Provocative maybe - but a genuine question.
In my case, life somehow pushed me to be a programmer, old bosses at work and people around me told me that I should get a degree in CS (never had any meaning to before they did). I never actually got a degree but I did spend a couple of years learning mostly by myself, and somehow (almost as if by pure luck) got to where I am today.
I truly believe that this industry is tough (I will explain).
Yes, we get paid quite well, but we work unreasonable hours, we sit down at the computer for 9-12 hours a day, we handle toxic clients, coworkers, managers. We then go home to try and enjoy whatever is left of our day, just to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again. While this criticism might be directed at our societal structure as a whole and not specifically at the tech industry, the industry does shine a bright light on everything that is wrong with the societal work structure.
That is why I don't think anyone who is working in this industry solely for the money will remain in this industry for too long. In order to work as a programmer - you have to love programming. If you don't LOVE programming - you won't remain a professional programmer. Passion is the answer all the way.
Ask yourself - is programming something I'd do even without the money? My answer is probably - if the need for a specific tool arises and there is no solution - I'd make one.
Your point about salaries dropping is completely wrong. Salaries might drop for Juniors and average-level developers because the market is saturated. Senior and highly technical developers will keep making more and more as time goes on.
My bottom line is - as of right now, I have no reason to search or switch to a different profession. If programming will become obsolete (it won't) or if I will get so tired of interacting with others in this industry - I will probably switch to being a personal chef or an author, or a farmer (probably farmer, honestly).
I spent most of my professional life coding in JavaScript and PHP, Go and Rust. Now I am working on a isometric 3D game engine for the Web, PHP Resonance Framework and AI low-code solutions.
Thanks for the answer. I don't think the programming will be obsolete either.
So many people think about farming. :D I must confess sometimes I really want to buy a few goats (I heard they are easiest to start the farm with) and see what it's like.
It is not programming, or development, that I am in love with; it is solving problems. It just so happens that code is quite often a significant contributor to solving these problems. Problems will always need solving and the vast majority of the population don't know how to think about problems to go about solving them in any meaningful way. Even the growth of low-code platforms and AI generated code does not make the issue go away, it just makes those of us who know how to solve problems move faster by not having to set up the boilerplate each time.
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Provocative maybe - but a genuine question.
In my case, life somehow pushed me to be a programmer, old bosses at work and people around me told me that I should get a degree in CS (never had any meaning to before they did). I never actually got a degree but I did spend a couple of years learning mostly by myself, and somehow (almost as if by pure luck) got to where I am today.
I truly believe that this industry is tough (I will explain).
Yes, we get paid quite well, but we work unreasonable hours, we sit down at the computer for 9-12 hours a day, we handle toxic clients, coworkers, managers. We then go home to try and enjoy whatever is left of our day, just to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again. While this criticism might be directed at our societal structure as a whole and not specifically at the tech industry, the industry does shine a bright light on everything that is wrong with the societal work structure.
That is why I don't think anyone who is working in this industry solely for the money will remain in this industry for too long. In order to work as a programmer - you have to love programming. If you don't LOVE programming - you won't remain a professional programmer. Passion is the answer all the way.
Ask yourself - is programming something I'd do even without the money? My answer is probably - if the need for a specific tool arises and there is no solution - I'd make one.
Your point about salaries dropping is completely wrong. Salaries might drop for Juniors and average-level developers because the market is saturated. Senior and highly technical developers will keep making more and more as time goes on.
My bottom line is - as of right now, I have no reason to search or switch to a different profession. If programming will become obsolete (it won't) or if I will get so tired of interacting with others in this industry - I will probably switch to being a personal chef or an author, or a farmer (probably farmer, honestly).
Thanks for the answer. I don't think the programming will be obsolete either.
So many people think about farming. :D I must confess sometimes I really want to buy a few goats (I heard they are easiest to start the farm with) and see what it's like.
I have some chickens, they are great, very interesting and sweet animals.
Great comments. As a junior developer i found them helpful. Though i do believe passion is a key material for staying in this industry.
Slightly different take.
It is not programming, or development, that I am in love with; it is solving problems. It just so happens that code is quite often a significant contributor to solving these problems. Problems will always need solving and the vast majority of the population don't know how to think about problems to go about solving them in any meaningful way. Even the growth of low-code platforms and AI generated code does not make the issue go away, it just makes those of us who know how to solve problems move faster by not having to set up the boilerplate each time.