Subj : Re: do serious programmers have a life?
To   : comp.lang.c++,comp.programming
From : Phlip
Date : Fri Sep 23 2005 06:42 pm

amanda992004 wrote:

>> The original poster reported "feeling like a robot",
>> which is a clear sign of sleep deprivation.
>
> My sleep depravation is not from not staying in bed; I just don't sleep
> well and hence require longer hours to stay in bed to feel rested.
> Being in school, sleep deprivation is a routine as I must finish
> homework, project.  Feel like a robot and I am wondering thinking that
> with "I need to learn this", "I need to lean that", when will I ever
> not be like a robot?

School is different; it's supposed to rot your brain.

In work, you should be accomplishing one small feature of one big program, 
over and over again. This is fulfilling and good for you; it won't feel the 
same.

> Wondering whether I should use my previous degree/education (Chemistry)
> and get into teaching (it would be part-time at a college as I am doing
> now unless I work at multiple college teaching different courses to get
> full time hours which is not appealing to me OR teach high school which
> I don't want to do at this point in my life)  and have some sort of a
> life

Move to a country where they treat teachers as professionals. Move out of 
any country that's doing everything it can to rapidly lose its status as a 
superpower...

> stick with programming and get into the field. I have become interested
> in bioinformatics and talked with someone from the field. Needless to
> say, I need to make time to study Molecular Biology (will not go to
> Bioinformatics degree program) which does take time though I prefer to
> spend time building my programming skills (in scripting - Perl is the
> langauge inthat area - or  Database (would require high level skills
> and I am nowhere near that yet) ).

Bioinformatics is booming due to the wide number of different systems it 
covers, each bringing its own computational complexities.

> Currently, I am taking Data structure (using C++).  Have taken Java
> acouple of years ago. So thinking about spending time on the things I
> need to learn makes me feel like I will live have to like a robot.
>
> I ended up posting this in C++ group because I was looking for the C++
> question I posted a few days ago.  Can't find it but problem is solved.

C++ and Java suck. Learn TDD and Ruby. You will never look back. And Python 
(a competitor to Ruby) is _huge_ in Bioinformatics.

-- 
  Phlip
  http://www.greencheese.org/ZeekLand  <-- NOT a blog!!!

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