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Comment by ianstallings | Hacker News Reader

I'm approaching 20 years of doing this and I would love to have 20 years more.

What this really sounds like, and the message gets muted by the complaints, is that the author wants you to find a part of software that interests you and follow that path. I agree 100%. Some people love front-end Javascript websites and all that entails. I find it painful. I still do it when called for but my true love is in low level protocols, embedded programming, hardware, and anything else that let's me get to the "bare metal". It too can be mundane and painful, but I find joy digging through RFCs and implementing them, pushing and popping from the stack, handling memory, and a bunch of other stuff that others might find completely boring.

So I do agree - it can be boring and you should always be looking for something you truly like doing. There is so much in this industry, the world is wide open to you.

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10 years here, and loving it too!

the best part for me is, the more i learn the better it gets. And the longer i do it, the bigger the variety of solutions and ways to get things done.

Sure, will get stuck on a crappy project from time to time, which could last for 1-12 months, and it may not be a blast, but i know it's temporary, and the more senior i get, the more say i have in making it suck less.

It took me many years to learn this, but you don't always have to do what you're told (if you know you can do it better). If you're being pressed to get something done, you'll be inclined to cut corners and hack it. But in the end you can just do it the right way, and tell your boss afterwards. The trick is to do it in the same time it would take to hack it. If it means working nights and weekends? so be it.. in the end, it's your name and showing such ownership will eventually give you a bigger voice, and people around will know who produces quality stuff. And if you're working for someone that will not be happy about you doing it the right way just because they told you otherwise, you don't want to work for them in the first place.

It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission? :)

7 years.

KILL ME

Oh how I can feel this.

After 3+ years of dealing with banker types when I first started (1991ish), I wanted to leap off the building and land on their fancy cars. :)

Without a doubt, the tightest fisted, greediest and most short sighted people I've ever dealt with. Save 15 minutes here and waste months in the future when you've forgotten how this hack works. Get it out now.

Then I had a few dream jobs. It seems to go in cycles. Get used to it or change professions.

my current job is so boring but the money is so good ~_~

will probably have a 2-3 month break to hack on some project and return to contracting afterwards, hopefully somewhere more interesting.

Totally agree. I've been writing software for money since '98 or so. The joy for me has always been solving problems at all levels. First, understand the business and the problem. Next figure out high level solutions that hopefully involve software. Finally get down in the details and write said software. Over the years I've written systems using a variety of languages and it is still fun. Heck, once I started using git (a godsend to someone whose first SCM software was Visual SourceSafe) I actually enjoy code wrangling.

When people ask what I do I always tell them how fortunate I am to have stumbled into something that I love doing, can make good money, and am okay at doing it.

> The world is wide open to you.

In the United States probably. The author doesn't sound too old, and says that he/she got access to the internet much later. Which means the author is probably from the Middle east or China or South Asia. The work culture there is not as open as in the west. Daily job means monotonous routine work. What excited him about the prime numbers problem was the novel aspect of it, and the fact that he was in control. Later, in his/her day job, that was no longer the case -- someone else was making the decisions. Until these nuances trickle into daily jobs, most people will sooner than later burnout.

Then move. To a different city or a different country. It is a very difficult thing to do but you shouldn't be miserable for a third of your day!

Get yourself some good skills and apply to jobs you really think you want instead of whatever the local industry has to offer.

Yes, though actually moving isn't all that hard compared to all the other things you do one a daily basis.

And my interests are the other way around, and I try to explain to people just starting out that there are so many different kinds of opportunities within our industry and they can easily move around and try new things over the years without the fear of getting forever stuck on work they don't enjoy.

Circa 15 here and still fascinated, too. I think it's sad that the author of the paste hasn't found a commercially supportive environment for their interests. Maybe they should fall back on themselves for awhile (take a non-coding job, code for interest on a project they enjoy in a part-time context with some potential commercialization strategies). The comment right at the bottom of this page is equally correct: noobs gonna noob.

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