What profession is coding like?

[Wizard of Sleeves]

There is a reason my title is Wizard.

Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth.

[5teveH]

Builder. We get to build new stuff - and are then lumbered with the maintenance and alterations. Sometimes, (if we are lucky), we get to knock it all down and start again. But most of the time we battle to tack on extensions to inadequate foundations.

[den2k88]

It's like being a sculptor. You hammer, chisel away, measure and try to figure out how to get the shape you want from the material you have. All the while sweating and swearing.

GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

[Richard Deeming]

Just don't Google what "Wizard's Sleeve" means! :laugh:

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"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

[den2k88]

...and get cursed for it.

GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

[DerekT P]

firefighter (on occasions!) A new client calls you, you know nothing about the system which is DOWN and the client is losing £10k/hour. There is a certain amount of stress involved and you're in damage-limitation mode. Afterwards when things are wet and smouldering you step through doing a forensic investigation to find out what caused it all and then specify a new fire detection system and sprinklers.

[BryanFazekas]

Doctor. If the job gets exciting, it means something has gone badly wrong for someone.

[V 0]

Like marriage... At first it starts like a romantic dream, but soon enough, it becomes more like "accepting your fate".

V.

[Slow Eddie]

"Blood Sweat and Tears"

ed

[Slow Eddie]

"Blood Sweat and Tears"

[BBar2]

Cabinet Making. Sometimes you make a beautiful finely finished product. Sometimes you make a plywood box.

[Member 14840496]

A mental rollercoaster ride. Just make sure you keep a copy of everything you developed so that when you need to develop something else a year later or more, you may be able to find the solution in your past applications; rather than spend hours or days searching Google only to find yourself wasting time because a large percentage of the posts do not work.

[Lost User]

On a good day, it's like being a mathematician. Usually it's like being a copy editor, and the text you're dealing with was written by a monkey and in some fake language that has rules so convoluted that you cannot remember more than half of the rules at the time.

[Dan Neely]

Greg Utas wrote:

But we dress it up and call it refactoring. :)

Unless I'm certain management isn't around in which case it's de:elephant:toring. :-\

Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius

[agolddog]

Dentistry. Extract the bad stuff, fill it in with slightly less (in your opinion) bad stuff.

[James Curran]

As I tell people who need help with their PCs: Programming is like writing a novel. IT support is like operating a printing press.

Truth, James

[Bruce Greene]

I tell my kids that writing a complex C# program is like writing a novel except that if one word is misspelled then no one can read the entire thing.

[KarstenK]

I compare it with manual blacksmith work: you have some pieces of code and are hammering on the keyboard til the mud (bugs) are out. Maintenance is like reshaping a nail and support is horse shoe business. :~

Press F1 for help or google it. Greetings from Germany

[englebart]

Being a sculptor where the users choose the medium, but management already has picked out the paint brushes you have to use!

[Daniel Pfeffer]

It is one step below being God: In what other profession would my Word create worlds? And yes, I am perfectly serious.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.