Do you still like to code?
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The thread below about programming books got me thinking about how much I still love to code even though I don't do as much as I used to at work (busy herding cats people) but still play with the new stuff in my own time. However, if I know I have some coding to do at work, I still get excited and can't wait to start. And that's after nearly thirty years of doing the job. Do you still love your job or are you getting jaded? I think JSOP is given his earlier post! :-)
I would say that I still like to code, but I don't like it in the way that I used to. For the longest time my favorite movie was WarGames (and it's still on my list). That movie emphasized how cool and mysterious computers were at the time. Computers couldn't really do much back then, but that's what made them so accessible and fun. To program a computer, you had to understand computers. You had to know what was going on with bits and bytes and graphics adapters and protocols and whatnot, but those were all little things that you could grasp and play around with. But it created an intimacy between man and machine. Even high-level languages like BASIC felt rudimentary enough to represent the binary structure of a computer. These days everything is abstracted. Every abstraction is abstracted. These days you can go your entire career, for example, knowing nothing more than Javascript, CSS and HTML. Sure, there's lots more to learn, but you generally don't need to learn it unless you're the main developer on a large project. These days computers are complex, networks are complex. No one can possibly know more than a fraction of it. These days there isn't enough time to play around with everything to really understand it because there's so much to understand. I miss the simplicity of older times. It's like college. I loved college. It was so different from high school. I had more freedom. I discovered that there was so much more to this world than I had realized. College was very exciting...when I was 18. I've gone back to college a few times to take a course here and there. The magic isn't there anymore because I am a different person. It's disappointing, but it's okay because as a different person I understand more and I am a better student. So now I am a career developer. Now I face the challenge of professional growth. It isn't enough to track down a bug; I need to make my code as bug-free as possible with every single release. It isn't enough to deliver on a project; I need to make code as efficient and manageable as possible with every line I write. So I miss the simplicity and mystery of what computers used to be. But as computers have grown, so have I, and the challenges continue to present themselves. I definitely still enjoy that.
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R. Giskard Reventlov wrote:
[SMUGFACE] I walk to work - 15 minutes each way. :) [/SMUGFACE]
[EVENSMUGGERFACE] So do I - 15 seconds each way. :) [/EVENSMUGGERFACE]
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
OriginalGriff wrote:
[EVENSMUGGERFACE] So do I - 15 seconds each way. :) [/EVENSMUGGERFACE]
Sorry for you... sounds like you 'work from home'... if not properly managed that 15 seconds can be much to close for comfort.
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OriginalGriff wrote:
[EVENSMUGGERFACE] So do I - 15 seconds each way. :) [/EVENSMUGGERFACE]
Sorry for you... sounds like you 'work from home'... if not properly managed that 15 seconds can be much to close for comfort.
Nah. I used to work 35 miles from home; worse I lived in Hampshire, and worked inside the M25 (the London orbital motorway). Which meant that I had to fight traffic each way every day as I went with the flow of commuters heading into London. Those 35 miles took an hour on a good day (on a motorbike, a car would have doubled it): but all it ever took was some moron to do something stupid and that would easily double. And there were a lot of morons. So to be sure of getting in for 09:00, I left home at 07:00. Which meant the alarm went off at 05:00. And in those days, I was drinking a lot (partly to relax after I got home, partly I was under huge amounts of stress without even knowing it) - so I had to average 8 hours sleep a day, which meant I was in bed by 10 or earlier. My "me time" was working out at a couple of hours a week, and most of that was taken up with shopping, mowing, cleaning, and related cr@p. OK, I earned a lot of money - but I spent a lot of it on travelling as well! And I made nowhere near as much as my efforts earned the company, not by several orders of magnitude. Now? I work when I want, how I want. I hardly drink at all, I sleep 5 to 7 hours a night, and I am unstressed. I enjoy what I do, rather than doing it because it needs to be done. Work / Life balance is important. But I prefer to load the "life" part, rather than the "work" part.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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The thread below about programming books got me thinking about how much I still love to code even though I don't do as much as I used to at work (busy herding cats people) but still play with the new stuff in my own time. However, if I know I have some coding to do at work, I still get excited and can't wait to start. And that's after nearly thirty years of doing the job. Do you still love your job or are you getting jaded? I think JSOP is given his earlier post! :-)
I want to get into VR (virtual reality) programming (Oculus Rift) and robotics (Lego MindStorm); also eye tracking. (To cater to the "older" generation). Need a (way) bigger desktop before being able to do the VR though.
"(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then". ― Blaise Pascal
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The thread below about programming books got me thinking about how much I still love to code even though I don't do as much as I used to at work (busy herding cats people) but still play with the new stuff in my own time. However, if I know I have some coding to do at work, I still get excited and can't wait to start. And that's after nearly thirty years of doing the job. Do you still love your job or are you getting jaded? I think JSOP is given his earlier post! :-)
Yes, coding has always been fun and a challenge. I am 74 years old, write c#, C++, C, VB.net, Assembler, Java and while not too often anymore can still dabble in cobol, rpg, snobol, python and other classic languages. I have been called the oldest coder in the world, but just for laughs! As it keeps my mind active and my skills sharp I will keep coding as long as I can reach the keyboard and see the screen. :rolleyes:
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The thread below about programming books got me thinking about how much I still love to code even though I don't do as much as I used to at work (busy herding cats people) but still play with the new stuff in my own time. However, if I know I have some coding to do at work, I still get excited and can't wait to start. And that's after nearly thirty years of doing the job. Do you still love your job or are you getting jaded? I think JSOP is given his earlier post! :-)
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The thread below about programming books got me thinking about how much I still love to code even though I don't do as much as I used to at work (busy herding cats people) but still play with the new stuff in my own time. However, if I know I have some coding to do at work, I still get excited and can't wait to start. And that's after nearly thirty years of doing the job. Do you still love your job or are you getting jaded? I think JSOP is given his earlier post! :-)
I have found myself conflicted recently with this very question. My current role deals more with strategy and architecture and less hands-on code. When I took the job, I felt like I was sick of coding. Now I'm missing it a bit and wanting to go back. I feel now that this is likely due to the bureaucracy present in my environment and the fact that I can design an architecture but getting it going is difficult and slow. These frustrations make me long for simply sitting down at a computer and typing code. I feel code gives you immediate feedback and that endorphin rush of getting something to work. Working at a higher level is more abstract and at times difficult to feel that you actually accomplished something.
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My commute consists of descending into the basement to the luxurious Embedded Developer Office Suite. Maybe 30 seconds each way, and that makes this one of the best jobs I ever had, especially when it's -5 and snowing outside. I can work in a nice place to live (Nebraska) instead of some tech ghetto like California or Arizona. If an idea wakes me up at 3am I can head right to the keyboard to capture it, and if I'm brain dead at 2pm I can take a break to watch some awful TV show on Youtube (ever watch those Belarussian military TV mini-series?). My job is about 75% software, 25% hardware so I get a much-needed break from coding every now and then. Yes, I still like to code, but I also like designing the controller board I'g going to program. It's always a challenge to optimize the hardware layout to best advantage for the firmware. Only down side is testing for all those edge cases that show up in embedded designs, like batteries suddenly failing when it's only -40 outside, or the solar cell ices up and battery charger shuts down. I am isolated, no co-workers sitting next to me in cubicles, but that's equally good and bad. Skype and Slack takes up some of the, err, slack in socializing and talking out problems. The team is diverse and spread out across North America but we do have good communications and keep in touch daily. Management works hard to limit meetings to a minimum for those actually producing, and that's a big plus too. I can go all day in the coding zone without interruptions. After some 40+ years writing software and laying out circuit boards I would never do anything else. Not sure I'd feel the same way writing web pages to sell shoes, but even e-commerce websites have their place in improving society. Jack Peacock
Management that understands interruptions aren't conducive to productivity? WTF? Are you pulling our leg? How the heck did that happen? If upper management finds out, your bosses are looking at pink slips. ;)
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Last year I was in a blue funk and didn't love anything much, least of all coding. I eventually stopped being so hard on myself, relaxed, and now I'm all fired up again! I love problem solving, I love crafting a simple, elegant solution, I love making an app really slick, and learning things as I implement features and fix bugs. I really, really love coding - it completes me :-O Disclaimer: I'm sole developer on a small but complex/fun little app, and the company I contract with gives me an office and a plate of cooked food every day, lots of trust, and very little interference.
Sounds like an ideal job. Good for you, you likely deserve it.
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I started programming in 1969 and ended up as an Analyst but my true love was, and still is, coding (from my own design). I look on programming as an art. I love to see well thought out and efficient code. I am now 71 years old, retired but still programming (learning C#) to keep the little grey cells active. I will stop programming when I am in my box.
Will that be a Windows, Linux or BSD box? ;)
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Nah. I used to work 35 miles from home; worse I lived in Hampshire, and worked inside the M25 (the London orbital motorway). Which meant that I had to fight traffic each way every day as I went with the flow of commuters heading into London. Those 35 miles took an hour on a good day (on a motorbike, a car would have doubled it): but all it ever took was some moron to do something stupid and that would easily double. And there were a lot of morons. So to be sure of getting in for 09:00, I left home at 07:00. Which meant the alarm went off at 05:00. And in those days, I was drinking a lot (partly to relax after I got home, partly I was under huge amounts of stress without even knowing it) - so I had to average 8 hours sleep a day, which meant I was in bed by 10 or earlier. My "me time" was working out at a couple of hours a week, and most of that was taken up with shopping, mowing, cleaning, and related cr@p. OK, I earned a lot of money - but I spent a lot of it on travelling as well! And I made nowhere near as much as my efforts earned the company, not by several orders of magnitude. Now? I work when I want, how I want. I hardly drink at all, I sleep 5 to 7 hours a night, and I am unstressed. I enjoy what I do, rather than doing it because it needs to be done. Work / Life balance is important. But I prefer to load the "life" part, rather than the "work" part.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
Good!! Very few find the ability to walk away from the desk at home and 'live' or to turn off the job. It sounds to me like you've mastered that. I managed it when I had a home office for a number of years but knew several of my coworkers that ended up spending nearly every waking hour on the phone behind the keyboard. Getting the balance right is the key. My hat is off to you!
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The thread below about programming books got me thinking about how much I still love to code even though I don't do as much as I used to at work (busy herding cats people) but still play with the new stuff in my own time. However, if I know I have some coding to do at work, I still get excited and can't wait to start. And that's after nearly thirty years of doing the job. Do you still love your job or are you getting jaded? I think JSOP is given his earlier post! :-)
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The thread below about programming books got me thinking about how much I still love to code even though I don't do as much as I used to at work (busy herding cats people) but still play with the new stuff in my own time. However, if I know I have some coding to do at work, I still get excited and can't wait to start. And that's after nearly thirty years of doing the job. Do you still love your job or are you getting jaded? I think JSOP is given his earlier post! :-)
I love to code... but my biggest issue now is that I have a severe stress related anxiety issue which leads to depression. If there is no pressure on me, I can code like crazy... but the slightest amount of pressure, leads to stress which triggers my anxiety issues. And from what I can understand from my psychologist, high order anxiety leads to a flight or fight situation and your brain starts shutting down in preparation for either flight or fight... and as a result, I can concentrate or at times even think logically and I just stop working. It's a pain in the arse... because I still love to code.
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agolddog wrote:
Is it really the coding that people enjoy?
For me, yes. I like the problem solving but I love crafting something new where nothing existed before that solves that problem and does so in an elegant and efficient manner.
I love writing the bleeding edge stuff. I wrote some code in 2008 that was still running, unmodified, in 2015. It was an awesome feeling... knowing that something I had written way back when was still running.
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OriginalGriff wrote:
[EVENSMUGGERFACE] So do I - 15 seconds each way. :) [/EVENSMUGGERFACE]
Sorry for you... sounds like you 'work from home'... if not properly managed that 15 seconds can be much to close for comfort.
KC@CahabaGBA wrote:
Sorry for you... sounds like you 'work from home'... if not properly managed that 15 seconds can be much to close for comfort.
So maybe the next question might be: how many of you work from home? I guess "loving to code" and "working from home" are strictly related :)
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The thread below about programming books got me thinking about how much I still love to code even though I don't do as much as I used to at work (busy herding cats people) but still play with the new stuff in my own time. However, if I know I have some coding to do at work, I still get excited and can't wait to start. And that's after nearly thirty years of doing the job. Do you still love your job or are you getting jaded? I think JSOP is given his earlier post! :-)
Love to code! I've managed (and tried at all costs) to avoid the "management" track of any sort, preferring to carve out a technical lead type of position that requires more, rather than les, code from me. And yeah, now approaching my 32nd anniversary in the profession.
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Sounds like an ideal job. Good for you, you likely deserve it.
I wish! I feel guilty because I don't do automated or unit testing; my debugging involves stepping through code or sprinkling "print" statements everywhere (embedded background). There are probably more deserving developers. I certainly appreciate it though! Sadly the contract has come to an end. I'm Interviewing with big corporates and software dev sweatshops with a heavy heavy heart :sigh:
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Will that be a Windows, Linux or BSD box? ;)
IBM Mainframe, PDP 11, NCR, Assembler, Cobol, Fortran, Windows, C, C++, C#, VB, many more. You name it, been there done that...
