← Back to context

Comment by Mofpofjis

6 days ago

> I got into programming because I like programming, not because I like asking others to write code on my behalf and review what they come up with

oh finally someone else who didn't enter programming because, as 7-10 year old child, they were into SOLVING PRACTICAL PROBLEMS FOR PEOPLE.

> But the last fucking thing I want to do is delegate all the code writing to someone or something else

Thank God there is at least one other person that understands that the ratio between creative and reactive work is crucial for wellbeing at the job.

For crying out loud.

> but if I ever get to the point that I feel like I spend my entire day in virtual meetings with AI agents, then I'm changing careers

so am I.

> but at least I guess I got a couple of good decades out of it

Thanks for this perspective. Yes, at least we've got our memories, and the code locations and commits we recall from memory, from a distance of 10 or more years.

>. If this is what the job turns into, I'll have to find something else to do with my remaining years

Me too.

3 comments

Mofpofjis

Reply
munificent  6 days ago

> as 7-10 year old child, they were into SOLVING PRACTICAL PROBLEMS FOR PEOPLE.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are sitting in my school's resource center in front of a TRS-80, laboriously typing in some mimeographed BASIC code while wondering, "Is this the most efficient way I can increase shareholder value for the corporation?"

viccis  6 days ago

I'm with you two. I can work on boring problems in boring domains and enjoy the design and implementation aspect because it's inherently creative. Take away those and now my only job is the guy in Office Space who takes the requirements from the customers to the developers, if I'm lucky enough to have one at that point.

I don't want to have to change careers, as this is one that I've been working towards to some degree since I was a child. Including some intense work in college and some brutal first couple jobs where I worked hard to pick up marketable skills. Obviously the market doesn't care what I want, but I find the author of this piece to be a bit too flippant in his "but they take-rr jerbs" section. Working hard to get a well paying job only to have to start (likely near the bottom) in another career for much less pay is not something to treat lightly.