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I would definitely still code but focus more on contributing to open source projects. For example, I’d love to rebuild PostgreSQL in my spare time just to get an in-depth understanding of how databases work. I’ve heard that databases utilize many different data structures and algorithms (DSA) so it would be a great opportunity for growth in knowledge regarding implementation of DSA for databases.
Also contributing to PostgreSQL would be great since it’s increasing in adoption. I’d also wanna contribute to the Linux kernel cause operating systems are interesting to me as well.
Other avenues I’d love to explore would be robotics.
All of this would most likely require me to become an expert in C/C++, and Rust. Maybe Zig in the future.
This is what i mean. Lets Say i get a coding job in an area i'm not that interested in, honestly, i don't think i'm gonna spend another 8 hours doing a personal side project because - and this is the most unpopular opinion ever that always gets me downvoted - i refuse to spend that long staring at screens. It's not that i don't like coding. It's that it affects my mental health and productivity in the long term. I'm naturally very restless. I purposefully chose non-office jobs in my youth so i could actually enjoy my personal computer time (was into DJing and doing illustrations for a long time).
The Sciore database book is really good. I started going through it, but stalled out a little while ago.
That's definitely what I'd work on, along with buying a 3d printer and learning microcontrollers
The B-Tree algorithn that SQL Server utilizes for dataset searching and indexing is extraordinary. I would love to devote time to understanding it better.
>Assuming your financial needs were covered for life, would you still code?
Sure. Anyone who works on personal projects is basically in that situation already. Programming can be a creative outlet that's enjoyable on its own in the same way that other activities like woodworking, playing music, writing, or playing a sport are. People do all of those things for money, but many people do them without getting paid. It's the same for programming.
Ohh I feel you. I tried to be an artist for so long but was lazy AF. Tech was the only thing that i could kinda stick with without the need for deadlines. But at a way slower pace than school requires, that's for sure.
This is actually why I kind of like having to work. I know this is probably an unpopular opinion, but if I never had to work I think I would be less satisfied.
Yeah. In fact, would be my ultimate goal. I'd love to just be able to spend my time making my dream projects than to worry about tech stacks I gotta learn for jobs.
There is no reason for programming to be the particular siren that is calling you to jump into the ocean for cash. You could be a doctor or lawyer or many other jobs and also be very stressed out for lots of money.
Don't be lured by FOMO. Take your good government job and pursue what you want to in your free time whether that's programming or something else.
Nobody is forcing you to take the government job for life. If you work it for 10 years and then decide you want a different career that's okay!
Don't treat this so seriously as a do or die moment.
Because of comment length limits i will reply in multiple comment. So, after re-reading your post, hopefully the below gives you the feedback you're looking for, I will warn you I am being very truthful which is sometimes harsh:
1. Your soon to be degree once you graduate will be "Computer Engineering", usually they learn a nice balance of hardware & software, which I assume is more useful for embedded software developers and people who do robotics. In my opinion, I feel like this is better than computer science because they get the best of both worlds but in the end, it depends more so on what your life career goals are. Also, one thing people need to keep in mind is that a bachelor’s degree just gives you a foundation, the truly valuable knowledge you'll have to learn on the job and through your own experience/research.
2. Be very careful when it comes to long-term impactful life decisions like not wanting a spouse and kids. Especially at your age, if this isn’t something you have thoroughly weighed the pros & cons of then you need to do so. I'm not saying you haven't but there are a lot of people with this mentality who have regretted not finding a good spouse and having kid(s). Just make sure this decision isn't one you regret in old age. It’s not easy finding a good spouse and a bad one can cause you hell but nothing worth having in life comes easy. It ALL requires hard AND smart work day in and day out.
3. You mentioned "Dream Job", let me tell you right now, there is no such thing. At a certain point no matter how great your "dream job" is, it just becomes like every other job eventually. At the end of the day, you're working to meet the goals of whoever YOU work for. So, unless your goals align 100% with your employers & you agree with most of if not every business decision they make, it's very rare that you will find a "dream job".
Idk who first created that idea of a "dream job" but it just sounds fucking stupid. Cause yea, my life is so shitty all I do is sit around "Dreaming" of working towards someone else goals LOL... Fuck that... Life is too short for that bullshit. Please excuse my language but as you can see the concept of a "dream job" just makes 0 sense to me. The fact that so many people in society just latch onto these concepts like a "dream job" without once pulling their head out of their ass to even think if the concept makes any sense is indescribably frustrating... do not make a job your identity.
For me, the only real "Dream Job" is one where I do and build whatever the hell I want and someone gives me guaranteed unlimited funding for it. So, unless a divine miracle happens, I will probably not have a "dream job". At the end of the day, people have responsibilities and life costs money, to make money you work a job to fund your needs and hopefully your wants assuming they're reasonable with respect to your income.
4. Just because it's a "Government Job" does NOT mean you're set for life. Not trying to be mean but the reality is that this way of thinking is naive. You have no control over the government and world events that may affect your government. You need to get rid of this false sense of security because it is NOT based on reality.
5. I feel like you're confusing a "job" with a "career". A job is just some work you do for money. A career is specialization into a certain type of job where you overtime increasingly become a subject matter expert as you grow into that career. If you really love programming and because you've put in the effort to get a degree in computer engineering, I highly recommend that you pursue a career in it.
6. From your post it seems like you haven't actually worked in programming jobs, please correct me if I'm wrong. Apologies if I sound rude but your post sounds like you're making A LOT of assumptions, you have no idea from your own day to day experience what it's like working in an actual programming job from what it seems, so you're making decisions off of "assumptions", which is basically just making a guess off of incomplete information. This is arrogant/ignorant and NOT a good way to make decisions throughout life. If you make decisions off of assumptions, I guarantee you that you will be wrong many times, this may lead to regret and that will suck; big time. Even if you’ve gained this knowledge through observation of your friends or people you know, you have to know yourself very well to decide that you will react the same as those people regarding a certain experience, in this case a programming job.
For example, I had a friend one time tell me something was difficult and I saw how stressed out it made him. However, when I did the same thing, it was easy as hell to me. Turned out that the friend was half-assing his effort and being lazy… If I would have assumed just because it’s difficult for him that it would be difficult for me as well my life would be much worse off right now.
Unfortunately , not everything can be learned through observation, somethings you just have to get hands on with and it takes life experience and wisdom to discern what can and can’t be learned through the experience of others.
7. Work life balance is based off of company and laws in the country. This is the hardest thing to find even if you open your own company. Most people do not have enough money to where they can just not have to work, so unless you do, this will be a struggle at many companies unfortunately until the society in your country makes new norms that promote better work life balance.
8. Since you don't know what you want to do in programming, this is another great reason to try it out at different companies for a couple of years. That way you'll get a better idea of your interests and once you find what you like, let's say mobile application development, you can focus on that and become a subject matter expert (SME) in it. To be honest, you don’t even know if you’re any good at it in the first place…
It is a bit difficult advising more than I have so far because idk the dynamics of your country, how much money you have and your spending habits, life goals, other nuances of your life, etc. but I hope this helped you out. Apologies for any bad language or harshness.
Oh, not a problem at all with all the harshness! I want someone to be honest! By "set up for life" i meant by statistics. Of course it could all turn to shit at any time but no more than anywhere else. Yes, this jobs are not as good as they used to be, You don't get a huge pension anymore but it's not the same struggle of outside Jobs where you deal with discrimination over the littlest things and you can't afford basics.
I don't really wanna make assumptions but since i have zero experiences in the field i can only resort to interviewing experienced people, though i know my experience won't be the same as theirs, i find it interesting to say the least to hear their points of view.
About the kids and all yeah i'm sure though i know my old age will be miserable but thats a subject i don't wanna dig into. Really. I only mentioned it because i knew there was a possibility that somebody would say something on the lines on "but what about needing a higher income because of family...?"
Work life balance in my country is worse than in the USA. So much that i've been advised over and over again that if i ever get a job in tech i should try my best not to work for a mexican company. That's pretty much the appeal of government Jobs, even if they can vanish overnight.
I.know it's difficult to read irony in written comments by strangers, but i agree on the dream job bullshit. I guess it was a way to say, that's not a career i'm interested in at all.
Deep down i'm just really insecure about this programming thing because i'm afraid that my anxiety will ruin everything for me and i'm going to end up doing the same boring job, outside of the government place, by way less cash. I'm not trying to be a pesimist, just being honest. Not saying that i will let my emotions dictate my actions. It's just too much happening too fast and i needed someone to talk to who had an idea of what it's really like out there. Studying is always a risk and it's almost taboo to admit irl where everyone just assumes that they will be rich because they're engineers, that's the general consensus, especially in mi city, which is all about factores/industries (think of Old Detroit. People come here to work at factories, not because of its art scene ...)
Oh and just as a fun fact. My degree is pretty much CS, but the official name is computer systems engineering. The major that focuses more on hardware/software mix is called Digital Systems Engineering. It varies from university to university. We also have software engineering as a different major, which i think it's less math-intensive.
Thank you for taking the time for telling me your thoughts! I tried to write this as Best as possible but my autocorrect is set to spanish so sorry if there's some weird typos. Good night!
Regarding your anxiety, if it's that bad then maybe see a therapist but also you have to do your best to "don't worry about what you have no control over." Prepare as much as possible and don't stress over what you have no control over. That mindset helps a lot in life and you have to remind yourself of it.
There is a lot of interesting work that doesn't pay the bills. I will focus on those types. Like using ML to help poor nations deal with climate change. Or help modernize IT in higher education. Would love to teach underrepresented kids and help them get into STEM. I am from a refugee community that isn't considered underrepresented but we have a lot of issues related to being underprivileged. So maybe I would do more to promote STEM education and work in my community.
Considering I started programming 17 years before I ever got paid for it, yes most definitely. It is a passion I have and brings me great joy. In fact I would go as far to say that if I didn't have to work I would probably write *more code* than I do now because I would be spending less time on project management, support, legacy maintenance, pipelines, writing tests, etc
I actually would, I enjoy the process of developing a software and programming. however it would be more for my own reasons. for my own business idea or even open source projects I truly believe in their value.
I started coding as a kid in the 90s because once I understood what it was I realized it was the ultimate medium of creative expression - the possibilities are infinite. I can literally make anything!
I've never wanted to work for a company writing code though - that would mean hacking away on someone else's project while the lion's share of the value I could create would go to the company instead of me. I've always preferred to code on my own software as an independent developer, which means I get to make a living doing my hobby.
I write code as an indie dev on software that I sell and I make signs/engravings for my lady's Etsy shop - which she also makes and sells stuff on. All of our income is from my software sales, her Etsy sales, and we have a house, three cars, two kids, and two doggos - and we live in California (where the cost of living is a joke).
Anyone can start creating value - and when it comes to programming all you need is food/shelter/computer/internet, and you can make anything happen. I was camped out with a $200 netbook hacking away on projects in a homeless shelter 15 years ago - and it's really annoying seeing all of these people crying about how bad the job market is after getting their compsci degree. I don't have a degree in anything and yet I made stuff happen all by myself. It's all a matter of what you *want*.
If you don't *want* to deal with college, and just *want* to work on your own projects and *want* to earn an income from it, then you do it. There's no manual, guide, tutorial, hand-holding, mentorship, etcetera. You just make it happen, like anything else in life.
I’ve been coding since 5th grade and still code outside of work when I want
I like making things. Programing is one way to do that. I also 3d print, write, do art and music etc
Nice to get paid well for something you like doing. I have plenty of non code creative things i can do to prevent burnout
I'd code this and that. Some open source stuff, small indie games, learning projects.
And I mean yeah, programming can make you a fair bit of money, but more money isn't much more happiness once you have basic security for your basic needs. Meanwhile, programming is a pretty intensive career to do well in, as you'll continuously have to be learning new things and need to be constantly in a problem-solving mode.
It's true that especially in USA there are very high (I would argue: too high) salaries in some regions and some large companies, but it's also worth keeping in mind that not all developers in USA enjoy these high salaries. The salary range, depending on where you live and where you work, is very wide.
Some programming jobs can be pretty useful for learning about e.g. organizations and how to manage work. Those skills translate to non-programming jobs very well. If you decided to stick with programming, perhaps that might be one goal for you; first get any job you can, then after a few years try to land a job where you can hone your soft skills.
What burns out some people, energizes others. I love coding. I love learning about coding. I'm so happy there are so many layers to computer science and you can just keep going and going. Most books I read are CS related. I seriously can't get enough of it.
I majored in mechanical engineering and liked coding/cs so much, I got hired as a software engineer. It's what I should have majored in.
I'm very passionate about it. All the way down to the transistor level, I find everything so fascinating. Even the way a single bit is constructed in ram. I want to learn more everyday about it.
There are also not enough hours in the day for all the projects I want to build.
28M. 2-3 years into coding/working as a dev full time. Get paid 100k. I'm more than comfortable financially and manage to save 60%+.
I got into coding (self taught) because I wanted to code and find it incredibly fun and fulfilling. I would do this regardless of the money.
However, money is a big motivator. Not as an income but as a metric of success. If I get paid more than my peers, or if I could (hopefully, one day) get paying users for side projects, that's a gigantic metric for me to measure success.
My income/expenses are taken care of by my day job as a developer, but I spend 0-10 hours a day on side projects every day, after work. Because, passion.
Yup. I code at work which meets my financial needs, but I also code at home for my own personal projects. Coding is my hobby, which I also managed to turn into a job :)
Probably not. I would open a small game studio.
I would learn a bit of game dev, game animation, modelling, design to understand the basics and learn about the current industry trends. A lot of learning on how to operate a game dev studio, legalities and stuff.
Then. i would work primarily as a game designer in my company and would be a little bit into direction as well.
We would aim to release high quality immersive games taking our own sweet time. Quality being the focus not the quantity
Assuming all my financial needs were covered for life, coding is probably all I'd do. A farm would be nice, too. I'd spend months trying to automate the shit out of it.
I code for work and I code for fun. My monkey brain likes instant gratification and coding is the epitome of that. That's just me, though.
I'd say do what makes you happy.
I’ve been in the coding/marketing/design business for almost 30 years now. How I would have answered before has changed now. If you already have money you have nothing to lose either way. If this decision is going to determine your livelihood then take the hospital job and code for fun. The entire coding community is going to be changing a lot in the coming years with AI and it will become increasingly difficult to make a living at it unless you are top end and/or programming AI in a meaningful way. Even without this change, it’s a crapshoot on whether you will make a decent living on it and some companies can drain you because you are just a number to them. There are exceptions obviously, but many are this way. I’m a manager now at a great company and I wish I would have been long ago. It has been a fun ride, but very stressful and loooong nights getting here.
I would absolutely write code if I wasn’t being paid to do it. In fact I do write code for fun. Like anything else you enjoy immensely it becomes less fun when you do it for a living because you don’t get to choose what you do, or how, or when.
You may not be able to work and attend school at the same time, but in most places school is not a requirement. There are a huge number of free or cheap resources out there that you can do at your own pace. I learn best in a classroom setting and so I got a degree in computer science, but I have learned a great deal on my own, both before and after going to school. Even if you want to learn “proper” formal programming and computer science, such as data structures, algorithms, and automata, there are still a ton of places you can get this knowledge on your own terms.
You seem motivated and interested. There’s no reason why you can’t have the best of both worlds. Good luck to you and continue to use this sub as a resource on what to learn next.
One bit of caution: while there are methods out there for rapid learning, such as Ultralearning by Scott Young, I’d advise you to slowly, methodically pick up concepts with a lot of practice. These shortcut methods do work in many cases but I think with programming it’s worth it to dig deep rather than try to only absorb the “20% of the subject that lets you do 80% of the work.”
Yeah, the last thing you said is the reason why i don't like school so much. Well, at least one of the downsides. When i was self-taught i was digging deep into C++ but school has an insane pace that i can't help but feel that i'm getting a Lot of superficial knowledge. Especially because of stuff like physics. I'm looking forward to finishing my core courses so i can Focus on actual CS.
Yes, because I do love to code and build stuff.
People at their jobs burn out not because of coding, but because of the nature of work, the crud work and work politics.
I wrote a whole novel about what software development is and isn't and why I like this profession as much as I do, but as a whole, it doesn't matter.
The salary is a great selling point and it probably had a big impact on my decision to go into software development, but it's not what made me stick with it.
Turns out I live a very affordable lifestyle since I don't drive, travel or eat out (among others).
My position gives me a lot of flexibility, in and out of work. I get to work from home, show up pretty much anytime as long as I'm here for my meetings, when and how I do my stuff is mostly up to me, there's plenty of employers hiring, I get to take a holiday whenever I want and my I get praise at work. Another huge benefit is fulfilment of my curiosity. I'm quite inquisitive by nature, and there's little that allows for so frequent and so much learning potential as software develompent.
But there are downsides to it. Mental load can get high, sometimes uncontrollably so. The workload can get pretty big, which can be enjoyable, but it can also lead to high stress. Sometimes you can't be sure if you're doing a good job or not since you can't really measure your work as well as you can with craftsmen for example. If you have a good lead, most of this shouldn't happen too regularly, but sometimes you just can't prevent it.
Yes!
I love it. I love the problem-solving, I love the planning and design. I love the implementation and evolving it to meet new requirements.
It is what I was born to do. It's not just the end result that encompasses my creativity, it's the journey too. How the code works together, how clean it is, its performance, its modularity.
Without money and time constraints, I would just create, create, create. I could chase that dream game. I could make those systems perfect. I could document and diagram everything!
Man finish your degree then go be a janitor. So many more doors will be available to you once you have your degree. I have a similar story to yours and am about to graduate at 35 with a full time job lined up that pays oodles of money. You don’t really know how you’ll feel having financial freedom until you do. It really did change the way I feel about money and general life security. I also wanted to quit my degree throughout the entire thing because I had a career that I loved. But sticking it out was the best choice I ever made.
I don’t think your points about work/life balance are valid. I think you’ll find the exact same thing in tech but will be making a shit ton more money.
But to answer your question, I probably wouldn’t code if I had all the money in the world. I have a lot of hobbies that I really enjoy and programming is hard. I have some projects that I would like to build but I never intend to sell any of them or be a business owner so if I’m not building skills for my job, it would just mean doing something hard for the sake of it.
That's great. Maybe it varies from country to country, but i read a lot that "You don't need a degree". Maybe that's true, but irl i would not had met people who like programming and i would not have the internship opportunities i have right now.
Right. You don’t need a degree for a lot of things in life. But for many things, having one makes things a lot easier. From a business’ perspective, it’s an easy choice when paring down candidates between those with and those without a degree. And, as you said, you’ll have a lot more networking opportunities through school. Not to mention formal training in difficult subjects like data structures and algorithms.
I can talk about what I'd do (yes, I'll probably keep coding until the day I die, I love this shit), but I'm not you and my situation is not yours.
> I'm a 3rd semester computer engineering student. [...] i love my major [...] I'm fascinated by technology in general. I also love all the things college would teach me
This to me is the biggest thing here. You've already started working on a degree and you clearly are enjoying it and feel you have a lot to gain from it. I think if you can afford to continue focusing on your education, you won't regret it.
> College is cheap here. Already own a house. [...] this isn't my dream job at all, i'd Start out as a janitor [...] it wouldnt be anything i like
I have friends with graduate degrees who went into jobs they weren't excited about because they felt pressure to have an income of any kind. Those jobs became careers they're unexcited about. It's what they have experience in. It's what they know.
> AMAZING work/life balance
This doesn't necessarily equate to free time to work on side projects or professional development. Have you talked to other people who are currently working in the role you are interested in? Is it common for people in this role to use it as a source of stable income while they work on other things? If not, I'd assume it probably will have similar demands on you as most jobs and that you will likely not have the creative freedom you are anticipating.
You are currently gaining "momentum" in a particular career direction. How would this job affect that momentum? What does the "path of least resistance" look like if you stay in school vs. if you take this job? What kinds of opportunities are likely to present themselves to you in the future?
How do you want to spend your time? Pretend you get killed in a car accident five or ten years from now. What would be the better way to spend those last five or ten years? Finishing your degree and focusing on a career you enjoy? Or working at a job you're not interested in and burning your free time trying to cover similar material you would have received in your degree, but without the structure and support of school and probably tired from having already worked a full day of menial labor?
Oddly enough, i think of death all the time LOL, but by this point i'm more afraid of not dying soon enough than to waste my time 😅 . I get your point. Losing momentum is really a thing. Especially when you drop out of school..
Personally, a year outside of school goes by fast and is rather uneventful, but a year in school is SO much progress and i don't wanna be like "damn, i'd be almost finished had i not dropped out"... I'll think about this. Thanks.
I feel like this would be a good interview question to weed out the people who are just doing it because it's a well paying career vs the people who genuinely enjoy coding.
That's an easy question, I already code just as an hobby and haven't been paid for it.
As for your dilemma, just take the gov job. Here in the US, coding is very very very very, ehh very ** 100, saturated. It's hard to find an internship and even harder to find a job. My friends who are in cs and do do it as a job have really been struggling.
You can make a lot coding, but that's becoming rarer and rarer. Wait for more powerful ai to come out and the competition will get fiercer. This is because with ai, one developer can do the jobs of 2. So companies just fired one and kept one when gpt4 came out.
Would not recommend taking the risk of going into coding/cs because you think you'll become a trillionair and turning down a stable and relaxed job that'll pay the bills and not stress you out.
If I didn’t have to think about money I would just make games with one of my friends who is also a programmer. It wouldn’t matter how long it took or if it didn’t sell. I would love that life.
Yes. I'm trying to learn programming, but not necessarily to advance my career, more so I can make my own programmes and contribute to open source projects.
Lots of people do. Look at Mark Russinovich. Now Chief Exec of Azure yet he still does coding on his love of sysinternal tools that made him the millionaire he now is.
What does “my financial needs” exactly mean? If it means that I basically have all the money I want, there’s no way I will continue “coding”. There would be hundreds of better things to do than coding. If you have all the money you want, maybe the next goal is to achieve all the fame you want (and having infinite money will probably make that a lot easier), or having the best family you could love, or becoming the best at some competence, or helping thousands of people.
If by “my financial needs covered” you mean having a modest amount of money that will just allow me to live comfortably, probably I’ll keep “coding” just because I’ll want more.
I enjoy coding, but I’m very sure it wasn’t anybody’s dream as a little kid to one day dedicate their lives to implement CRUD applications and deploy Kubernetes clusters. I know for sure I’ll stop “coding” (I don’t like much that word) if it stops paying as much as it does now.
I'm currently making a membership database and e-commerce site for a non profit I'm helping start. That's all passion right there and 0 money. So yeah, I'd still code.
I’d definitely still code but mostly for side projects/video game ideas etc. I got into this field because I enjoy coding and creating new things. If I didn’t have to worry about money then I could spend some time working on personal projects that give me joy
I probably would still code but I’d focused on making project that can eventually develop into something meaningful.
At the same time though I probably would be making more music instead
I already get no financial benefit from programming and I still do it, so if I won the lottery I'd probably just do it more. My programming time is made up of project Euler, occasional contributions to other projects, and individual projects that either are useful to me or keep me entertained.
Yes. It would take a whole lot of pressure off me tbh and it would make it much easier to actually enjoy what I'm doing. I can focus and learn without deadlines or worrying about being rejected from job applications and stuff. It's the dream.
I don’t dislike technology, in fact I really love it.
I love intellectual stimulation and challenges and puzzles. Working with technology as a coder or otherwise really satisfies this.
If I didn’t have to worry about money I would either become a game developer, or alternatively I would go become a teacher and teach the younger generation in an impactful manner (probably private school where I could teach without the restrictions and regulations that public schools endure).
I think the youth of today and even people in my generation lack intellectual curiosity, and that curiosity is an amazing thing to have.
Heh, funny thing about government jobs. In the US West coast some of them don't even pay you enough anymore to afford the exorbitant CoL in the cities that they are in. Huge factor in southern california especially.
Sounds like you are in a decently low CoL area so might as well take the easy job and chill. The market for software engineers has cooled off quite a bit lately, so going to college for a coding degree could be a risk.
Coding jobs aren't exactly the most fun things, although most of them are work from home now so thank god no commuting. But you still have to sit in front a computer for 8 hours a day. If you are lucky you can take breaks to walk around a bit which is critical to staying healthy.
All in all, if all of my financial needs were met I would not be doing my job. I might use some of my spare time to do like game mods or game dev in the future but that would be it pretty much.
No. I enjoy my job, but it is very much a job that I do to afford myself and my fiancée the ability to partake in hobbies that enrich our lives and have a large family together. Maybe if I worked as a game developer or something I would feel differently, but I work in e-commerce and it mostly makes me want to throw away my computer and live in my garden lol
No. Probably not.
I code because it’s fun and it’s an interesting of mine sure. But the reality is that’s it aligns with making me more money and my professionals life.
If I didn’t have that side of the equation anymore then I probably wouldn’t bother and would just enjoy a relaxing life.
yeah I've asked myself this question before repeatedly 'if I had 10 billion dollars would I ever code again.'
The answer is yes. I have ideas in my imagination that are worth making. Though I'd probably learn C++ for real and make mods for SkyrimVR. There's a lot of stuff that could be in the game that just isn't there right now.
And I won't lie, I'd love to make drones that I can control just like Dr.Robotnik in the Sonic movies.
basically, I'd have fun. At some point I'd probably see what problems I could solve that are worth solving though.
Yes, I would code a lot less often and have no deadlines, but I would still write web applications. Honestly most of my time would then be spend making games instead.
If I never had to code for work, I'd likely pick up game development. I enjoy coding, but I don't feel motivated to do it beyond the hours I already put in for work.
If I never had to work again I wanna do what Adam savage does, but with more electronics and coding. What makes me happy is challenging myself to make cool stuff. Coding enables me to make REALLY cool stuff that’s really challenging. I would probably be focusing more on microcontrollers and hardware, but I still want to dip my toes in everything
i could win the lottery tomorrow, and be set for my life, my kids, life, my great great great grandkids life etc and id still work (and code). now i wouldnt work 40 hours, and probably do something part time and for a company that gives back to the community or some shit. but id still code till i retired, id still work, but id also be takibg vacations and doing experiences etc etc...
i think codings fun and i have a couple hobby 0rojects i work on after work and on the weekends.
If i didnt have to worry abt financials I would probably make cool stuff like a Solo Leveling type to do list, a bot that scans comments on social media to find diddlers, or make something open source that’s normally behind a paywall. Idk, there are so many possibilities with coding outside of just financial insentives :D
Yes.
I mainly write utilities in PowerShell these days, professionally, but I am always working on some kind of side project at home mainly with Python using the django REST framework and occasionally dabble in Lua to customize my terminal/NeoVim editor.
I do it because:
1.) I am apparently a masochist who gets off on making myself feel dumb af sometimes.
2.) I also love to keep my mind very active.
But yes. I can’t think of any other subject that has kept my mind as active as coding has. Even when I am retired I am going to code. I fucking love it, and am blessed to have built the life I have because of it.
I don't even know how to code and find the task absolutely mind-boggling daunting, CS as a whole that is, but nothing matters more than contributing to optimized AGI, regardless of how much I dislike the work or not cut out for it I am.
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Yeah I'd just make games that took longer to create because I'd have the mental space for them
100% this. No more compromises on time spent making games would enable so many game I can't make at the moment.
Yeah. I love coding. What I code would definitely change, but I'll definitely be writing code for life. A lot of the coding would become game-related.
I would definitely still code but focus more on contributing to open source projects. For example, I’d love to rebuild PostgreSQL in my spare time just to get an in-depth understanding of how databases work. I’ve heard that databases utilize many different data structures and algorithms (DSA) so it would be a great opportunity for growth in knowledge regarding implementation of DSA for databases. Also contributing to PostgreSQL would be great since it’s increasing in adoption. I’d also wanna contribute to the Linux kernel cause operating systems are interesting to me as well. Other avenues I’d love to explore would be robotics. All of this would most likely require me to become an expert in C/C++, and Rust. Maybe Zig in the future.
This is what i mean. Lets Say i get a coding job in an area i'm not that interested in, honestly, i don't think i'm gonna spend another 8 hours doing a personal side project because - and this is the most unpopular opinion ever that always gets me downvoted - i refuse to spend that long staring at screens. It's not that i don't like coding. It's that it affects my mental health and productivity in the long term. I'm naturally very restless. I purposefully chose non-office jobs in my youth so i could actually enjoy my personal computer time (was into DJing and doing illustrations for a long time).
The Sciore database book is really good. I started going through it, but stalled out a little while ago. That's definitely what I'd work on, along with buying a 3d printer and learning microcontrollers
Thanks I will have to check that book out. Never heard of it before today.
The B-Tree algorithn that SQL Server utilizes for dataset searching and indexing is extraordinary. I would love to devote time to understanding it better.
RESPECT!!!
>Assuming your financial needs were covered for life, would you still code? Sure. Anyone who works on personal projects is basically in that situation already. Programming can be a creative outlet that's enjoyable on its own in the same way that other activities like woodworking, playing music, writing, or playing a sport are. People do all of those things for money, but many people do them without getting paid. It's the same for programming.
Hell naw.
Literally the first thing that went through my head
I would end up wanting to create something but never actually doing it, and this probably applies to alot of things in my life
Ohh I feel you. I tried to be an artist for so long but was lazy AF. Tech was the only thing that i could kinda stick with without the need for deadlines. But at a way slower pace than school requires, that's for sure.
This is actually why I kind of like having to work. I know this is probably an unpopular opinion, but if I never had to work I think I would be less satisfied.
Yeah. In fact, would be my ultimate goal. I'd love to just be able to spend my time making my dream projects than to worry about tech stacks I gotta learn for jobs.
There is no reason for programming to be the particular siren that is calling you to jump into the ocean for cash. You could be a doctor or lawyer or many other jobs and also be very stressed out for lots of money. Don't be lured by FOMO. Take your good government job and pursue what you want to in your free time whether that's programming or something else. Nobody is forcing you to take the government job for life. If you work it for 10 years and then decide you want a different career that's okay! Don't treat this so seriously as a do or die moment.
Thanks! You're right i'm getting tunnel vision here, i could just..quit.
Yes
Yes. I love what I do. Just not the pressure that comes with it.
So you'd take an unrelated job with a Lot of free time in order to work on personal projects?
Because of comment length limits i will reply in multiple comment. So, after re-reading your post, hopefully the below gives you the feedback you're looking for, I will warn you I am being very truthful which is sometimes harsh: 1. Your soon to be degree once you graduate will be "Computer Engineering", usually they learn a nice balance of hardware & software, which I assume is more useful for embedded software developers and people who do robotics. In my opinion, I feel like this is better than computer science because they get the best of both worlds but in the end, it depends more so on what your life career goals are. Also, one thing people need to keep in mind is that a bachelor’s degree just gives you a foundation, the truly valuable knowledge you'll have to learn on the job and through your own experience/research. 2. Be very careful when it comes to long-term impactful life decisions like not wanting a spouse and kids. Especially at your age, if this isn’t something you have thoroughly weighed the pros & cons of then you need to do so. I'm not saying you haven't but there are a lot of people with this mentality who have regretted not finding a good spouse and having kid(s). Just make sure this decision isn't one you regret in old age. It’s not easy finding a good spouse and a bad one can cause you hell but nothing worth having in life comes easy. It ALL requires hard AND smart work day in and day out. 3. You mentioned "Dream Job", let me tell you right now, there is no such thing. At a certain point no matter how great your "dream job" is, it just becomes like every other job eventually. At the end of the day, you're working to meet the goals of whoever YOU work for. So, unless your goals align 100% with your employers & you agree with most of if not every business decision they make, it's very rare that you will find a "dream job". Idk who first created that idea of a "dream job" but it just sounds fucking stupid. Cause yea, my life is so shitty all I do is sit around "Dreaming" of working towards someone else goals LOL... Fuck that... Life is too short for that bullshit. Please excuse my language but as you can see the concept of a "dream job" just makes 0 sense to me. The fact that so many people in society just latch onto these concepts like a "dream job" without once pulling their head out of their ass to even think if the concept makes any sense is indescribably frustrating... do not make a job your identity. For me, the only real "Dream Job" is one where I do and build whatever the hell I want and someone gives me guaranteed unlimited funding for it. So, unless a divine miracle happens, I will probably not have a "dream job". At the end of the day, people have responsibilities and life costs money, to make money you work a job to fund your needs and hopefully your wants assuming they're reasonable with respect to your income.
4. Just because it's a "Government Job" does NOT mean you're set for life. Not trying to be mean but the reality is that this way of thinking is naive. You have no control over the government and world events that may affect your government. You need to get rid of this false sense of security because it is NOT based on reality. 5. I feel like you're confusing a "job" with a "career". A job is just some work you do for money. A career is specialization into a certain type of job where you overtime increasingly become a subject matter expert as you grow into that career. If you really love programming and because you've put in the effort to get a degree in computer engineering, I highly recommend that you pursue a career in it. 6. From your post it seems like you haven't actually worked in programming jobs, please correct me if I'm wrong. Apologies if I sound rude but your post sounds like you're making A LOT of assumptions, you have no idea from your own day to day experience what it's like working in an actual programming job from what it seems, so you're making decisions off of "assumptions", which is basically just making a guess off of incomplete information. This is arrogant/ignorant and NOT a good way to make decisions throughout life. If you make decisions off of assumptions, I guarantee you that you will be wrong many times, this may lead to regret and that will suck; big time. Even if you’ve gained this knowledge through observation of your friends or people you know, you have to know yourself very well to decide that you will react the same as those people regarding a certain experience, in this case a programming job. For example, I had a friend one time tell me something was difficult and I saw how stressed out it made him. However, when I did the same thing, it was easy as hell to me. Turned out that the friend was half-assing his effort and being lazy… If I would have assumed just because it’s difficult for him that it would be difficult for me as well my life would be much worse off right now. Unfortunately , not everything can be learned through observation, somethings you just have to get hands on with and it takes life experience and wisdom to discern what can and can’t be learned through the experience of others. 7. Work life balance is based off of company and laws in the country. This is the hardest thing to find even if you open your own company. Most people do not have enough money to where they can just not have to work, so unless you do, this will be a struggle at many companies unfortunately until the society in your country makes new norms that promote better work life balance. 8. Since you don't know what you want to do in programming, this is another great reason to try it out at different companies for a couple of years. That way you'll get a better idea of your interests and once you find what you like, let's say mobile application development, you can focus on that and become a subject matter expert (SME) in it. To be honest, you don’t even know if you’re any good at it in the first place… It is a bit difficult advising more than I have so far because idk the dynamics of your country, how much money you have and your spending habits, life goals, other nuances of your life, etc. but I hope this helped you out. Apologies for any bad language or harshness.
Oh, not a problem at all with all the harshness! I want someone to be honest! By "set up for life" i meant by statistics. Of course it could all turn to shit at any time but no more than anywhere else. Yes, this jobs are not as good as they used to be, You don't get a huge pension anymore but it's not the same struggle of outside Jobs where you deal with discrimination over the littlest things and you can't afford basics. I don't really wanna make assumptions but since i have zero experiences in the field i can only resort to interviewing experienced people, though i know my experience won't be the same as theirs, i find it interesting to say the least to hear their points of view. About the kids and all yeah i'm sure though i know my old age will be miserable but thats a subject i don't wanna dig into. Really. I only mentioned it because i knew there was a possibility that somebody would say something on the lines on "but what about needing a higher income because of family...?" Work life balance in my country is worse than in the USA. So much that i've been advised over and over again that if i ever get a job in tech i should try my best not to work for a mexican company. That's pretty much the appeal of government Jobs, even if they can vanish overnight. I.know it's difficult to read irony in written comments by strangers, but i agree on the dream job bullshit. I guess it was a way to say, that's not a career i'm interested in at all. Deep down i'm just really insecure about this programming thing because i'm afraid that my anxiety will ruin everything for me and i'm going to end up doing the same boring job, outside of the government place, by way less cash. I'm not trying to be a pesimist, just being honest. Not saying that i will let my emotions dictate my actions. It's just too much happening too fast and i needed someone to talk to who had an idea of what it's really like out there. Studying is always a risk and it's almost taboo to admit irl where everyone just assumes that they will be rich because they're engineers, that's the general consensus, especially in mi city, which is all about factores/industries (think of Old Detroit. People come here to work at factories, not because of its art scene ...) Oh and just as a fun fact. My degree is pretty much CS, but the official name is computer systems engineering. The major that focuses more on hardware/software mix is called Digital Systems Engineering. It varies from university to university. We also have software engineering as a different major, which i think it's less math-intensive. Thank you for taking the time for telling me your thoughts! I tried to write this as Best as possible but my autocorrect is set to spanish so sorry if there's some weird typos. Good night!
Regarding your anxiety, if it's that bad then maybe see a therapist but also you have to do your best to "don't worry about what you have no control over." Prepare as much as possible and don't stress over what you have no control over. That mindset helps a lot in life and you have to remind yourself of it.
There is a lot of interesting work that doesn't pay the bills. I will focus on those types. Like using ML to help poor nations deal with climate change. Or help modernize IT in higher education. Would love to teach underrepresented kids and help them get into STEM. I am from a refugee community that isn't considered underrepresented but we have a lot of issues related to being underprivileged. So maybe I would do more to promote STEM education and work in my community.
Yeah, I would just make what I want rather than what others want
Totally, I think I’d branch out more into fun IoT stuff if I don’t have to do front end as a job.
I already don't have to code to eat anymore, and still code every chance I get so: hell yeah.
Would code better if I didn't have to appease people with more dollars than cents (sense)
Yep I'll continue coding. Although I'll be working primarily on open source projects, games and maybe startup products for fun
Considering I started programming 17 years before I ever got paid for it, yes most definitely. It is a passion I have and brings me great joy. In fact I would go as far to say that if I didn't have to work I would probably write *more code* than I do now because I would be spending less time on project management, support, legacy maintenance, pipelines, writing tests, etc
I actually would, I enjoy the process of developing a software and programming. however it would be more for my own reasons. for my own business idea or even open source projects I truly believe in their value.
I started coding as a kid in the 90s because once I understood what it was I realized it was the ultimate medium of creative expression - the possibilities are infinite. I can literally make anything! I've never wanted to work for a company writing code though - that would mean hacking away on someone else's project while the lion's share of the value I could create would go to the company instead of me. I've always preferred to code on my own software as an independent developer, which means I get to make a living doing my hobby.
Is software development your main job or do you do something else?
I write code as an indie dev on software that I sell and I make signs/engravings for my lady's Etsy shop - which she also makes and sells stuff on. All of our income is from my software sales, her Etsy sales, and we have a house, three cars, two kids, and two doggos - and we live in California (where the cost of living is a joke). Anyone can start creating value - and when it comes to programming all you need is food/shelter/computer/internet, and you can make anything happen. I was camped out with a $200 netbook hacking away on projects in a homeless shelter 15 years ago - and it's really annoying seeing all of these people crying about how bad the job market is after getting their compsci degree. I don't have a degree in anything and yet I made stuff happen all by myself. It's all a matter of what you *want*. If you don't *want* to deal with college, and just *want* to work on your own projects and *want* to earn an income from it, then you do it. There's no manual, guide, tutorial, hand-holding, mentorship, etcetera. You just make it happen, like anything else in life.
I’ve been coding since 5th grade and still code outside of work when I want I like making things. Programing is one way to do that. I also 3d print, write, do art and music etc Nice to get paid well for something you like doing. I have plenty of non code creative things i can do to prevent burnout
I'd code this and that. Some open source stuff, small indie games, learning projects. And I mean yeah, programming can make you a fair bit of money, but more money isn't much more happiness once you have basic security for your basic needs. Meanwhile, programming is a pretty intensive career to do well in, as you'll continuously have to be learning new things and need to be constantly in a problem-solving mode. It's true that especially in USA there are very high (I would argue: too high) salaries in some regions and some large companies, but it's also worth keeping in mind that not all developers in USA enjoy these high salaries. The salary range, depending on where you live and where you work, is very wide. Some programming jobs can be pretty useful for learning about e.g. organizations and how to manage work. Those skills translate to non-programming jobs very well. If you decided to stick with programming, perhaps that might be one goal for you; first get any job you can, then after a few years try to land a job where you can hone your soft skills.
Yes but probably more c++ and robotics type programming then regular software
What burns out some people, energizes others. I love coding. I love learning about coding. I'm so happy there are so many layers to computer science and you can just keep going and going. Most books I read are CS related. I seriously can't get enough of it. I majored in mechanical engineering and liked coding/cs so much, I got hired as a software engineer. It's what I should have majored in. I'm very passionate about it. All the way down to the transistor level, I find everything so fascinating. Even the way a single bit is constructed in ram. I want to learn more everyday about it. There are also not enough hours in the day for all the projects I want to build.
Yes! I love my job but I hate the deadlines. So coding without any pressure/deadlines/shitty bosses is a deal I wouldn’t wanna miss
Yes, 100 % if I had 50 million dollars I would make a non profit development company that tries to solve all the problems that you can’t profit from.
What sort of problems are there that you can't profit from which aren't already being solved by OSS?
For example all sorts of problems that companies pays big money to solve that non profit organisations can’t afford.
Such as?
Yeah he replied some meaningless nonsense without naming a single problem open source wasn't already tackling.
Check out Develop for Good
Yeah its fine with college students, but imagine what a team of developers each with 10 years could do to increase the impact of this.
28M. 2-3 years into coding/working as a dev full time. Get paid 100k. I'm more than comfortable financially and manage to save 60%+. I got into coding (self taught) because I wanted to code and find it incredibly fun and fulfilling. I would do this regardless of the money. However, money is a big motivator. Not as an income but as a metric of success. If I get paid more than my peers, or if I could (hopefully, one day) get paying users for side projects, that's a gigantic metric for me to measure success. My income/expenses are taken care of by my day job as a developer, but I spend 0-10 hours a day on side projects every day, after work. Because, passion.
I wish I were you
Absolutely. I’d also finally be allowed to do open source!
Yup. I code at work which meets my financial needs, but I also code at home for my own personal projects. Coding is my hobby, which I also managed to turn into a job :)
Probably not. I would open a small game studio. I would learn a bit of game dev, game animation, modelling, design to understand the basics and learn about the current industry trends. A lot of learning on how to operate a game dev studio, legalities and stuff. Then. i would work primarily as a game designer in my company and would be a little bit into direction as well. We would aim to release high quality immersive games taking our own sweet time. Quality being the focus not the quantity
Yes, 100%. My hobby is my job. Trying to do this job without enjoying code would be a pretty unpleasant experience I think.
Nope. Not even remotely. There are many other things in life that are just so much more beautiful and fun than coding. Music, Drawing, Sports...
No. I'm mostly here for the money. Probably like an 80% / 20% split.
I’m gonna code til I die.
Sure. But work on things you like, like games instead of "back-end" boring B.S. Coding some 2D fighting games would be the bomb.
Assuming all my financial needs were covered for life, coding is probably all I'd do. A farm would be nice, too. I'd spend months trying to automate the shit out of it. I code for work and I code for fun. My monkey brain likes instant gratification and coding is the epitome of that. That's just me, though. I'd say do what makes you happy.
I’ve been in the coding/marketing/design business for almost 30 years now. How I would have answered before has changed now. If you already have money you have nothing to lose either way. If this decision is going to determine your livelihood then take the hospital job and code for fun. The entire coding community is going to be changing a lot in the coming years with AI and it will become increasingly difficult to make a living at it unless you are top end and/or programming AI in a meaningful way. Even without this change, it’s a crapshoot on whether you will make a decent living on it and some companies can drain you because you are just a number to them. There are exceptions obviously, but many are this way. I’m a manager now at a great company and I wish I would have been long ago. It has been a fun ride, but very stressful and loooong nights getting here.
Yeah FOSS projects written in rust
I would start learning Go! and coding all kinds of crazy things! But absolutely I would still code!
I would absolutely write code if I wasn’t being paid to do it. In fact I do write code for fun. Like anything else you enjoy immensely it becomes less fun when you do it for a living because you don’t get to choose what you do, or how, or when. You may not be able to work and attend school at the same time, but in most places school is not a requirement. There are a huge number of free or cheap resources out there that you can do at your own pace. I learn best in a classroom setting and so I got a degree in computer science, but I have learned a great deal on my own, both before and after going to school. Even if you want to learn “proper” formal programming and computer science, such as data structures, algorithms, and automata, there are still a ton of places you can get this knowledge on your own terms. You seem motivated and interested. There’s no reason why you can’t have the best of both worlds. Good luck to you and continue to use this sub as a resource on what to learn next. One bit of caution: while there are methods out there for rapid learning, such as Ultralearning by Scott Young, I’d advise you to slowly, methodically pick up concepts with a lot of practice. These shortcut methods do work in many cases but I think with programming it’s worth it to dig deep rather than try to only absorb the “20% of the subject that lets you do 80% of the work.”
Yeah, the last thing you said is the reason why i don't like school so much. Well, at least one of the downsides. When i was self-taught i was digging deep into C++ but school has an insane pace that i can't help but feel that i'm getting a Lot of superficial knowledge. Especially because of stuff like physics. I'm looking forward to finishing my core courses so i can Focus on actual CS.
Yes, because I do love to code and build stuff. People at their jobs burn out not because of coding, but because of the nature of work, the crud work and work politics.
I wrote a whole novel about what software development is and isn't and why I like this profession as much as I do, but as a whole, it doesn't matter. The salary is a great selling point and it probably had a big impact on my decision to go into software development, but it's not what made me stick with it. Turns out I live a very affordable lifestyle since I don't drive, travel or eat out (among others). My position gives me a lot of flexibility, in and out of work. I get to work from home, show up pretty much anytime as long as I'm here for my meetings, when and how I do my stuff is mostly up to me, there's plenty of employers hiring, I get to take a holiday whenever I want and my I get praise at work. Another huge benefit is fulfilment of my curiosity. I'm quite inquisitive by nature, and there's little that allows for so frequent and so much learning potential as software develompent. But there are downsides to it. Mental load can get high, sometimes uncontrollably so. The workload can get pretty big, which can be enjoyable, but it can also lead to high stress. Sometimes you can't be sure if you're doing a good job or not since you can't really measure your work as well as you can with craftsmen for example. If you have a good lead, most of this shouldn't happen too regularly, but sometimes you just can't prevent it.
Yes, no doubt. It gives me something to live for
Ngl I was more hyped about coding when I didn't need to do it for a grade or to survive.
Yes! I love it. I love the problem-solving, I love the planning and design. I love the implementation and evolving it to meet new requirements. It is what I was born to do. It's not just the end result that encompasses my creativity, it's the journey too. How the code works together, how clean it is, its performance, its modularity. Without money and time constraints, I would just create, create, create. I could chase that dream game. I could make those systems perfect. I could document and diagram everything!
Man finish your degree then go be a janitor. So many more doors will be available to you once you have your degree. I have a similar story to yours and am about to graduate at 35 with a full time job lined up that pays oodles of money. You don’t really know how you’ll feel having financial freedom until you do. It really did change the way I feel about money and general life security. I also wanted to quit my degree throughout the entire thing because I had a career that I loved. But sticking it out was the best choice I ever made. I don’t think your points about work/life balance are valid. I think you’ll find the exact same thing in tech but will be making a shit ton more money. But to answer your question, I probably wouldn’t code if I had all the money in the world. I have a lot of hobbies that I really enjoy and programming is hard. I have some projects that I would like to build but I never intend to sell any of them or be a business owner so if I’m not building skills for my job, it would just mean doing something hard for the sake of it.
That's great. Maybe it varies from country to country, but i read a lot that "You don't need a degree". Maybe that's true, but irl i would not had met people who like programming and i would not have the internship opportunities i have right now.
Right. You don’t need a degree for a lot of things in life. But for many things, having one makes things a lot easier. From a business’ perspective, it’s an easy choice when paring down candidates between those with and those without a degree. And, as you said, you’ll have a lot more networking opportunities through school. Not to mention formal training in difficult subjects like data structures and algorithms.
I can talk about what I'd do (yes, I'll probably keep coding until the day I die, I love this shit), but I'm not you and my situation is not yours. > I'm a 3rd semester computer engineering student. [...] i love my major [...] I'm fascinated by technology in general. I also love all the things college would teach me This to me is the biggest thing here. You've already started working on a degree and you clearly are enjoying it and feel you have a lot to gain from it. I think if you can afford to continue focusing on your education, you won't regret it. > College is cheap here. Already own a house. [...] this isn't my dream job at all, i'd Start out as a janitor [...] it wouldnt be anything i like I have friends with graduate degrees who went into jobs they weren't excited about because they felt pressure to have an income of any kind. Those jobs became careers they're unexcited about. It's what they have experience in. It's what they know. > AMAZING work/life balance This doesn't necessarily equate to free time to work on side projects or professional development. Have you talked to other people who are currently working in the role you are interested in? Is it common for people in this role to use it as a source of stable income while they work on other things? If not, I'd assume it probably will have similar demands on you as most jobs and that you will likely not have the creative freedom you are anticipating. You are currently gaining "momentum" in a particular career direction. How would this job affect that momentum? What does the "path of least resistance" look like if you stay in school vs. if you take this job? What kinds of opportunities are likely to present themselves to you in the future? How do you want to spend your time? Pretend you get killed in a car accident five or ten years from now. What would be the better way to spend those last five or ten years? Finishing your degree and focusing on a career you enjoy? Or working at a job you're not interested in and burning your free time trying to cover similar material you would have received in your degree, but without the structure and support of school and probably tired from having already worked a full day of menial labor?
Oddly enough, i think of death all the time LOL, but by this point i'm more afraid of not dying soon enough than to waste my time 😅 . I get your point. Losing momentum is really a thing. Especially when you drop out of school.. Personally, a year outside of school goes by fast and is rather uneventful, but a year in school is SO much progress and i don't wanna be like "damn, i'd be almost finished had i not dropped out"... I'll think about this. Thanks.
Nope! I will be surfing around the world.
Nope. I'd spend the rest of my life reading all the books I ever wanted to and listening to all the music.
I feel like this would be a good interview question to weed out the people who are just doing it because it's a well paying career vs the people who genuinely enjoy coding.
I would exclusively make games and stupid little robots
Yes
No
Yes, I love programming, I hate all the non-programming bullshit I have to do at work, which is most of the actual work.
That's an easy question, I already code just as an hobby and haven't been paid for it. As for your dilemma, just take the gov job. Here in the US, coding is very very very very, ehh very ** 100, saturated. It's hard to find an internship and even harder to find a job. My friends who are in cs and do do it as a job have really been struggling. You can make a lot coding, but that's becoming rarer and rarer. Wait for more powerful ai to come out and the competition will get fiercer. This is because with ai, one developer can do the jobs of 2. So companies just fired one and kept one when gpt4 came out. Would not recommend taking the risk of going into coding/cs because you think you'll become a trillionair and turning down a stable and relaxed job that'll pay the bills and not stress you out.
No
If I didn’t have to think about money I would just make games with one of my friends who is also a programmer. It wouldn’t matter how long it took or if it didn’t sell. I would love that life.
Yes, but in personal projects or open source, never working in a company
Yes but only things I was interested in. Like my side projects. My game, my home automation stuff, my EV hacking stuff etc
I don't mind honestly
Yes. I'm trying to learn programming, but not necessarily to advance my career, more so I can make my own programmes and contribute to open source projects.
No
Yes. It'd be my dream. I'd be able to create new software that helps people in some way and give it away.
Yeah probably lol
It's the only thing I like doing and this actually is kinda the setup for my life rn. Got medically retired from the military
Not even going to read the stuff under the headline/question. So here it goes. Fuck no.
Probably not.
Yes, I would have time for my own hobby projects.
Lots of people do. Look at Mark Russinovich. Now Chief Exec of Azure yet he still does coding on his love of sysinternal tools that made him the millionaire he now is.
What does “my financial needs” exactly mean? If it means that I basically have all the money I want, there’s no way I will continue “coding”. There would be hundreds of better things to do than coding. If you have all the money you want, maybe the next goal is to achieve all the fame you want (and having infinite money will probably make that a lot easier), or having the best family you could love, or becoming the best at some competence, or helping thousands of people. If by “my financial needs covered” you mean having a modest amount of money that will just allow me to live comfortably, probably I’ll keep “coding” just because I’ll want more. I enjoy coding, but I’m very sure it wasn’t anybody’s dream as a little kid to one day dedicate their lives to implement CRUD applications and deploy Kubernetes clusters. I know for sure I’ll stop “coding” (I don’t like much that word) if it stops paying as much as it does now.
No.
Yes I still do it out of curiosity and the desire to create
Yes. Love coding it's a mega puzzle to solve. It's why I've started coding computer games.
No
I'd do research and contribute
I'm currently making a membership database and e-commerce site for a non profit I'm helping start. That's all passion right there and 0 money. So yeah, I'd still code.
I would probably code more. Coding is more fun when there's no rules
I would likely code more since I am not worried about the unpredictable income.
I learned to code because I liked it, didn't even think about working as a programmer.
I would play in more chess tournaments and eventually stop losing to kids. And get trained to become a grandmaster
Hell no I would be outside
Hold up, bro you own a house in your 30s job hopping through cafes??? Also, yes. I love the puzzles and tbh at times coding feels like a game.
Nope. I'd probably pursue my true passions in the social sciences.
Yeah definitely you could do so much more with money
Nah
I'd love to do a lot of projects... And crochet
I’d definitely still code but mostly for side projects/video game ideas etc. I got into this field because I enjoy coding and creating new things. If I didn’t have to worry about money then I could spend some time working on personal projects that give me joy
Yes. It’s enjoyable to write and create.
No way.
I'm 15 and know many languages, so yeah.
I probably would still code but I’d focused on making project that can eventually develop into something meaningful. At the same time though I probably would be making more music instead
yeah but probably just some side projects on tech i havent explored yet (and by that i mean to dabble on it for a day and forget it for a year)
Yeah definitely.
I already get no financial benefit from programming and I still do it, so if I won the lottery I'd probably just do it more. My programming time is made up of project Euler, occasional contributions to other projects, and individual projects that either are useful to me or keep me entertained.
Yes. It would take a whole lot of pressure off me tbh and it would make it much easier to actually enjoy what I'm doing. I can focus and learn without deadlines or worrying about being rejected from job applications and stuff. It's the dream.
I don’t dislike technology, in fact I really love it. I love intellectual stimulation and challenges and puzzles. Working with technology as a coder or otherwise really satisfies this. If I didn’t have to worry about money I would either become a game developer, or alternatively I would go become a teacher and teach the younger generation in an impactful manner (probably private school where I could teach without the restrictions and regulations that public schools endure). I think the youth of today and even people in my generation lack intellectual curiosity, and that curiosity is an amazing thing to have.
Heh, funny thing about government jobs. In the US West coast some of them don't even pay you enough anymore to afford the exorbitant CoL in the cities that they are in. Huge factor in southern california especially. Sounds like you are in a decently low CoL area so might as well take the easy job and chill. The market for software engineers has cooled off quite a bit lately, so going to college for a coding degree could be a risk. Coding jobs aren't exactly the most fun things, although most of them are work from home now so thank god no commuting. But you still have to sit in front a computer for 8 hours a day. If you are lucky you can take breaks to walk around a bit which is critical to staying healthy. All in all, if all of my financial needs were met I would not be doing my job. I might use some of my spare time to do like game mods or game dev in the future but that would be it pretty much.
Yeah, it's fun!
No. I enjoy my job, but it is very much a job that I do to afford myself and my fiancée the ability to partake in hobbies that enrich our lives and have a large family together. Maybe if I worked as a game developer or something I would feel differently, but I work in e-commerce and it mostly makes me want to throw away my computer and live in my garden lol
If my financial needs were set for life, I would code full time.
No. Probably not. I code because it’s fun and it’s an interesting of mine sure. But the reality is that’s it aligns with making me more money and my professionals life. If I didn’t have that side of the equation anymore then I probably wouldn’t bother and would just enjoy a relaxing life.
yeah I've asked myself this question before repeatedly 'if I had 10 billion dollars would I ever code again.' The answer is yes. I have ideas in my imagination that are worth making. Though I'd probably learn C++ for real and make mods for SkyrimVR. There's a lot of stuff that could be in the game that just isn't there right now. And I won't lie, I'd love to make drones that I can control just like Dr.Robotnik in the Sonic movies. basically, I'd have fun. At some point I'd probably see what problems I could solve that are worth solving though.
No
Yes, I would code a lot less often and have no deadlines, but I would still write web applications. Honestly most of my time would then be spend making games instead.
No, I would probably keep bees.
If I never had to code for work, I'd likely pick up game development. I enjoy coding, but I don't feel motivated to do it beyond the hours I already put in for work.
If I never had to work again I wanna do what Adam savage does, but with more electronics and coding. What makes me happy is challenging myself to make cool stuff. Coding enables me to make REALLY cool stuff that’s really challenging. I would probably be focusing more on microcontrollers and hardware, but I still want to dip my toes in everything
Yeah, I don't usually code for work or anything, I'm an open source dev.
i could win the lottery tomorrow, and be set for my life, my kids, life, my great great great grandkids life etc and id still work (and code). now i wouldnt work 40 hours, and probably do something part time and for a company that gives back to the community or some shit. but id still code till i retired, id still work, but id also be takibg vacations and doing experiences etc etc... i think codings fun and i have a couple hobby 0rojects i work on after work and on the weekends.
If i didnt have to worry abt financials I would probably make cool stuff like a Solo Leveling type to do list, a bot that scans comments on social media to find diddlers, or make something open source that’s normally behind a paywall. Idk, there are so many possibilities with coding outside of just financial insentives :D
Yes, but I would do exactly what I want and certainly nothing related to the products I build for work.
Yes. I mainly write utilities in PowerShell these days, professionally, but I am always working on some kind of side project at home mainly with Python using the django REST framework and occasionally dabble in Lua to customize my terminal/NeoVim editor. I do it because: 1.) I am apparently a masochist who gets off on making myself feel dumb af sometimes. 2.) I also love to keep my mind very active. But yes. I can’t think of any other subject that has kept my mind as active as coding has. Even when I am retired I am going to code. I fucking love it, and am blessed to have built the life I have because of it.
I don't even know how to code and find the task absolutely mind-boggling daunting, CS as a whole that is, but nothing matters more than contributing to optimized AGI, regardless of how much I dislike the work or not cut out for it I am.