Are you a programmer who entered the field for financial reasons rather than personal passion? How has your experience been so far? Do you find it fulfilling and sustainable as a long-term career option? Share your thoughts with us!
#programmerlife #careerchoices #financialvs.passion #programmingpath #sustainablecareer #programmingjourney
I was a teacher previously…..
I miss teaching kids, or most of them at least. Everything else about teaching was horrible. The parents, the pay, the admin, the hours.
Now I work 9-5 from home as a java/springboot developer. I enjoy learning and always have, so I’m pretty happy. Some days are boring, but I make enough money to survive and save up now, where I used to be in constant debt from simply paying rent and buying groceries. I was able to purchase a car and will soon be buying a house. These were impossible to do as a teacher.
I’d say I’m like 65/35 for the money.
Honestly chillest job I’ve hard. Sure your brain has to be “on” more and you are constantly learning new things or having the remember tedious one offs but I’m enjoying it
It’s ok. I like being able to do things outside of work more and a high paying career allows that.
>Programmers who got into programming mainly out of financial interest rather than personal interest
I don’t think you’re likely to find many people who fit that description in this sub. Working programmers who are just in it for the money probably don’t want to spend their free time talking about programming.
I enjoy the pay and while the job can be frustrating at times I wouldn’t change it for any of my previous jobs.
At first I hated it…and it showed in my work..So I took time away from it to see if I could do it “better”. I realized I got into it for the money AND other things (challenge/creativity/individual accomplishment) etc… but the company I worked for was a bad fit. All the while thought staying for the high salary and perks would make me happier and a better programmer…turns out I am already good at certain aspects of it and needed to move around(growth mindset was stifled)
sometimes it sucks, most of the time it’s tolerable. there are bits and pieces you can find real interest in if you look hard enough.
I used to be a goldsmith. Got into programming making things easier with machines during my job but enjoyed it so much it turned in a hobby. After a while i realized i could switch them up and transfer from one of the worst paying jobs here to one of the best paying jobs. Easy choice.
Programming PLC atm.
I’m awful at it, I enjoy my career but I’m no where near as good as a majority of my team. Shifted from a support role internally into engineering working with Ruby and Rails and I can do easy bugs but some of the hard ones I just pass over. Objects and classes never really clicked with me so I’m taking it one day at a time still trying to wrap my head around it.
I got into it because I enjoy making money. Yes, sometimes I can have fun with little personal projects – but in reality, I rather spend my free time elsewhere.
Challenging yourself is rewarding though
Used to be a land surveyor. Then went into banking operations (nothing special justa regular office rat job), it was soul draining. Then I came to the conclusion that I have to find a job through which I can express myself. So remember trying to learn programming in my teens to try hacking and then somehow I started up a clone runescape server lol.
Anyways at 29 I decided that I want to try that programming thing again. I quit my banking job and started learning html, css and js. Built a few projects, applied to numerous junior positions. Got rejected a couple times, then got an offer from a ecommerce startup which got acquired. I still work there, I love it. The challenges are interesting. The work is awesome. The pay – great. Sometimes I get these month long streaks where I just live and breathe code – constantly reading up on what’s going on in the industry, reading blogs, books, building personal projects. Other times I just get those 8 hours in and call it a day. 31M btw.
I don’t know if I fell into programming for lack of other options but I did get into it for the money. I am loving my career. The day to day work is mentally engaging and thus rarely feels repetitive or boring, which is perfect for me because I find doing menial tasks 9-5 soul sucking. So I’d say I found a passion for it later. However it’s solely a “work passion” if you will i.e. I have no interest in coding outside of my job. I keep it compartmentalized during the work day. Are there days I don’t want to look at code? Of course, but as a whole I find I enjoy it just enough to do every day without hating it. It also helps that my benefits, comp and WLB are excellent. I work from home, have great health insurance, never work more than 40 hours (often less), and thanks to some aggressive interviewing two years ago I have 2x’d my income from the start of my professional career 4 years ago with a recent promotion making that almost 2.5x. It’s wild I can even say that knowing where I was in my first college class 10 years ago. Am very thankful/fortunate to be where I’m at.
>How do you know if it’s right for you?
I don’t think you’ll really know until you try it. At least I didn’t. But a good measuring stick would be to see how you feel when your code finally works after being stuck. If you get a rush or sense of satisfaction from solving it you’re probably a good fit. That feeling of banging your head against the wall – not knowing what the hell to do and drowning in error messages – is where a lot of prospective programmers tap out. When the training wheels are off and you’re thrust into the deep end is where I think you’ll know.
Love it. Turns out I like being able to quantify my results. I also do not get bored as easily as in the past. Its great. I like learning, and this career has the option for that in spades. Heck, spent the morning learning some COBOL for the first time.
I’d like to give my piece:
I have loved programming since I was 13. I am good at it and thriving professionally.
But what if our field changes dramatically. Would I still be a programmer for 1/4 of the pay I have today doing more work ?
It’s a demanding job. And doing it in a corporate system is also very demanding. I would consider switching my career if I have the opportunity to have a better well being/wlb ratio.
Keep programming as my hobby.