I guess smithing might be different again from wood working. I get the impression that each hammer blow can only do a little bit, so perhaps you wouldn't wish for a backspace key for smithing.
  - morjom 3y ago
    I feel like Woodworking is mostly about removing material, while blacksmithing is a little less so? Disclaimer all my woodworking experience is from shop class in elementary and all blacksmithing is from YouTube.
    - Sander_Marechal 3y ago
      Blacksmithing is mostly moving material around. If you fuck up, you can probably just move it back.

josiahpeters 3y ago

I watched this: https://youtu.be/paCyA9ypEOE?si=IESpvZcyUzPeyt0x https://youtu.be/paCyA9ypEOE?si=IESpvZcyUzPeyt0x video about 10 years ago and it set me on a path to learn blacksmithing.

matheusmoreira 3y ago

What about electronics?

pjc50 3y ago
Quite a lot of it is either coding in a different CAD app, or "closework" which tends to have you hunched up and peering at small things. And it's not very physical.

grogenaut 3y ago

hobbies try something out and do it for fun I made a leather jacket in the last 7 months. I really like it. Welding, etc. Community college is fun when you're employed.