undefined | Better HN

0 pointsck42510y ago0 comments

I agree with this, except for the last line. Software Engineering is a great career in a lot of ways (interesting subject, smart people, flexible, relatively less bureaucratic, good pay etc) and sometimes I forget how damn good I have it compared to most folk. But at the same time there are lots of other things I enjoy and want to do in life beyond just software engineering.

I think as an industry we get a bit obsessed about wanting rockstar programmers who want to do nothing but make software. I enjoy my work, I'm grateful for it and I want to get better at it, but there are also lots of other things I want to do, so personally I'm not going to spend all my free time programming and I think that's ok.

0 comments

marknutter10y ago

> But at the same time there are lots of other things I enjoy and want to do in life beyond just software engineering.

I absolutely agree and I learned that the hard way. I guess what I meant was my regret is that it's simply not healthy to program during every waking moment, even though I often wish I could. It's a nice problem to have and certainly better than hating your profession.

peatfreak10y ago

> smart people

Uh, I'm not so sure about this. Programmers tend to have a bad habit of severely overestimating their own intelligence. This is one of the things I dislike about the profession: Everybody is so self-assured of their own brilliance.

ck425OP10y ago

Hmm personally the majority of people I've worked with are all of at least above-average intelligence and many of them are also very interesting. Met quite a few self-assured smart people at uni (I was one to an extent) but I think most of us grow out of it. Or maybe I've just been lucky where I've worked.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse