Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!pasteur!ames!oliveb!apple!claris!wombat
From: wombat@claris.com (Scott Lindsey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Is it worth it?
Message-ID: <9039@claris.com>
Date: 8 Mar 89 23:34:36 GMT
References: <8903080648.aa02724@SMOKE.BRL.MIL>
Organization: Claris Corporation, Mountain View CA
Lines: 44

From article <8903080648.aa02724@SMOKE.BRL.MIL>, by PGOETZ@LOYVAX.BITNET:


>         Do you think the computer takes more than it gives?  That is, after
> years of dedication, was it worth it?  Does the understanding, accomplishment,
> peer approval, job skills, money, etc., outweigh the frustration, lost
> time, unrewarded effort on unused programs, rejections by publishers, nerd
> image, lost social opportunities, alienation from the computer ignorant, etc?
>         This entails discussion of what you would consider success in
> programming, i.e. distributing a program under a major label, having a monthly
> column in a major magazine, being a nationally respected programmer / computer
> scientist, making more than $50,000 a year, whatever.

Many programmers, especially those who would continue to consider themselves
hackers in these days of misbegotten vocabulary (hacker == criminal), are
unconcerned with "success" as a programmer except as it relates to day to day
survival.  They (we) do it as a job because it gives them something mentally
challenging to do.  And: they're amazed that they can get paid to play on the
computer.

>         I was lured into computer programming at least partly by the media's
> Horatio Alger presentation of programming.  Programming masters were bound to
> sell thousands of copies of their programs to grateful users if they just put
> in the effort, eventually founding their own companies and being interviewed
> in Softalk.  Well, it just ain't so.  After 11 years, I'm a bit disillusioned.
> Programming seems a harsh mistress who promises more than she delivers.
> Any opinions?  If you don't want to reply to the list, write directly.

I was "lured" into programming by the sheer multitudinity (you know!) of what
you can do with a computer.  It happens to coincide with the most rapidly
growing industry, and for that I'm grateful -- but not dependant.


Fill in the blank.

Programming is a(n) _______________________.



-- 
Scott Lindsey         | UUCP: {ames,apple,portal,sun,voder}!claris!wombat
Product Development   | Internet:  wombat@claris.com  |  AppleLink: LINDSEY1
Claris Corp.          | These are not the opinions of Claris, Apple,
(415) 960-4070        | StyleWare, the author, or anyone else living or dead.