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Well, Zuck did. Gates did. The other people portrayed didn't, you're right. But, they enjoy it. And they admire those that can create something out of nothing b

Well, Zuck did. Gates did. The other people portrayed didn't, you're right. But, they enjoy it. And they admire those that can create something out of nothing by programming. Sure, it was romanticized a bit. But, it doesn't change the fact that you could get rich by coding. You could make something that people REALLY love to use. This is pretty unique to the profession, I think. Yeah you could be a writer and write a novel people love, or a painter, etc. But none of these things pay particularly well. I think coding is a pretty neat and unique skill set that is relatively limitless. And, if this isn't true, I think I'll just keep thinking that it is true, because it keeps my head in the game.

sltkr 14y ago
Arguably both Gates and Zuckerberg got rich by starting a company -- there are plenty of Microsoft and Facebook programmers that didn't get rich, and plenty of CEOs of tech companies that earned money without writing a single line of code. I'm somewhat dubious that learning to program is what makes people successful at starting innovative business the way Gates and Zuckerberg did. > Yeah you could be a writer and write a novel people love, or a painter, etc. But none of these things pay particularly well. For a few it does; Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, E.L. James -- they're all millionaires. Not quite billionaires like Gates or Zuckerberg, but rich nonetheless. By comparison, the vast majority of writers aren't rich, but neither are the vast majority of programmers. Yea, "you could get rich by coding", but learning to code in order to get rich is about as sound of a strategy as playing the lottery.
deleted 14y ago
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slurgfest 14y ago
They didn't get rich programming, not at all. They got rich owning successful companies. The fact that they did some of the programming for some MVP or other is almost incidental. They were not getting paid huge salaries for cranking out code and they certainly weren't the only ones involved. If you can pay someone to do the same kind of work on an MVP and then you win the same kind of lottery, it is not necessary for you to have any direct programming input.

sltkr 14y ago

Arguably both Gates and Zuckerberg got rich by starting a company -- there are plenty of Microsoft and Facebook programmers that didn't get rich, and plenty of CEOs of tech companies that earned money without writing a single line of code. I'm somewhat dubious that learning to program is what makes people successful at starting innovative business the way Gates and Zuckerberg did. > Yeah you could be a writer and write a novel people love, or a painter, etc. But none of these things pay particularly well. For a few it does; Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, E.L. James -- they're all millionaires. Not quite billionaires like Gates or Zuckerberg, but rich nonetheless. By comparison, the vast majority of writers aren't rich, but neither are the vast majority of programmers. Yea, "you could get rich by coding", but learning to code in order to get rich is about as sound of a strategy as playing the lottery.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

slurgfest 14y ago

They didn't get rich programming, not at all. They got rich owning successful companies. The fact that they did some of the programming for some MVP or other is almost incidental. They were not getting paid huge salaries for cranking out code and they certainly weren't the only ones involved. If you can pay someone to do the same kind of work on an MVP and then you win the same kind of lottery, it is not necessary for you to have any direct programming input.