Programming professionally
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A contractor I replaced left professional development because he got burned out of it. I'm wondering what the signs are.
What are the signs of getting burned out? Getting tired of being (approximately) 10 years ahead of the curve (in my personal case, 'Agile' type development, ORM/data layers, frameworks, TDD/Unit testing frameworks/continuous integration - I've written my own tools for them all... since back when I was at uni in the 80's...) Realising it's only the illusion of change that we have in development. Realising that you are writing the same damn apps over and over - whilst the tech changes under you so fast that you actually are no better/faster at actually delivering a working product. Being tired of running to stand still - if you study really hard *in your own time* you can just about stay as good as you were after about 5 years in the biz. In the few areas where there is design continuity, being tired of seeing all the same mistakes made all over again... (dreadful database design, over-engineering, under-engineering, 'hacking' to meet a time schedule, lack of client involvement, premature optimisation, optimising without metrics). Seeing the whole arena move in what seems like rather pointless directions - e.g. making web apps act like WinForms apps (except slower) by dint of much complex autogenerated code, seeing the database side engulfed by new tools with their own syntax and learning curve - none of which is necessary if you knwo the SQL and a programming language, seeing the proliferation of a kind of thinking that wants to do everything by ever-more config files - rather than the tool actually designed for the job (i.e. a standard programming language that everyone can follow). Knowing that going for architect only distances you so fast from the tech that you'll be out of touch even faster - and even less useful. Knowing that *WE* made it this way - we wanted a pure mertiocracy, we (when we were young) wanted a field where age and experience didn't matter so much as quickness and cleverness. Being just tired of it all.
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What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
Back to my first love: cars.
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What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
This[^]. ;) (I'd probably be an architect, journalist or photographer.)
cheers, Paul M. Watson.
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What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
I'd train to become a tree surgeon.
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What are the signs of getting burned out? Getting tired of being (approximately) 10 years ahead of the curve (in my personal case, 'Agile' type development, ORM/data layers, frameworks, TDD/Unit testing frameworks/continuous integration - I've written my own tools for them all... since back when I was at uni in the 80's...) Realising it's only the illusion of change that we have in development. Realising that you are writing the same damn apps over and over - whilst the tech changes under you so fast that you actually are no better/faster at actually delivering a working product. Being tired of running to stand still - if you study really hard *in your own time* you can just about stay as good as you were after about 5 years in the biz. In the few areas where there is design continuity, being tired of seeing all the same mistakes made all over again... (dreadful database design, over-engineering, under-engineering, 'hacking' to meet a time schedule, lack of client involvement, premature optimisation, optimising without metrics). Seeing the whole arena move in what seems like rather pointless directions - e.g. making web apps act like WinForms apps (except slower) by dint of much complex autogenerated code, seeing the database side engulfed by new tools with their own syntax and learning curve - none of which is necessary if you knwo the SQL and a programming language, seeing the proliferation of a kind of thinking that wants to do everything by ever-more config files - rather than the tool actually designed for the job (i.e. a standard programming language that everyone can follow). Knowing that going for architect only distances you so fast from the tech that you'll be out of touch even faster - and even less useful. Knowing that *WE* made it this way - we wanted a pure mertiocracy, we (when we were young) wanted a field where age and experience didn't matter so much as quickness and cleverness. Being just tired of it all.
Right, I need to find something else to start studying.
Pete If minds had anuses, blogging would be what your mind would do when it had to take a dump Maddox
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I'd be a pilot
Need software developed? Offering C# development all over the United States, ERL GLOBAL, Inc is the only call you will have to make.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway
Most of this sig is for Google, not ego.I am so jealous of you. I've flown a plane with a friend who has a license, but I just can't afford it myself. Hopefully at some point in the future I will.
Simon
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Seeing as how superheroes do not actually exist, I'd become a supervillain. My plan is to build a giant orbital peanut farm in order to manufacture a 1000 meter wide ball of peanut butter. This giant ball of peanut butter would then be equipped with airfoils, retrorockets and a heat shield. Simultaneously, I would secretly amass thousands of liters of sulfuric and nitric acid at an underground facility located in Kentucky. Using genetically engineered super-gophers, a tunnel would be created from the acid storage area into the basement of the target, and then lined with Teflon. With a big red button and an evil laugh, I would commence the Master Plan. First, the giant ball of peanut butter would be carefully hurled from orbit onto Fort Knox. With 100 meters of peanut butter making entry and exit from the fort impossible, the final leg of pipe would connect into the basement of the vault. In a rush of pure liquid evil, the sulphuric and nitric acids would be pumped into the vault forming Aqua Regia. Metal security doors pose no challenge to the powerful acids. In a few short hours all the nation's gold will have dissolved, allowing me to easily pump it out. But since I just told you the details of my evil scheme, I'd probably just get a job as an auto mechanic.
I have nothing against VB or .NET; all Turing-complete languages are respectable. It just seems that some languages attract one echelon of programmers, and other languages attract an entirely different echelon of programmers. :P
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What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
become a pilot on this baby http://gizmodo.com/5029950/first-virgin-galactic-white-knight-ii-photos go on admit it day 1 you'd push the go button and say "ENGAGE!" :-D
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Who says I do now. Perhaps I program amateurishly, or perhaps I do it rakishly. To answer your question, I'd do something else. I'd possibly put more effort into music than I have the time to do now. If I had the time, I'd love to get a PhD in Astrophysics.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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I think that Chuck Norris mught want to walk softly in the presence of the Outlaw Programmer. I'm not sure where I'd place my bet, but it would be fun to watch the match...
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
Don't forget, he's my bitch and he does what I tell him to do.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
Become the manager from hell that I'm scared I am becoming anyway. Grab some good gear and some livable land and make a place with no pressure. Build beautiful gardens and houses, stay off the grid, fend for myself. Agitate my poor herniated disc to make the ground fertile Than after that goes south, dig up- my guns and switch sides become, the top level predator.
Silver member by constant and unflinching longevity.
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music and astrophysics, are you Brian May ?
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "Iam doing the browsing center project in vb.net using c# coding" - this is why I don't answer questions much anymore. Oh, and Microsoft doesn't want me to.
'Are you Brian May?' That's a good one :laugh:
Paul Sanders http://www.alpinesoft.co.uk
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What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
Well, there are a few things. 1 - Start a night club business if I had the initial cash. 2 - Work with car tunning and competition. 3 - Become a hippie and live in the nature.
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What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
I've actually been there. After burning out from this job at the end of the last century, I became a fishing guide and professional tournament angler. I've since been dragged (kicking and screaming) back into the development world, but I have to say that I like having money again.
You are here - through no fault of mine!
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What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
Programming already is my fall-back career. In real life, I was a chemist - computers an entertaining tool. About all that's left that I know how to do (that isn't hard work) is taking pictures of kids. Either that, or a gigolo. Maybe I should try to take full advantage of my keyboard abilities and become a cashier at "Trader Joe's".
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"How do you find out if you're unwanted if everyone you try to ask tells you to stop bothering them and just go away?" - Balboos HaGadol"It's a sad state of affairs, indeed, when you start reading my tag lines for some sort of enlightenment?" - Balboos HaGadol
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What are the signs of getting burned out? Getting tired of being (approximately) 10 years ahead of the curve (in my personal case, 'Agile' type development, ORM/data layers, frameworks, TDD/Unit testing frameworks/continuous integration - I've written my own tools for them all... since back when I was at uni in the 80's...) Realising it's only the illusion of change that we have in development. Realising that you are writing the same damn apps over and over - whilst the tech changes under you so fast that you actually are no better/faster at actually delivering a working product. Being tired of running to stand still - if you study really hard *in your own time* you can just about stay as good as you were after about 5 years in the biz. In the few areas where there is design continuity, being tired of seeing all the same mistakes made all over again... (dreadful database design, over-engineering, under-engineering, 'hacking' to meet a time schedule, lack of client involvement, premature optimisation, optimising without metrics). Seeing the whole arena move in what seems like rather pointless directions - e.g. making web apps act like WinForms apps (except slower) by dint of much complex autogenerated code, seeing the database side engulfed by new tools with their own syntax and learning curve - none of which is necessary if you knwo the SQL and a programming language, seeing the proliferation of a kind of thinking that wants to do everything by ever-more config files - rather than the tool actually designed for the job (i.e. a standard programming language that everyone can follow). Knowing that going for architect only distances you so fast from the tech that you'll be out of touch even faster - and even less useful. Knowing that *WE* made it this way - we wanted a pure mertiocracy, we (when we were young) wanted a field where age and experience didn't matter so much as quickness and cleverness. Being just tired of it all.
This is so true it hurts! Spent 10 years as an "Architect" now have spent the last 2 catching up with develpment. Thank God it is just the same ol stuff with new names.
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What are the signs of getting burned out? Getting tired of being (approximately) 10 years ahead of the curve (in my personal case, 'Agile' type development, ORM/data layers, frameworks, TDD/Unit testing frameworks/continuous integration - I've written my own tools for them all... since back when I was at uni in the 80's...) Realising it's only the illusion of change that we have in development. Realising that you are writing the same damn apps over and over - whilst the tech changes under you so fast that you actually are no better/faster at actually delivering a working product. Being tired of running to stand still - if you study really hard *in your own time* you can just about stay as good as you were after about 5 years in the biz. In the few areas where there is design continuity, being tired of seeing all the same mistakes made all over again... (dreadful database design, over-engineering, under-engineering, 'hacking' to meet a time schedule, lack of client involvement, premature optimisation, optimising without metrics). Seeing the whole arena move in what seems like rather pointless directions - e.g. making web apps act like WinForms apps (except slower) by dint of much complex autogenerated code, seeing the database side engulfed by new tools with their own syntax and learning curve - none of which is necessary if you knwo the SQL and a programming language, seeing the proliferation of a kind of thinking that wants to do everything by ever-more config files - rather than the tool actually designed for the job (i.e. a standard programming language that everyone can follow). Knowing that going for architect only distances you so fast from the tech that you'll be out of touch even faster - and even less useful. Knowing that *WE* made it this way - we wanted a pure mertiocracy, we (when we were young) wanted a field where age and experience didn't matter so much as quickness and cleverness. Being just tired of it all.
Wouah! Now that comes from the heart!
kirsty pollock wrote:
Knowing that *WE* made it this way - we wanted a pure mertiocracy, we (when we were young) wanted a field where age and experience didn't matter so much as quickness and cleverness.
You should go watch yourself a good ol' schwarzy' movie, and you'll be quick and fit in no time again! Or maybe time to write a book or start a thesis...
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Wouah! Now that comes from the heart!
kirsty pollock wrote:
Knowing that *WE* made it this way - we wanted a pure mertiocracy, we (when we were young) wanted a field where age and experience didn't matter so much as quickness and cleverness.
You should go watch yourself a good ol' schwarzy' movie, and you'll be quick and fit in no time again! Or maybe time to write a book or start a thesis...
:-) I've thought about a book/paper. Maybe I should - as it'll probably take a good few years before anybody else gets round to it. (unless it already exists... or someone else is now inspired to do it)
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What would you do if you couldn't program professionally anymore to make a living?
Fashion Model. Is that part of UML?
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I'd roam the Texas hill country absolutely naked and make a name for myself...
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001Would you do that by foot, horse or motor bike?