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TrackerFFHNSource authorJan 1, 2023

Lessons learnedExperience excerpt · English

I started programming in my early teenage years, and befriended a bunch of peers, as well as older …

… I started programming in my early teenage years, and befriended a bunch of peers, as well as older folks, that were in the same "hobbyist" group. Yes, it intersected with a lot of other "nerd" circles - but what made the programming circle a bit different from the usual nerdy groups, was how passionate and dedicated coders were. Lots of people made it their identity to be a computer guy, hacker, software developer, etc. and a solid share of them were pretty much hermits in real life - keeping to themselves 24/7, and just communicating with others over IRC or similar. Then when these folks entered college/workforce/etc. they already had numerous years of experience, and had tied up those formative years with their self-worth. Lots of highly opinionated experts, to put it that way. Someone presents an alternative way to do things? Or tries to come with constructive feedback? No, that's just stupid. I've been doing this 12 hours a days since I was 10 years old, have red 100s of books on the topic, have done 100s of open source projects, of course I know the optimal way. …

Original discussionAsk HN: Is Programming Culture Immature?122 source comments · at import

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mattwilsonn888HNJan 1, 2023

I enjoy all facets of using computers, including programming, and am decent at it. I like many others also enjoy the theory crafting aspect which means spending time reading/thinking about programming and technical concepts and engaging with or observing discussions and even debates. Programming is intellectually challenging, and that seems make insiders and outsiders assume that in order to have some success as a programmer, one must be intelligent, rationale, sensible, or heaven forbid, wise. Yet in my experience, it doesn't take a lot a long time engaging with the digital-technical community at large to realize there is often a large gap between intelligence and wisdom or even basic sensibilities. A field which has so many tools to objectively quantify their work and the result so often are debates displaying poorly concealed biases and egos. I was visiting the Star Citizen subreddit …

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spacemadnessHNJan 1, 2023

I remember my first time in college studying CompSci in the 90s, I had a discussion with a fellow classmate who very proudly claimed they never needed to travel anywhere as it’s all online anyway. In the 90s. Then they insinuated anyone that does travel is an idiot. I felt bad for them, but man were they ever proud of themselves and opinionated about everything. He also hated my PC that was gifted to me and insinuated I was an idiot for owning it. I always wonder about that person and if they made it far in their career. It made me fear for my own career as I didn’t want to be surrounded by these kinds of people. Thankfully his type wasn’t the norm.

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jhatemyjobHNJan 1, 2023

This is basically the reply I was gonna write. I might also add that, at least for me personally, the only reason I got into programming was because I didn't have anything better to do in middle/high school. If I had a non-dysfunctional family, a girlfriend, an active social life, or a hobby (like woodworking, cars, reading books, etc) I probably would have focused on those things. But all I did day in and day out was be on the computer, and programming was basically the only productive thing you could do, so I gravitated towards that. A lot of my programmer peers in high school had the same deal, they couldn't really do anything else other than be on the computer so they got into video games and programming.

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