Lucky to be a Programmer

[Lakshmipathi]

Check out this link - I really loved it.And also check out other topics - It's really a cool site

Lucky to be a Programmer : Gustavo Duarte

[Freston]

That is a pretty interesting site. Thanks for pointing it out

[hazel]

Programming can be as addictive as crack. You just think "I wonder if I could..." and before you know where you are, it's dark all around you, your neck and shoulders are cramped, it's way past supper time and three hours have vanished from your life. You shut down, because you have run out of ideas, and go to bed; then you can't get to sleep because suddenly all sorts of possible solutions are dancing about in your brain. My advice: don't get started. Just say no!

[Manchunian]

A few years back I was considering my career options (again). My mother-in-law came up with a suggestion: why not be a programmer? I explored the idea quite a lot, but then I realised something that stopped me totally in my tracks: computers can take over your life. Now, some people like this, and that's OK, I'm not criticing anyone: but when you have two children (and a wife!) you really have to think. I know that some people manage to balance the two - they know when to stop working and be with their family. But I know that I wouldn't. Even with Linux, I have to be careful. A few months back it started to become an obsession. As soon as I came home from work, I'd switch the computer on and start compiling, tweaking and stuff. Then I head my 5 year-old boy say to his mother "Daddy's always on the computer!" and I calmed down.
I don't want to look back on my life when I'm old and see myself tapping away at a keyboard. I want to be able to say that I saw my children grow up and I helped them to become decent human beings. That's why I'm still an English teacher, still feeling unfilled at work, still only scraping a living. My job may not be much, but my family life is fantastic. Also, I do so many things:I'm soon off to Portugal...on my bicycle in a couple of weeks (1000 miles); I love climbing mountains when I can get away; and the joys of cooking! The thing is, I know myself and I know that I wouldn't have such a diverse and interesting life if I became a programmer. So, I may not have found total happiness at work, but I have found it away from work.

[OPURO]

I thought that this is something the happens to me alone or perhaps i'm not that much of a good programmer; that's cos i almost always do not get any of my codes finished the way i want them to be done when I start. But reading your experience sort of gives me the encouragement that perseverance can get me there one day. I have always had to finish off my projects in a manner that was not intended and this leaves me feeling quite incompetent albeit others find the output good enough.

[fingal]

The thing is, I know myself and I know that I wouldn't have such a diverse and interesting life if I became a programmer. So, I may not have found total happiness at work, but I have found it away from work.

I'm with you there. I have similar feelings about learning to programme. It would take me over, and I would rather do other things.

A mate of mine is a programmer (actually a couple of them are) and neither seem content at work. One has been writing code for about 25 years and when I suggested it might be a good career move he talked me out of it.

The *.nix world is interesting, but so are many other things.

[Manchunian]

My wife's programmer uncle has huge personal problems - and his wife wants to divorce him. Why? Because he doesn't participate in family life at all. He works late every day, and in his holidays he can be found in his cellar, coding.

[elija]

My wife's programmer uncle has huge personal problems - and his wife wants to divorce him. Why? Because he doesn't participate in family life at all. He works late every day, and in his holidays he can be found in his cellar, coding.

Such is the life of the professional programmer.

People think it's all glamorous parties and cocktails but in reality your work is handed out by idiots who think it will take you five minutes (because what they don't understand has to be easy right?) which means that you have to work ridiculously long hours. Typically, if sales ask a programmer how long it will take to develop a piece of software, they will at least halve the estimate because all programmers are lazy! The fact that software is often delivered late or buggy proves that point, it can't be sales, they're perfect!

You then have to spend your spare time trying to keep your skills up to date because God forbid your company actually invests in you with some training because that would cost money and make you more valuable to the competition.

Kids don't do it, unless you do it purely for fun!

[Manchunian]

Now here's my admission: my wife's a programmer...sort of. But she has full control, and she never lets her family come after her work. Even if she comes home late sometimes, and even if she has to wake up very early in the morning to work on her laptop before going to work, she still manages to balance. But she gets tired and irritable, and sometimes life with her is hell. So this is why I know that this:

People think it's all glamorous parties and cocktails but in reality your work is handed out by idiots who think it will take you five minutes (because what they don't understand has to be easy right?) which means that you have to work ridiculously long hours.

is absolutely true!

[Lakshmipathi]

but in reality your work is handed out by idiots who think it will take you five minutes (because what they don't understand has to be easy right?) which means that you have to work ridiculously long hours.

I agree with you. Few months back,my "Higher Officials" wanted a Linux mail server then asked me to configure it -It's a sendmail server,My friends told me take up qmail or postfix ,which is much more easier than sendmail-
When i asked why sendmail - let's do qmail which is eaiser than sendmail...They said , we need sendmail ...(I don't know anything about mail server ---what's sendmail etc..) Gave me 3 days to configure it,But it took nearly a month long head ache (I'm not against sendmail by anymeans , just say how stupid ppl can be..)They know nothing about mail server/programming -but sets impossible deadline.


Yes...programming takes your life..you will become a isolated person.(i think this is true for everything...even video gamers forget the real life ..)

But that's how programmers life will go....try to make a balance between life and programming life...

After all,at the end of the day - It's MACHINE understandable language.