Deep thoughts - by FillYourBrain

There was a time, not too long ago that I lived for the ideals of a perfectly structured, object oriented coding style. I would have loved to force everyone to learn this beautiful system of easily maintained code. This among other things is what made me love programming after all.

There was a time, not too long ago that I felt I was the most skilled programmer alive (a bit on the ridiculous/arrogant side) or at least that I was a giant step above all clasmates and co-workers. This arrogance came across to many people and ruined what could have been good relationships.

There was a time when I could see the joining of the coding for hobby world and the coding as a career world. Today I see that they are too different worlds. They share a common language but they are saying far different things.

Friends, those of you not yet working in the field, what you're looking forward to doesn't exist. Yes, you will enjoy parts of your career but you will detest much of it as well. There are days where you will hate your life and come to understand that a job is a job, period.

I suppose this brings me to where I have to tell you why I still do this for a living? On my desk is a picture of my family. My wife, son (2), and daughter(11 months). On my pc desktop is a picture of my son in front of the dolphin tanks at sea world. Had these pictures not been there, most certainly I would have quit many times over. I need these to tell me to stay put and take it like a man. I need these to tell me that it isn't about ME anymore. Is my purpose here to discourage you? Certainly not. Pursue the career with all your vigor. But understand that it will become a job. Like any other. Good day.

Thumbs up.

I don't vote for threads here very often, but you get a 5, anyways.

>>> Today I see that they are too different worlds.

Oh so true. Good say FYB.

thanks guys.

adrianxw, it's funny. That line was screwed up. I think subconsciously I couldn't decide between "two different worlds" and "too different" so I mixed them up. Let's call it a typo. I'll leave it. Who cares.

>> a job is a job, period.

i agree. however ther is still a big difference between a good job and a not so good job. you work in an office, on a computer, for decent ( i assume ? ) wages. you could be fixing cars in a dirty garage for half of what you make now and still be in the same situation where you are doing it for your family.

i agree with what you are saying, what once was a great hobby becomes a 'job'. I just think it's fortunate that the great hobby became a good job :)

> you could be fixing cars in a dirty garage for half of what you make now

Mechanics make better money than you think...

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Originally posted by Govtcheez
Mechanics make better money than you think...

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not where i live. i worked as a mechanic full time for 6 months. All of the guys i worked with said things like "get out while you can.." or "be an electrician"

when you work as a mechanic you get flat rates. this means if something goes wrong and it takes you 6hrs to do a 2hr job, you still get paid for 2hrs work. making good money this way is very hard. not to mention most mechanics ive met are always ........y and depressed, i cant help but attribute that to their work environment/conditions.

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Originally posted by Perspective
>> a job is a job, period.

i agree. however ther is still a big difference between a good job and a not so good job. you work in an office, on a computer, for decent ( i assume ? ) wages. you could be fixing cars in a dirty garage for half of what you make now and still be in the same situation where you are doing it for your family.

i agree with what you are saying, what once was a great hobby becomes a 'job'. I just think it's fortunate that the great hobby became a good job :)

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I follow what you're saying, and I agree. Don't get me wrong I'm thankful to be in this job and have a decent income. All I'm pointing out is that pre-employment delusions of the great field of computer programming are smashed quickly when you get started. This is not a pity search. This is perhaps an effort to bring some of the younger members here down to reality. It's just an honest look at what it is that we do

I'm prepared for this to happen, but only on the basis that I can code my own projects outside of work, is this likely to happen/be possible?

What??? I thought professional programmers wore capes to work and ate caviare all day.

well I don't like caviar but a cape is not outside the realm of possibility.

HybridM, that all depends on you. I have a small amount of time for coding outside work but the amount of my life I'm willing to spend in front of a keyboard has dwindled. It has gotten to a very high total to this point.

This solidifies my decision to take math instead of computer science. At least with math I might be able to leave my doors open somewhat more than if I had taken comp sci.

EDIT:
it's scary because I always thought I envied your job, but this is the second or third time I've heard about how much of a hell it is, and that was after Davros quit and began planting trees. And you guys are good at programming, I can't imagine how bad it would be for someone who isn't exactly the top tuxedo in the closet. I think programming will just be a perverse hobby I have, not a career.

Silvercord, you have a tendency toward knee-jerk reaction. You should learn to control that.

I don't. You didn't cause this. I've visited two schools (Wentworth and UMaine) and spoke with the computer science department guys and have been talking over this for six months with my parents. It hasn't been an easy decision because for the last few years I was convinced I'd be taking comp sci, but we all agree math will probably be better for me.

EDIT:
The computer science programs just don't look very appetizing, and why should I take something I can mostly teach to myself when I can take another major that is more challenging and will broaden my horizons? Math can lead me to an engineering profession, architecture, some sort of statistics type of job, banking, or software engineering.
And just wondering, what do you mean by 'i tend to have a knee jerk reaction' towards thigns. That actually makes no sense to me, now that i think about it.

>> There are days where you will hate your life and come to understand that a job is a job, period.

I have come to realize this over the past couple years (still being in high-school, I've been lucky that I've had the opportunity to realize this early enough to do something about it). As a result, there are some fun hobbies I have (and really enjoy) that I refuse to ever let become a career for just that reason.

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Originally posted by Silvercord
And just wondering, what do you mean by 'i tend to have a knee jerk reaction' towards thigns. That actually makes no sense to me, now that i think about it.

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I think you're a good personality around here. Don't take it personally. Knee-jerk reactions are those that are based on a small amount of information so I'll give you that that is probably not the case. But knee-jerk also means that there is an overreaction. I think that definitely applies. People being not entirely satisfied in their work is not a reason for you to throw it away as an option. Like I said, I am thankful for this job. You might be too when the time comes. But, Nirvana it isn't.;)

Ohhhhh.

:)

sweet

I might still consider minoring in comp sci

When you do programming as a job, there are always two sides: Your own pride to make the program work like it should and have a proper structure and comments and documentation and stuff. And then there is your boss, who wants to get results for the money. Commenting is not a result, clean code is not a result. A finished program is, no matter how it looks in the sourcecode.

If you have a boss that can see that clean code and comments are helpful and saving time maintaining the application that's great. If you don't, that sucks.

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I can't imagine how bad it would be for someone who isn't exactly the top tuxedo in the closet.

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Well, those that are frustrated first are those that are best, because they can clearly see what goes wrong.

Bottom line: Welcome to the "Real World" (tm) :(

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Originally posted by Silvercord
[B
I might still consider minoring in comp sci [/B]

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hey silver, why not a double major? one of my friends is doing a 5-year Math/comp. sci double major. That may cover everything your looking for (?)

I don't know, I guess I'm still considering options. That might be an excellent idea though. I like the setup of the Major in math and minor in computer science at UMaine because I can skip almost every single one of the lame comp sci courses but still take the advanced 3d graphics theory courses they offer in the high level comp sci courses.

I've just finished second year in CS, and I've always known that a job in programming is never going to be like when you do programming for fun!

But computer programming is the only major that I love, although I'm good at other subjects and I always get high grades in them, but programming is my favourite, I know how it is to work in this field, because I know many people working in programming.

I've always wanted to major in CS, and if I have to choose a job, I don't think there is better than programming!

I'm not a very talented programmer, but I'll do my best to become better and better!