Working as a programmer - is it what you thought it would be?

Since my best and most enjoyable programming happens at home during off hours, I wonder about how good the job is. If you happen to work at a company that 'gets it' (let this mean whatever YOU want it to mean, different for everyone), it's probably the best job around for a tech oriented person. However, LOTS of companies don't 'get it', and they make longstanding infrastructure decisions that make our job less fun and productive.

Working as a programmer.. I love the creative aspect where you build up something from scratch (translate photoshop/powerpoint mockups into code). I like fixing bugs because it appeals to my perfectionist nature - bringing up overall quality - I don't know why some other coders are loathe to fix bugs. It's easier to quantify what you have done, as opposed to my marketing/business friends who have to make a case for what they've accomplished. And you make enough money usually to support a lifestyle outside of coding (travelling, hobbies limited only by your current limitations).

It is so much better than I ever could have imagined that it would be. It is a daily game of show and tell where we get to show off the cool things we got working. If you had told me 20 years ago how much fun it would have been I simply would not have believed you.<p>Programming opened the whole world to me and I've written code in Africa, Asia and Europe in addition to the small New England town where I live now. The money is respectable, the hours are flexible and I always have the opportunity to learn something new and try a different approach.<p>I simply cannot imagine a life where I do not get to run up the stairs to my office and bounce in anticipation as emacs fires up for another day of profound geek joy. I do not ever plan to retire, they are just going to have to pull me kicking and screaming away from the keyboard someday.

I have a 15 year-old brother who shows some knack for programming. I've been thinking about what kind of career advice I would give him related to programming. I might say something like, "Being a software developer is awesome, but being a corporate software developer is awful."<p>Sometimes I wonder if I should just tell him to keep it as a skill but eschew it as a career.

It is everything I thought it would be, in both the good ways and the bad.<p>In the big corporate world, there are places where bureaucracy replaces the beauty of the code. You sit in meetings discussing what the code should do, often for longer than it would take to actually write it. I was in a meeting to discuss a prototype once which degenerated into an hour long discussion on the label of the 3rd text field on the screen. The bottom line is that in some big companies, the goal is to work as little as possible. If you want to write code (or maintain sanity) , avoid these at all costs.<p>I'm now working at a NASA contractor, and the work is considerably more interesting. Still, we are plagued with drama but at least there's always something to do.<p>In short, just like any career there are the boring, stressful and tedious aspects. There is also the pleasure of imagining how code should function, then immediately seeing it come to place. I'd rather be in control of what I'm working on, but until that day comes I'm happy.

One of the best decisions I ever made.<p>Is is "what I thought it would be"? I don't know. Because I had no idea what to expect. (I did my first programming on the job; I started before there was much opportunity to do it on your own.)<p>I have done projects at over 80 companies. I have gotten involved in almost every aspect of the business. I have travelled all over the country, met many interesting people (and friends for life), and have constantly been learning and doing. Oh, and I have earned far more than most of the people I have ever worked with. It wasn't unusual for me to be earning more than my supervisor and much, much more than my users.<p>I have done lots of work on my own and have taken lots of time off between gigs.<p>Sure, there have been lots of negatives. I've even thought of leaving IT and doing something else. I know many who have. But then I think about it and realize that <i>this</i> is what I still really want to do.<p>There have been horrible working conditions (cubicles), unreasonable people (let's just leave it at that), terrible projects, long commutes, and worst of all, boredom and disapproval on someone else's project. But instead of whining (present post excluded), I always did something about it. I either fixed what was broken for me or moved on.<p>Because of modern technology and lifestyle, I am more excited about being a programmer than ever before. I don't want to sound like an old timer (I know, too late), but I clearly remember how hard it used to be to get good. I had to go to expensive seminars or to one of the half dozen good technical bookstores in the U.S. My first computer cost $6000 (double that today). Now with cheap hardware, google, downloadable environments, boards like this, and Borders around the corner, everything is so easy! I just can't get enough.<p>For someone even mildly interested in programming, I would say, "Go for it!" Get a job and play around on your own. Learn as much as you can, technical and business, and if you don't like where it's heading, find a way to make it work for you. Give it a chance. I'm sure glad that I did.

I can't imagine of doing anything else. It is basically like fooling/playing around. At work, sometimes it gets repetitive and boring -- so what I do, I conjure up a small project at home or do some freelance or in some cases dabble with a programming language that I know nothing about. Then when it gets busy at work or when something comes up interesting, I take it slow on the sidejobs/sideprojects.<p>Seriously, when I think of it, I can do this my entire life. The only thing that can probably stop me is having my own startup -- still, I will still be doing some programming. It's weird, I can't think of anything aside from it.

I enjoy the constant learning required to solve new problems.<p>To echo some other sentiment in this thread, take the problem domain you are most passionate about and find a way to improve it through programming.<p>I once ended up in a rut where I was not learning and I had been on the project too long (I was still passionate about making things better, but I was swimming against a tide of corporate inertia). I went back to graduate school part time to address the boredom, and moved to a project that I liked and had enough unsolved problems to be interesting for a while.

It's been even better than I thought it'd be. I almost switched out of Computer Science in college because I was fed up with the boring classes, but I'm glad I didn't. Getting paid to program rocks!

Programming has its ups and downs, but on the whole it's what I love to do. It's like each program is a little baby; making it is lots of fun (;))and seeing it grow up, even better.

Working for someone else has its problems. Working on my own projects, I feel heroic. Like Prometheus.<p>Never before have I had so much power to do so much good.

programming is the best thing ever. i got hooked as soon as i wrote the first line of code. i have never looked back. programming is the best thing ever!