3 ms·

Can programmers have a life? All I see about programmers these days is that good ones program 24/7? Don't they have social lives or family? That's not a life w

• jasonjackson 13y ago
  If you have a passion for something, you'll want to spend every waking hour on it. I miss the days of childhood though where I could build what I want on a whim, at large companies you don't always get to build what you want to during the times of the day they pay you.
  • UK-AL 13y ago
    No, you'll burn out fast.
• jasonlotito 13y ago
  Having a social life and a family doesn't preclude one from programming a lot. And you don't have to be programming 24/7. What it takes is learning how to combine the two. Meeting up with people and learning about programming (or other aspects related to programming), or joining a book club that reads books that cover elements of programming. No one sits in front of a computer 24/7 to program. No one. Hell, Linus talks about how he spent so much time programming Linux in the very early days in the book "Just For Fun" and he even has time for socializing. > That's not a life worth living. For you, maybe. Don't assume your values apply to others. The other side is that it's not a life worth living if you spend 40 hours a week doing something you avoid the other 128 hours.
  • UK-AL 13y ago
    "The other side is that it's not a life worth living if you spend 40 hours a week doing something you avoid the other 128 hours." - Its not that you hate it. But you should not fill your life with just one activity. You should be networking, talking, going out, learning, traveling and filling your life with a wide variety of things. Yet the start up programmer lifestyle is programming 24/7. It's not healthy. I can guarantee you a lot of start up founders, don't work the hours their programmers do.
• garg 13y ago
  The luckiest ones have day jobs where they are working on what they love so they program for 8 hours, and then go home to a social life.