Programming not fun anymore?
I'm writing this because recently I'm seeing more and more friends moving from programming to something "high level" such as management or consulting.
They say they had enough of building crap database applications in a cellar with a bunch of coworkers.
To all people like this I say:
Come on guys! What's the matter with you? We used to be programmers and we kicked ass. It was your child dream. Have you forgotten the feeling of learning your first languages and building stuff at home just for fun?
I'll tell you what - programming IS fun. What is not fun is building information systems for small businesses over and over again (actually that's one of the most boring things in the world). But building such things is not programming. Why don't you find a good programming job instead of complaining about being a servant to people who "would like one more button on the customers page"?
I once had the feeling that programming is not the right thing anymore as well. I have a theory about where it comes from: It is all about this feeling of social isolation. And it goes away when you have a girlfriend you care about. It is hard to be working only with guys while wishing to meet a girl - that can be challenging. While not having the girlfriend, hanging out with non-IT friends helps a lot and when you finally have the girlfriend, you can start to love programming again.
Oh, and one last thing. Did you have a feeling that programmers are not respected by non-technical people? That's not true at all. I realized when no-IT friends asked me about what my summer job was so I said "Google summer of code". The reaction was always the same - "wow!". And people tell each other and keep asking about it. More and more friends ask me "So how do all these programs and websites really work?" Ordinary people realize the importance of software and they do find awesome software awesome.
Happy coding!
Martin
