Comment by raw_anon_1111 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by raw_anon_1111 | Hacker News Reader

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I absolutely hate the romanticism of the “good old days” when people only became programmers because of “passion”. I’ve worked professionally since 1996 and even then most people didn’t work because of “passion” they did it for money.

The people writing COBOL and FORTRAN on mainframes - I got my start writing C and FORTRAN on DEC VAX and Stratus VOS mainframes - didn’t speak about the joys of programming. They clocked in, clocked out and went on about their lives.

I doubt in 30 years across now 10 jobs I’ve met more than a handful of people that don’t have outside interests that they talk about at lunch outside of computers.

Whether he “loves” it or not is immaterial in the decision process. Whether someone will pay him so he can support his addiction to food and shelter is.

How many of the 2.7 million+ developers in the US wake up excited that they are creating Yet Another CRUD enterprise app ir some bespoke internal app that will never see the light of day outside of their company and thats the life of most developers world wide.

Hey I just want to respond to this because I didn't mean to say what you heard.

What I meant was that I think we're going through an extinction event for programmers of adaptability below a certain threshold. What will get a programmer through this period is going to be a drive and passion for the act of growing and a deep interest in the field. That's because change is here and the "jobs" are threatened.

One thing I've learned about AI coding is that you have to know what you want, and you need to ask for it. That's the condition where AI coding works. It does not do well with ambiguity and moonshots.

So ambiguity and moonshots are still the domain of the humans. Anyone with a repeatable job that's a slog is likely to find themselves on the sidelines soon if they don't adapt.

> "They clocked in, clocked out and went on about their lives."

Yeah, these folks are going to have a tough time. I don't wish it upon them, but that's where we're headed. And so if a person is just choosing programming because they want stability and a good job primarily, I say they should avoid it.

Honestly you are still off base. Having happy thoughts and “passion” don’t get you through the HR filters and how do you separate yourself from the literally hundreds of applications companies get as soon as they open a req?

I’m not bitter if it sounds like I am. I have a network, credentials and soft skills that open doors for me immediately when k was looking last year and the year before. But let’s not fill this guy either hopium and happy thoughts thinking “passion” will get him anywhere.

"The people writing COBOL and FORTRAN on mainframes - I got my start writing C and FORTRAN on DEC VAX and Stratus VOS mainframes - didn’t speak about the joys of programming. They clocked in, clocked out and went on about their lives."

FORTRAN was my first language in the 60s and I ENJOYED using it until "better" languages came along.

I debugged COBOL and once taught SQL to COBOL programmers while refusing to write anything in it.

I had my best fun with mainframe Assembler and CMS Pipelines.

I’m 100% sure that your passion didn’t come from growing up with computers in your home and hanging out with other computer nerds like the parent poster said. You also didn’t go home after work doing side projects on your home computer or contributing to open source.

By definition, before the late 70s, you had to leave your job at work and didn’t code on your free time unless you went into the office.

There were times I took a dial up terminal home. Before that in university, we had to punch our own card decks.

I didn't need to be at the office to write programs. All I need is a pad of paper (with maybe a few manuals) and a nice place where I can concentrate without interruptions.

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