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"That has made it really difficult for employers to tell the yuppies apart from the true hobbyists." In reading HN stories and comments for the past 17 years I

"That has made it really difficult for employers to tell the yuppies apart from the true hobbyists." In reading HN stories and comments for the past 17 years I have noticed in the last 5 years or so there seems to be a sizeable contingent of people who publlish and comment online who express skepticism or even disdain for anyone who writes programs as a hobby, so-called "hobbyist programmers". Perhaps this is not what is meant by "true hobbyists" in the above quote as their employers would have no need to know about a programming hobby. These hobbyists are not employed as "developers". They are employed in fields where salaries are not routinely financed by debt.

spacemadness 2y ago
I have never read such a thing. Care to link an example?
1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago
In 2013, IDC estimated 40% of software authors were "hobbyist programmers" not "developers". https://www.computerworld.com/article/1513176/the-rise-of-hobbyist-programmers.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/1513176/the-rise-of-ho... https://www.pcworld.com/article/443076/idc-hobbyist-programmers-on-the-rise.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/443076/idc-hobbyist-programm... Fast forward 10 years. Stack Overflow conducted a survey and only 5.56% of respondents said they programmed as "hobby" and were not employed as "developers". But 70.4% said they were employed as "developers" but also programmed outside of work as a "hobby". https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/ https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/ Perhaps there could be some ambiguity in the term "hobbyist" as applied to computer programming.
- joshdavham 2y ago
  Those are some interesting findings. And while it probably doesn't need to be said: this is a Stack Overflow survey where the respondents voluntarily filled it out. I'd expect them to be a bit nerdier than the average! Indeed, 25% claiming to contribute to open source is pretty high haha.
joshdavham 2y ago
Just to be precise, when I wrote "true hobbyist", I was referring to people who actually like programming, data science, IT, or UI/UX, etc and don't do it for purely career/financial reasons. For example, my parents were originally musicians but were forced to change careers and became (music) teachers for financial reasons. However, they still practice and perform super often even though they don't make much (or anything) from it. It's kinda people like them that I'm referring to as "true hobbyists".

spacemadness 2y ago

I have never read such a thing. Care to link an example?

1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago

In 2013, IDC estimated 40% of software authors were "hobbyist programmers" not "developers". https://www.computerworld.com/article/1513176/the-rise-of-hobbyist-programmers.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/1513176/the-rise-of-ho... https://www.pcworld.com/article/443076/idc-hobbyist-programmers-on-the-rise.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/443076/idc-hobbyist-programm... Fast forward 10 years. Stack Overflow conducted a survey and only 5.56% of respondents said they programmed as "hobby" and were not employed as "developers". But 70.4% said they were employed as "developers" but also programmed outside of work as a "hobby". https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/ https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/ Perhaps there could be some ambiguity in the term "hobbyist" as applied to computer programming.

joshdavham 2y ago
Those are some interesting findings. And while it probably doesn't need to be said: this is a Stack Overflow survey where the respondents voluntarily filled it out. I'd expect them to be a bit nerdier than the average! Indeed, 25% claiming to contribute to open source is pretty high haha.

joshdavham 2y ago

Just to be precise, when I wrote "true hobbyist", I was referring to people who actually like programming, data science, IT, or UI/UX, etc and don't do it for purely career/financial reasons. For example, my parents were originally musicians but were forced to change careers and became (music) teachers for financial reasons. However, they still practice and perform super often even though they don't make much (or anything) from it. It's kinda people like them that I'm referring to as "true hobbyists".