[HN Gopher] Programming as a Career Isn't Right for Me
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Programming as a Career Isn't Right for Me
Author : safaa1993
Score : 32 points
Date : 2023-11-23 21:25 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (medium.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (medium.com)
| Wronnay wrote:
| I can't really agree with the testing part. I worked with many
| projects where I came across Issues which definitely could have
| been prevented by more automatic unit / E2E tests.
|
| I imagine the engineers who wrote the code for the Boeing 737 MAX
| MCAS or the Tesla engineers who accidentally wrote log files to
| the internal flash thought the same. Maybe another team member
| could show the author why these tests are important...
| potatopatch wrote:
| The frog on a dissection table approach to software development
| seems like it is probably a primary cause of incidents
| involving lost surgical tools in production.
| Kinrany wrote:
| Say more?
| rob74 wrote:
| TBF, he does write "I do see the importance in many of the
| things I just listed [one of them being testing], but they sure
| do take the fun out of the act". And I, for one, agree with
| that. Testing _is_ important, but in practice it 's often just
| another dumb metric (e.g. achieving x % code coverage), which
| however doesn't say anything about whether the tests are
| actually _helpful_ or just call the code so it 's "covered"...
| resonious wrote:
| The problem here (in my mind) is that hindsight is 20/20, so
| you can always look at a bug and say that a test could've
| prevented it. But in the author's case, it sounds like they
| still have bugs despite all the tests, so I guess the people
| writing the tests just aren't very skilled? And if that's the
| case, couldn't a more skilled engineer just write better code
| to begin with?
|
| I totally get tests as a way to prevent known incidents from
| happening again. But tests as a way of preventing unknown
| issues seems dubious to me.
| readthenotes1 wrote:
| I reinterpret Chomsky "Students who _have such little foresight
| and so_ acquire large debts putting themselves through school are
| unlikely to _acquire the capacity to_ think about changing
| society. "
|
| The op is complaining about having a cush job. He should try
| construction, garbage, policing, working in ER, etc.
| hindsightbias wrote:
| "Then I'm going to a cabin in the woods."
|
| I get him about 3 months ouut there.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I've done a couple of those, and there's no such thing as a
| cush job. My current career is usually done from a comfy desk
| setup, but it's just as hard as the physical work, in a
| different way.
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| He should go back to his 8th grade programming and drawing
| sprites on a screen and letting users move them around.
|
| Life is to short to be writing tests for a somebody else's font
| end code.
| alfredpawney wrote:
| I just started learning how to code and honestly its so much
| darn fun to do this sprites stuff even if youre just learning
| it as a second career
| lainga wrote:
| Seems like the problem is that "programming as a career" often
| means "waiting". All the process stuff he mentions is
| (personally) fine with me, it's just that you often have no
| agency over when it happens. Everything requires permission. Or
| there's "no budget for it".
| dartos wrote:
| The lack of agency is what drove me away from my last job.
|
| Id be fine with process, if I had some say over the work I do.
| bryancoxwell wrote:
| I have absolutely zero advice to give, but I absolutely feel the
| sentiment of "I want to write programs, but I don't want to be a
| programmer."
|
| I walk my dog around the US Capitol a lot, and every time I'm
| there I find myself wondering if I wouldn't be happier doing
| landscaping for the architect of the capitol and writing code as
| and when I want, how I want, only as a hobby.
| TrackerFF wrote:
| When I was young, I really enjoyed programming - but for the sake
| of creating stuff. I viewed coding as a tool. Means to an end,
| really.
|
| I wasn't the type that really geeked out on things like editors,
| programming languages, etc. but I really enjoyed making stuff,
| that was the fun part. Solving problems with the tools I had.
|
| Then I joined the workforce after Uni., and found out that I
| didn't really enjoy the process that is called modern software
| development. I still enjoyed solving problems, but everything
| around it just didn't vibe with me.
|
| And then there's the competition - I early discovered that I
| could never outperform my competition. I'm talking about the guys
| that live and breathe _everything_ CS /SWE related. The guys that
| will continue to work on hobby projects at home after work, the
| guys that are extremely invested in every part of the tool-chain,
| and are _passionate_ about all the stuff I found boring.
|
| Couldn't really see myself transitioning to a manager role
| either.
|
| So I chose to pursue a domain I find interesting, and become an
| analyst. Now I can solve problems - which I enjoy to do - and use
| whatever tools I want.
|
| Coding is fun again, because I can do it fast and half-assed. I'm
| the only one using the code, and most scripts I write are use-
| once. Programming is once again just another tool in my toolbox.
|
| The times I actually write more persistent stuff, I can take my
| time and still have a lot of freedom.
| 0x6461188A wrote:
| Could you say more about your analyst job? What kind of an
| analyst are you? How are you measured?
| oooyay wrote:
| > I'm talking about the guys that live and breathe everything
| CS/SWE related. The guys that will continue to work on hobby
| projects at home after work, the guys that are extremely
| invested in every part of the tool-chain, and are passionate
| about all the stuff I found boring.
|
| Every trade/craft has these kind of folks. I think it comes
| from people who like to teach others or have to work closely
| with others. Things like deep toolchain configuration become
| table stakes on large or open projects.
| iwontberude wrote:
| Worse are the ones that never stop playing at work. They find
| joy out of working on toy projects for the good the company. Oh
| it's hard to compare.
| francisofascii wrote:
| OP needs to get a different programming job. Writing test code
| all day sounds horrible. That should maybe be a portion of your
| job, but not the entire job.
| sys_64738 wrote:
| Middle management have wrestled control back from developers with
| the scrum/agile garbage. That is soul-sucking insofar as you are
| working a conveyor belt where if anything drops of then you are
| the problem. SW development has entered the factory automation
| phase where humans are still doing the "automation". The sooner
| middle management can replace them with AI the sooner SW
| developers will be consigned to the dustbin of history. Right
| now, middle management hates the status quo.
| 0x6461188A wrote:
| "Then I'm going to a cabin in the woods."
|
| Consider the campervan.
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