Is programming culture getting a little irritating?

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Right there with ya buddy.

I am a coder specifically because it pays like nothing else will with the skills I have. I would love for my work to have impact, and the work I’m doing right now has the most impact out of anything I’ve ever done, but it’s not like anyone is shouting my name from the rooftops or anything.

Coders are basically janitors most of the time. They deal with the complexity that no one else can be bothered to. I think a lot of them get tired that they have to support people that are clearly not as smart as them, but provide more value to the enterprise. There are a lot of frustrated egos in this field.

I have no illusions as to the “value” of coding to society. There’s lots of science being done that is focused on computers that is way valuable. But coding by itself can only ever be a part of a successful enterprise. If you’re a serious mathematician and you’ve worked out a new complexity class of algorithms, congratulations, you’ve accomplished more in your career than I might ever do in mine.

But 99.9% of people who describe themselves as programmers will never achieve that level of impact.

My work for CNN is useful to the people that actually make the decisions there, and I’m a valued member of the team, but it’s not like they can’t get along without me. The real work is done by the video producers, the people actually making the videos that go on the website I maintain.

Would I trade my life for the life of a Great Big Story video producer? You bet your sweet little butt I would! Those guys have great jobs. Maybe they’re not getting paid as well as me. (maybe they are, I never asked about that) But they get to take company-paid-for trips all over the world and spend days getting to know some weird little aspect of the world that no one would ever see if it weren’t for them.

Coding is fun, and lucrative, but at the end of the day, your job is a machine. Something I like to tell coders who want to go into business is, only people have money. Machines can’t give it to you.