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Comment by jrockway | Hacker News Reader

I enjoyed reading this. Sometimes I watch too many cop shows and think that I want to become a detective. Then I read reports like this, and realize that 99% of police work is producing reports like this one. You may get to interview the occasional reference, but you're probably not going to be getting into many gunfights.

I feel mislead by fictional television programs :)

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Watch The Wire. Most realistic portrayal of police work I've ever seen. Lots of watching suspects and gathering string, putting the pieces of the puzzle together slowly over a season of television, dealing with disfunctional organizations and a realistically low number of gunfights.

One of the best TV shows ever made IMO.

Is it really realistic though? The Wire seems to portray only cases that are relevant to the big picture plot, and they always seem to solve them in the end.

The guy was embedded with the real baltimore homicide squad for two years or something in the 80s. Read his book, Homicide, for a more realistic depiction of the monotonous life of a police department.

The wire is still realistic, because it specifically follows a team doing a large drug investigation, rather than the general work of the dept. In the book, there are a lot more misc. trails that go cold, like you describe.

I love The Wire. I like how it shows the boring parts in addition to the exciting parts, but let's be honest, there is a lot more field work than desk work. The Wire does not convince me that being a detective would be mostly boring.

Same goes for being a lawyer and doctor. They look so cool on TV and then you see someone doing the "real" job and notice how much is must suck.

And programming (at least for some of us :p) is exactly the opposite--it's usually portrayed as dry and relatively boring, like clerk work, but in reality is actually pretty awesome.

Not to an outsider: Oh look... he's typing away at things for hours on end.

Our results may be cool, but the process certainly isn't; at least as far as other 'building' jobs look.

For your consideration (and cringing) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ

As a third year law student and fairly experienced web programmer, I feel like I can maybe weigh in on this: What seems boring to one person is the other person's reason to live! I'm surprised by how thrilled many lawyers are with their practice areas (that I find boring) but they probably feel the same about the areas I've found most interesting in law.

Both are filled with intellectual challenge. People who like problems are attracted to each. Although people who like problems and money might be more attracted to law!

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