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by hsn915 1701 days ago
Programmers who escape programming are sort of yearning for the physical labor and physical effort and physical tirdeness that comes with it. We're kind of designed for that sort of work.

People who enjoy programming and long stretches of mental exercise are rare, and have been rare throughout history.
2 comments
jcun4128 1700 days ago
Random thought: I escaped restaurant/factory work and got into tech and man I hated those days. Standing there cutting an endless river of chicken in the factory light... I felt like I was going to go insane. Now it's like I'm working till 9PM not something to be proud of but it's less trading hours of life for money, it still is but feels less so. At the end of the day I am fortunate I have personal interests like robotics that I can get into because it's cool.

I didn't get into tech by a boot camp or something I was originally in phys/eng but picked up building LAMP websites on the side. Took me like 3-5 years before I actually made money from writing code.

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lindseymysse 1700 days ago
I came from janitorial work and temping. I am forever grateful for what programming has given me -- especially these days, where I make enough to live on and get to work on meaningful projects.

An aside, but I am truly concerned that our path from working to professional class via tech work is closing up behind us.

I think the key is the understanding that programmers are are properly paid for their work, and now we need to make sure teachers, janitors and garbage men and the like get to have good, stable lives. And yes, I think janitors and garbage men should make as much as programmers.

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jcun4128 1700 days ago
> I think janitors and garbage men should make as much as programmers.

Yeah I'm not sure about that, although I heard like in NYC some garbage men make close to $100K.

I still believe in proportional compensation based on effort eg. a doctor otherwise why try.

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metagame 1700 days ago
Painting is almost exclusively mental, and requires just as long or longer stretches of mental exercise.
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hsn915 1700 days ago
From the context of the other comments I assumed something like painting walls (buildings), not "art".
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