Programming Passion Debate

No. Not about programming, anyway.I was passionate about programming when I didn't do it 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week, most weeks of the year. It was a fun, new thing and I could spend my free time on it. Now, I spend most of the day on it and want to do something else when I clock out. Also, I already have some trainings on the job and anyway we're always trying something new so I already learn technical stuff anyway.A couple of times a year I have some non work-related probl

I've noticed those kinds of posts. I mean, actual work can be hard, and work situations can vary a lot depending on the work environment, but, at least in my case, that's completely different to "programming". I wish I had more time for "programming"... I enjoy it a lot, I've always enjoyed it, you can do so many interesting things in a creative kind of way. So many different complex things to understand... If I didn't have to work, I'd have a lot of

Programming does feel like work when it's my work. But if I stop doing it, I miss it too much.

It sounds like you enjoy programming, and have managed to get a job doing it professionally. Maybe just try to enjoy it? You might not be the world's best programmer but why does that matter?

I rarely see programming as a chore. It’s a creative process that engages me in the most challenging and enjoyable ways.Not sure whether my experience is common…. But maybe if someone feels like programming is a chore most of the time it’s a strong signal that they need to change the job and/or profession?

"I wouldn't want to go home and do what I do at work, but I love programming things that I choose to program."This statement here is what has kept me a good distance away from developer positions. I love to come up with programs, study them generally, and even /potentially/ develop a new branch of mathematics with which to frame my ideas BUT I can't bring myself to write code for cash (unless the program is something I came up with personally and just happens to

I disagree.Personally what I like is solving business problems and delivering excellent solutions to happy customers. Coding is a means to an end for me. I originally learned to code as a teenager in order to build websites in an attempt to make money from them (with some success here and there). It wasn't because coding itself was particularly intriguing or fun, but it was a pathway to building a product that could generate income. I didn't hate it either, I found/find it some

Programming is supposed to be enjoyable. If you're not enjoying it, why are you doing it? If you are enjoying it, then what is the problem? There's people who dedicated their entire lives to Mathematics, for example. They did it because they had a passion for it. The absolutely extreme case is obviously Erdos. If you don't have a passion for programming, stop damaging yourself… If you have a passion for programming, then you're lucky, and you should let the entire world know that you do.

Don’t beat yourself up, there’s this weird belief in the programming world that to be good you have to have a deep passion for it, and want to spend every waking moment writing software and loving it. I can’t think of many careers that have that sort of pathology. You don’t hear about accountants doing books to unwind after a hard day at work, or removal men loading boxes into a truck as a hobby.I think a lot of it comes from the fact a large proportion of us kind of fell into programming as

I disagree with this, from the perspective of someone who really just loves the constant learning and puzzle-solving aspects of programming. I've been doing it for over 30 years and I feel incredibly lucky to have people throw heaps of money at me to do what I enjoy, plus I still work on side project code a few times a week minimum. I even procrastinate programming tasks I don't want to do with programming tasks I do want to do. It's pretty amazing.