13 ms·
Hello, World
- jusuchin 12y agoNice 500 error...
- shogun21 12y agoError establishing a database connection
- icebraining 12y agoWell, it's certainly a more constructive reaction than buying a fancy car.
- psykovsky 12y agoDepends on what one does with the car, I guess...
- icebraining 12y agoCoral cache, for those having problems: http://hello-world.io.nyud.net/hello-world/ http://hello-world.io.nyud.net/hello-world/
- Zikes 12y agoThe important thing is to do work that you find fulfilling, whether that be code or crops. Best of luck on your journey.
- lawl 12y ago> I am burnt out on having a “40 hour” work week that actually occupies the majority of my mental time. This really resonated with me. I can't just stop thinking about this stuff just because I'm at lunch or at home if I'm working on a hard problem. But I don't get paid for that time.
- asimjalis 12y agoAnd yet, is that so bad?
- chippy 12y agoIs it good?
- Demiurge 12y agoIf you like it?
- dagw 12y agoIt is when it interferes with stuff you actually care about. Like when I'm supposed be having family dinner or playing with my daughter and I realize instead I've just spent the past several minutes staring into the distance thinking about a work problem. Sometimes I really envy people who never get the urge to work (either actually or mentally) on work after leaving the office at 5 pm.
- shepardrtc 12y agoI've learned to accept that work should only be a certain percentage of your life. Occasionally it can bleed over, sure, but unless you want it to be 100% then you need to drop it and think about other things. Maybe I'm just lazy, but when I'm with other things I care about - especially people - then work can kiss my ass :)
- dagw 12y ago
- mcgaffin 12y agoGood luck. I would really like to read a book about your transition in a couple of years.
- bpg_92 12y agoCan anyone suggest a book based on something like this? I am a programmer myself and this kind of read felt really enjoyable.
- vegancap 12y agoThis seems the natural progression for programmers now. 10 year slog of hope decaying; relatively monotonous work, then a sudden urge to do something antithetical in pursuit of happiness. I guess I'll be in a log cabin in Iceland in 5 years time!
- fixxer 12y agoit is also interesting how often the pursuit of happiness involves some degree of isolation.
- vegancap 12y agoThat's very true, I wonder why that is? I feel the same way very often. I'm not a particularly anti-sociable person either.
- Datsundere 12y agoyour goals don't coincide with what others want to do. Even if u share the same long term goals, your short term goals usually don't conicide or atleast that's what i've found when i'm with my friends.
- grubles 12y agoIt seems the author of the article had spent a lot of time in a windowless, fluorescent-lit room. No wonder the urge to be outside is so great for them.
- vegancap 12y agoYeah I can certainly see why he felt that way!
- Demiurge 12y agoThis article is very uplifting and easy to empathize with. However, I can only hope he ends up as happy as he might think he will. I've done farming when I was young as well as some manual labor jobs. It's not fun, you sweat a lot, your back hurts, the sunlight burns, at the end of the day you are physically burnt out so much that you can't actually think. I am much more happy to be closing tickets that are undoing previous tickets, while sipping white chocolate mocha. Good luck with everything :)
- dougk16 12y agoI had sort of the opposite experience. I moved furniture for a number of years...manual labor at its finest. I put on 10 pounds of muscle, melted any extra fat from my body, slept like a baby every night, and had no back problems compared to slumping in a chair all day. It was certainly hard work, but I look back on it with a simple fondness that I can't conjure for all my past office jobs. All I see is this weird fluorescent limbo in my emotional memory despite all the interesting software I've worked on.
- Demiurge 12y agoSince I've done cleaning, not moving, I think I can still suppose that it is quite different than farm work. I can see how it's physically hard, but I think I would actually prefer moving. When I move heavy stuff, and I moved probably 10 times, I have a whole routine for picking stuff up correctly, and it's kind of like squats. Anyway, I think farming might have actually given you a more visceral experience than moving. In general, I think the hardest things we used to do when growing up are our brightest memories. For many people I know from Russia, it is the army. The point I'm trying to make is that our experiences are complicated and are a combination of many circumstances. Programming is certainly more abstract and hard to remember as an overcoming experience, but it is what you make of it, and what you want to make of it in the future. If you ended up in software, there must be a reason for it, and hopefully it's more than just pay. I'm an introvert, I've always loved reading, programming, and abstract tasks, so I am happy. Maybe for you, programming is not as interesting as being social, physical, traveling. Maybe the author is more like you than me, in which case, great. To each their own!
- danielbln 12y agoYikes, the banner picture on that page is a whopping 1.9MB in size. Crush your pngs or use JPG, kids.
- kylec 12y agoYou take an incredibly advanced and complex programming language, and dumb it down to the absolute bare essentials in order to embark on the journey of learning a new system. The purpose of the "Hello, World!" program, at least as I've understood it, is to make sure that you can actually get code running with whatever language, frameworks, and build process you have. Printing out a simple phrase is sufficient to demonstrate that that all works and that you can start making more complicated things.
- agumonkey 12y agoIs it though ? I always had a little voice in my head thinking this is just `a posteriori` justification.
- Cyph0n 12y agoIf we're talking about the modern purpose of a "Hello, world!" program, then I agree. However, at the time the idea was originated, and I'm sure for a good time afterwards, build processes and frameworks weren't as mainstream as they are today. Therefore the function of a "Hello, world!" program was simply to test out the basic features of the language. That's the way I see it.
- kbenson 12y agoIt doesn't take modern build processes and frameworks to need to know that you've crafted the bare essentials for a running problem, and the multi-stage compilations and linking process has performed as expected. Or that your cross-compile is working. Building software has been complex enough to warrant this for many decades.
- mayoff 12y agoThe idea of the “hello world” program was promulgated by Kernighan and Ritchie in “The C Programming Language”, and they saw it the way kylec does. Quoting “The C Programming Language, Second Edition”: “This is the big hurdle; to leap over it you have to be able to create the program text somewhere, compile it successfully, load it, run it, and find out where your output went. With these mechanical details mastered, everything else is comparatively easy.” (I got rid of my first edition years ago but as I recall it described the purpose of the program pretty much the same way.)
- crododile 12y agoI'm most impressed by the domain name
- real_ty_sucks 12y agoInteresting, at 32 and already deciding this was it for you regarding programming where it was first a passion. Well, guess it's about what makes you happy. See you in a few years (if that) for yet another adventure, stop seeking greener pastures, it's all a lie.
- felix 12y agoToday, I will leave behind the digital world that changed me from human to robot, I will begin building a tiny home and I will commemorate almost getting down to this honest days work by blogging about my new-experience-to-be working the soil.
- htor 12y agoI sense dark sarcasm hidden in this message.
- nitinics 12y agoProgrammers can easily resonate to this blog. But I think this is the moment of truth of transition from a programmer to an engineer where you realize you are better off creating something on your own from the ground up than working for someone else's creation.
- drderidder 12y agoI think it shows how important it is to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Hopefully he'll find a way to combine his technical aptitude with his new lifestyle in a symbiotic way.
- shepardrtc 12y agoI love technology and computers, but I found a job that doesn't require me to be thinking about things non-stop. I work less than 40 hours a week (even though I'm salaried), but I still work in my field of choice. It doesn't stress me out. Do I make less than the average computer guy? Maybe a little bit. But hey, its one less massive thing to worry about. I can go home and not think about it. Instead, I can think about side projects and other fun things. Don't let yourself get burned out so much from your current job that you end up hating your field. Its what you're good at, right? Use that skill to do good things. Driving yourself crazy shouldn't be one of them.
- mariodiana 12y ago> I found a job that doesn't require me to be thinking about things non-stop. Where?
- shepardrtc 12y agoFlorida. Pay isn't like SF or NYC, but the cost of living is really low.
- chuhnk 12y agoThe tech industry for the majority attracts like minded people. We tend to have an all on our nothing mentality. We don't do it on purpose, it's just how we're wired. We work endlessly, hours upon hours, and at some point it starts to take its toll. The mental burn becomes too much, it wears on you. Eventually there is only one option, to walk away, for some time at least. I wish we were able to find balance. I've been doing this for close to a decade now, maybe not as long as some, but I've hit burnout and had to walk away. Upon my return I vowed never to get there again, I'm not so sure I was able to keep that promise. Maybe these are things we learn through time and experience. Or perhaps its subject to the way in which we lead the rest of our life.
- gmfawcett 12y agoWalking away or burning out isn't an inevitable outcome. We are all capable of learning new behaviours. It's a learnable skill to notice when you're starting to burn out, and then to take a step back, rest, and correct your behaviour. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves (and our teams, and our managers) that, in spite of deadline pressures, software development is often more like a marathon than a sprint. Long-distance effort requires personal changes in goal-setting, planning, preparation, and ongoing practice --- all of which can be learned. Health care professionals have a very high burnout rate, and to address this, "self care" is often stressed in their educational programs. Maybe this should be incorporated into software development education as well.
- chaqke 12y agoI agree, the inner (premature) optimizer in us leads us to do all or nothing. It's a bug in our brains.
- jhull 12y agoGood for you man. I took a year to do the same thing and travel. The first step for me was creating a blog and writing a similar post, reflecting on what I had been doing and what was about to change. I also wrote down a lot of things I wanted to do in that next year. While I only did a handful of them, its great to look back now a few years later and see where my mindset was. It is also great to reflect on the things that I did do on that year off that were so amazing, the things which I didn't write down, because they weren't even things I could imagine. That's the best part, realizing you've broadened your horizons. :a toast: Wishing you do many unimaginable things.
- d2ncal 12y agoI agree with the sentiment, but how's he going to pay the bills for rent, school, car, etc? A lot of people work on jobs they don't like to pay bills. Is he not going to have a place to stay? May be his girlfriend has enough income that he can pursue hobbies while she works A 'proper' job? There is a minimum you need to make to live a comfortable life and not rely on government to help ends meet.
- leothekim 12y agoSo this guy: - Changed his major overnight from whatever it was to computer science after writing a Hello, World program - Left "so-called higher education" to work at a real-life job "without even thinking about it twice" - Quit real-life job to be a bartender and chef - Quit doing that after getting girlfriend pregnant to 'go back to the "real world" to get a job' - Quit that to build a house and work on a farm Every life event he describes here is a movement to extremes out of frustration or anxiety from what he was currently doing. I'm sure there's much more to this story, but if anything, this is an example of how peace of mind can't be found on either ends of a see-saw.
- kleer001 12y agothanks for saving me from reading this article, the author sounds like a waffly idiot
- jakejake 12y agoI think this is the result of the relative ease of getting programming work and good salaries. It attracts a lot of people who are not really in it for the love. Some of those people are going to feel like their soul is being sucked out. This guy is one of them which explains his extreme reactions. I personally would rather work at the shittiest programming job than go out and work on a farm. But that's just me.
- untog 12y agoMan, I love programming but there are times after sitting at a desk for seven hours then spending another hour at the gym to get exercise that I feel like modern life makes no damn sense. It's moments like these that the idea of working on a farm, doing something real with my hands, sounds really great. But who am I kidding.
- jerf 12y agoYou may want to consider "life-hacking" your exercise routine. There's a lot of evidence coming in lately that suggests that an hour is far more time than you need to be spending for health, if you do different things. (I'm not in love with using the term life-hacking, but, alas, it really is the best fit for the concept in question. Still, it need not be done as a fad or because it is "cool" in a certain set... it can simply be a useful way of improving yourself.)
- jcadam 12y agoI envy people who can simply walk away from a career like this. As the single source of income for a family of 5, I will be slinging code for The Man for years to come. I started programming shortly after learning to read, so it's not something I'll ever give up totally -- I do find side projects help in alleviating the ennui somewhat (given that you can at least challenge yourself, rather than solving the same problems over and over and over and over.... ).
- bengali3 12y agoyeah, i'm trying to figure out how to "be your own The Man" - its just a different problem to solve. easier said than done but we like hard problems, right? I've not solved it yet so let me know when you do. currently early 30s, family of 4, Boston Current Objective: Write a function that creates HTML that generates webpage views and prompts for creditcard numbers. Use monthly account deposits as metric to optimize performance. FYI Rob rocks - see http://startupbook.net/ http://startupbook.net/
- probably_wrong 12y agoMaybe I'm just cynical, but I feel this article plugs very well into another article I read this month: "What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living"[1]. [1] http://www.salon.com/2015/02/10/what_nobody_told_me_about_small_farming_i_cant_make_a_living/ http://www.salon.com/2015/02/10/what_nobody_told_me_about_sm...
- mariodiana 12y agoPresident Calvin Coolidge, on the subject of farm subsidies, from Wikipedia: "Farmers never have made much money," said Coolidge, the Vermont farmer's son, "I do not believe we can do much about it." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge#Farm_subsidies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge#Farm_subsidies
- dismal2 12y agoI got the sense from the article that he wasn't just farming, maybe he is doing some form of sustainable living but he says he's building tiny houses too which would probably be the main income.
- raisedbyninjas 12y agoYeah, farming is not gardening++ If you're raising livestock, you don't take week-long vacations because your herd would die. There is always a lot of work to do so the work schedule is like perpetual crunch time but with less stress. Less stress if you haven't been facing drought or pest or fungus outbreak for the past few years. The room for niche farmers is much smaller than the tech world. There are not too many clever startup farmers that disrupt the food world. Small farmers really either just compete against mega-farms to produce cheaply and efficiently or cater to affluent quality-driven customers.
- otakucode 12y agoWeirdo. I'm just going to quit my job and give freelancing/consulting a shot. In the middle of West Virginia. I don't think I could ever leave programming. I started around 9 years old, I've already been through my slump and come out the other side more interested than ever. In programming, that is. The way most companies handle software development, though? That is certainly downright terrible. My knowledge of history and economics encourages me that this is probably a somewhat temporary situation, though. Companies are disemboweling themselves with astonishing fervor while the infrastructure their employees need to serve customers directly is becoming ubiquitous. It should be fun to watch.
- Bahamut 12y agoOne of my friends got similarly burnt out of 10 years of coding - he left software engineering for teaching English to kids in Vietnam. Everyone's desires in a career/life are different. We also are wired differently. For me, I would like to become wealthy enough to live comfortably & support my friends, financially & coding-wise, in their endeavors (many of them are musicians)
- magic_beans 12y ago10 years of ANYTHING will burn out a certain type of person.
- glenntzke 12y agoHow did you get back to the software industry so easily after a long industry break working as a bartender... I would like to read the response to this question. I think there are many software engineers out there who would like to take a break from office and/or coding jobs to work simply – be it bartending, woodworking, volunteering – using their hands and interacting with a diverse community of humans. As someone who has interviewed many candidates for coding positions, I always give attention to those who have ventured out of the field and ask for insight into those experiences. Note: this is a bit of a cross-post since I commented on the article, too
- dangerlibrary 12y agoIn my experience it's not easy, and you inevitably take a pay cut in your first job back. You have far less negotiating power coming from a job that your employer can comfortably assume is not well compensated. Also, you have to study / work on side projects to keep sharp for technical interviews. The biggest benefit for me was that I have been to both sides of the fence and noted that while both are indeed quite green, there are always some nasty crabgrass bits. That understanding was worth the couple years of lost wages, and I suspect will pay for itself in peace of mind over time.
- kghose 12y agoI find that owning a house gives me my weekly fix of wanting to build and fix things.
- nether 12y agoBartending is often brought up as some accessible, social occupation for taking a break from the office. The truth is for men it's extremely hard to find a bartending job unless you're very good looking and have some desirable personality traits (you get along with everyone, can easily make small talk) honed with years of good social skills. Bartending school helps a little bit, connections help far more. But it's not as easy as becoming a server, it's a position with a fair amount of responsibility and plenty of eager candidates who think it sounds fun.
- amyjess 12y agoI'm happy that OP found what he wants, but honestly... I'm actively repulsed by the idea of living a life like the one OP is starting. I'm close to OP's age (I'm 30; he's 32), and the idea of working on a farm, doing manual labor, and raising a kid is like living hell to me. To me, the ideal job is one that involved having 16 terminals open, and I'd rather work in an office than in any other environment. To each their own, I guess. OP can do what he wants, and I'm enjoying being a childfree lesbian who slings code, happily works a white-collar job, and eats, sleeps, and breathes technology.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- subudeepak 12y agofoo-bar dear friend. Lorem ipsum :)
- jwmoz 12y agoThis rings true. I'm 30, have a well paid programming job, but I just don't care that much about it anymore. I used to be so passionate and enthusiastic. But now I feel like there's more to life than banging out code. Unfortunately there's not much else I know other than the internet and the fact it's currently making me a lot more money than 95% of my friends. So that leaves me ultimately disenchanted with nowhere to go.
- Nicholas_C 12y ago>But now I feel like there's more to life than banging out code. Have you thought about moving "up" into management?
- otakucode 12y agoNow hold on a minute. There's no reason to assume he's a bad person.
- Kurtz79 12y agoThis is somehow frowned upon by programmers (as selling yourself out) but as someone that took the plunge it is something I really suggest doing, if you are getting bored or just want to try new things. You are presented with a new set of challenges and another point of view that, if anything, will make you appreciate more other roles and give you a better view of what delivering a product or a project entails, how different parts in a company interact, and how they are dependent on each other. More than moving "up" it really more like "sideways". Also, if your company is receptive enough you could ask for an experience in another department, like sales or QA, or testing. You can go back any time: a normal career spans decades, decisions are rarely definitive.
- Igglyboo 12y agoI really don't think this is a fault of programming itself though, many people are dissatisfied with their jobs. I'm a programmer and my day job isn't all that interesting but it pays extremely well and I can still program things I enjoy in my free time. Being able to do something you somewhat enjoy while being paid a high salary would be amazing for a lot of people.
- scottmwinters 12y ago"burning out" only happens when you dont add fuel to the flame. If someone is passionate about what they are working on, they wont get burnt out. I can easily see getting burnt out on one technology or another, but the more code, the more I want to code and learn more. If someone programs at the same company doing the same tasks for years until they hate programming, then I really feel no sympathy. Get a different job...its easy. Do side projects...even easier. Adding fuel is easy. Letting it die takes effort.
- dismal2 12y agoThis is wrong, you don't understand how "burnout" works.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- personlurking 12y ago> "Today, however, I sit here writing this post as a 32-year-old man with...eyes that have only been open to the digital world." Wow, I'm basically his age and spent almost half my life in the US not online. I was climbing trees, chasing rabbits, shooting bows & arrows, and jumping off small cliffs. Other than that, sounds like a good plan. Wish you the best
- helicase 12y agoAs someone who's venturing back into the CS field after leaving it for 2 years to "pursue other interests," this post makes me doubt my decisions.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- lukeatuke 12y agoWriting that first Hello World program in 8-bit binary
- chrisdevereux 12y agoAs a side note, 'Hello world' is a fantastic thing to write on the card when one of your co-workers has a kid.
- xytop 12y agoWhat a waste of good domain name..
- mikecmpbll 12y agoProgrammers aren't the only people that have existential thoughts about what they devote their time, energy, and ultimately life to. If the author thinks there's something fundamentally more "worthy" about farming than software development, he doesn't bother making that point with any great detail. I got nothing from this story.
- DonHopkins 12y ago"When a programmer picks up a new language it is customary to write the timeless Hello World application to ease your way into a daunting codebase with an overly-simplistic view of its syntax." Who has actually written a "hello world" program to ease their way into a daunting codebase? Anyone? I haven't.
- meric 12y agoWriting a new URL route in an existing web application, to serve hello world, yes.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- grayfox 12y ago"Wherever you go, there you are."
- grayfox 12y ago"Wherever you go, there you are."
- kf5jak 12y agoAs many others, I often get frustrated when working through different problems. But I find taking a break and doing 'outdoor activities' such as backpacking and rock climbing gives my mentality a break. Afterwards, when I go back to tackling my problem, I feel refreshed. However, I don't only do this when I get frustrated with a problem, but after I complete one too. Taking breaks to 'get back in touch with nature' while doing something so technically involved tremendously helps my workflow.
- trunkation 12y agoIs it possible to pick up programming skills by studying computer science books? In particular I enjoy reading SICP because of its mathematical nature. So far I have been using SICP like a math book without any REPL. Just pen and paper problem solving. But I was told that won't teach you any useful coding skills. Just learning how to code seems to be an unbelievably painful task. Are there any math oriented compsci books that double as coding boot camp? Thanks.
- stephancoral 12y agoInstead of pen and paper, fire up that REPL and learn you some scheme. The book is called "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" for a reason.
- jnbiche 12y agoIf you understand the math, give coding a try. I suspect you'll find it easier than you're anticipating it will be. The REPL is an incredibly user-friendly way to learn to program. Try it. I'm surprised you like math and don't want to use the REPL, since the REPL in many ways resembles a powerful calculator (and can be used as such) If you really like the math approach, and grow to appreciate the REPL, give "The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming" by Doets and van Eijck a try. But no, you can't pick up programming just from reading books without attempting to program. You could pick up a good bit of computer science like that, but not programming. Programming must be experienced.
- JeffDavidson 12y agogood luck with the tiny house and farm!
- chaqke 12y agoAfter years of working as a programmer, I also find something extremely satisfying about doing physical labor. When someone asks me how close my project is to done, I often say "about half", or "it'll take a few more days". Is it 52% done? 59% done? 43% done? Will I run into some complication tomorrow and realize I'm 23% done? When I have 25 rebar to pound into the ground, and 10 are already there, I know it's 40% done. I know that in about double that amount of time, it will be near 100% done. There's no question of if I am about to run into a complication that will set me back 20%. More complicated construction can certainly lead to the same situations as programming, but sometimes simple tasks are really satisfying to a mind always dealing with new things. Variety is the spice of life.
- Ollinson 12y agoBefore enlightenment, chop wood carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water.
- atriix 12y agowall of text scroll scroll close tab