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The pros and cons of programming as a career
I’m self taught coder. It is the best way I have found to make money and it interests me. I like computers and I’ve always had a talent for doing things with them. Here I detail some of the pros and cons of making a living from coding, programming, web / app development and related sectors.
Pros:
- Money
- Space to think
- Creative space over how you achieve things
- Programming is a useful skill to know as it can earn you money but it can also be helpful to be able to understand gadgets and machines that can be programmed
- Participate in an emerging technology
- Intellectual challenge
- Get to meet intelligent people
Cons:
- Screentime
- Still a very poor wider understanding of what programmers do by rest of society (and the scope of the work behind the scenes).
- Too male dominated
- Usually office based and not physically active
- Nascent technology means it is continuously developing
- Niche technologies means its possible to get pigeon-holed by technology
- Legacy systems
- Time-consuming
- Gap between ‘ideas’ and technical barriers to delivery
- Technical debt - Legacy or poorly designed systems that have to be worked with
- Often stuck in the same office
- Doesn’t involve a lot of travel
Conclusion
Douglas Adams once said that each era has its new technology and if you can make a living from it then good for you.