Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

Re:Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer by ashark on Tuesday May 05, 2015 @10:30AM (#9492653)

I'd be a lot happier as a programmer if I could do it only about 20 weeks a year. Hell, I'd probably gladly work 60+ hour weeks then. 40 hours week after week and I slowly grow to hate it. If only programming work were seasonal. 1/3 of my work weeks programming, 1/3 studying, practicing music, and doing non-programming creative work, 1/3 physical labor and building things with my hands. That'd be my perfect life, I think.

Not sure how to make that work while providing for my family, though, since working 1/3 a year at a professional job isn't usually an option and, even if it were, I'd be passing up a lot of money.

Oh well, can't have everything. Hurray for comparative advantage, I guess? Back to coding....

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Re:Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer by blt on Tuesday May 05, 2015 @11:23AM (#9492982)

I'm continually in search of a job where I can split my time between programming and building stuff. I already had my dream job. I was writing control and data processing software for lab instruments, but also doing mechanical design, making parts in a machine shop, assembling electronics. Then my grant ran out, and I wasn't getting paid much either. Still think my dream job would be building boutique one-off scientific instruments.

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Re:Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer by HeyLaughingBoy on Tuesday May 05, 2015 @03:14PM (#9494330)

You and me both, sunshine!

Occasionally I get to do all that stuff above, outside the day job, and I love it. Trying to turn it into a real business but slow in getting there.

And I already live on a farm...

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Re:Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer by JDiculous on Wednesday May 06, 2015 @12:33AM (#9496607)

I agree with this 100%. I wish it was more acceptable to take a hiatus from a traditional full-time job. I would love to take 3+ months off this summer to travel around the world since I've never gotten a chance to, but there's no way my company would allow that. Therefore the only way for me to take 3+ consecutive months off would be to quit.

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