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I can relate. I treat my coding as a craft. That has become much easier, since retiring. I'm quite aware that doing things my way isn't commercially viable, b

I can relate. I treat my coding as a craft. That has become much easier, since retiring. I'm quite aware that doing things my way isn't commercially viable, but no one pays me to do it. I do it for myself. That said, I find that it's important to always be challenging myself[0]. [0] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/thats-not-what-ships-are-built-for/ https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/thats-not-what-ships...

heliographe 1y ago
> I'm quite aware that doing things my way isn't commercially viable Depends what you mean by “commercially viable”. I’ve been making high quality products as an independent software developer in the photography space for a bit over 2 years now, and while I’m nowhere near my former big tech company salary, I still make more than needed to pay for life every month (not living an extravagant lifestyle somewhere with ridiculous cost of living does help). And I still feel like I’m far from having reached full potential in my addressable market and the kind of products I want to build - I have indie developer friends who are pretty close to their former big tech salary, after 5+ years. So, despair not :)
- eloisius 1y ago
  Cool apps btw. The trichromy one is a lot of fun. Cool that you’re earning money making this.
  - heliographe 1y ago
    Cheers! Got an update coming out soon for that one, it's actually the one that makes the least money haha. I think it's way too nerdy and weird to ever hope to reach a broad audience even amongst photographers, unlike the others that are more approachable. But I still use it on a weekly basis myself so I just can't stop refining it. I've been obsessed with the trichromatic process for 10+ years, ever since I discovered the work of Prokudin Gorsky (even built a website about the process and history: https://trichromy.com https://trichromy.com, due for a refresh some time). Such a clever approach to color photography that results in such a unique aesthetic.
    - eloisius 1y ago
      I also love Gorsky’s pictures! When I first saw his picture of the power turbines in Budapest I thought I must be looking at some ML-colorized daguerreotype, but nope it’s in true color. I see you’re in Tokyo. If you ever end up in Taipei or if I’m in Tokyo I’d love to talk photography over coffee.
sfn42 1y ago
I'm not sure what your way is exactly but I also treat coding as a craft and I'd say it's far more commercially viable than what most other devs are doing. I design systems that are efficient, do what they need to do and nothing else, are well tested, quite easy to understand, work with and change etc. The only thing about my way of working that I have commercial viability issues with is when I take over someone else's work and insist on basically rewriting the entire thing before actually continuing the work. I don't always do that, some projects are just too big and some are just fine, some projects don't need me to rewrite them. But most systems I've inherited have been absolute ass and I just refuse to build on a total shit foundation. First I fix the foundation, then I build on it. You want a code monkey to duct tape things together and add workarounds on top of workarounds until the codebase looks like Escher's stairs painting you'll have to find someone else to do it. I fix problems I don't just paint over them. That has been a problem in some situations in the past but for the most part my work has been appreciated.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  The biggest thing, is that I insist on doing things my way, which is a hideous chimera of cutting-edge, buzzword-compliant techniques, melded with ancient techniques I learned when I was programming in Machine Code. Also, I insist on doing extremely high Quality work, and that seems to be very much out of favor, these days. Just try starting a discussion on improving software Quality, hereabouts, and see how it goes. For some reason, folks are actually actively against improving code Quality, and that is something that I can't comprehend, so I have to admit that I'm very much a "dinosaur."

heliographe 1y ago

> I'm quite aware that doing things my way isn't commercially viable Depends what you mean by “commercially viable”. I’ve been making high quality products as an independent software developer in the photography space for a bit over 2 years now, and while I’m nowhere near my former big tech company salary, I still make more than needed to pay for life every month (not living an extravagant lifestyle somewhere with ridiculous cost of living does help). And I still feel like I’m far from having reached full potential in my addressable market and the kind of products I want to build - I have indie developer friends who are pretty close to their former big tech salary, after 5+ years. So, despair not :)

eloisius 1y ago
Cool apps btw. The trichromy one is a lot of fun. Cool that you’re earning money making this.
- heliographe 1y ago
  Cheers! Got an update coming out soon for that one, it's actually the one that makes the least money haha. I think it's way too nerdy and weird to ever hope to reach a broad audience even amongst photographers, unlike the others that are more approachable. But I still use it on a weekly basis myself so I just can't stop refining it. I've been obsessed with the trichromatic process for 10+ years, ever since I discovered the work of Prokudin Gorsky (even built a website about the process and history: https://trichromy.com https://trichromy.com, due for a refresh some time). Such a clever approach to color photography that results in such a unique aesthetic.
  - eloisius 1y ago
    I also love Gorsky’s pictures! When I first saw his picture of the power turbines in Budapest I thought I must be looking at some ML-colorized daguerreotype, but nope it’s in true color. I see you’re in Tokyo. If you ever end up in Taipei or if I’m in Tokyo I’d love to talk photography over coffee.

sfn42 1y ago

I'm not sure what your way is exactly but I also treat coding as a craft and I'd say it's far more commercially viable than what most other devs are doing. I design systems that are efficient, do what they need to do and nothing else, are well tested, quite easy to understand, work with and change etc. The only thing about my way of working that I have commercial viability issues with is when I take over someone else's work and insist on basically rewriting the entire thing before actually continuing the work. I don't always do that, some projects are just too big and some are just fine, some projects don't need me to rewrite them. But most systems I've inherited have been absolute ass and I just refuse to build on a total shit foundation. First I fix the foundation, then I build on it. You want a code monkey to duct tape things together and add workarounds on top of workarounds until the codebase looks like Escher's stairs painting you'll have to find someone else to do it. I fix problems I don't just paint over them. That has been a problem in some situations in the past but for the most part my work has been appreciated.

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
The biggest thing, is that I insist on doing things my way, which is a hideous chimera of cutting-edge, buzzword-compliant techniques, melded with ancient techniques I learned when I was programming in Machine Code. Also, I insist on doing extremely high Quality work, and that seems to be very much out of favor, these days. Just try starting a discussion on improving software Quality, hereabouts, and see how it goes. For some reason, folks are actually actively against improving code Quality, and that is something that I can't comprehend, so I have to admit that I'm very much a "dinosaur."