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Programming Can Ruin Your Life: A Fantastic Blog Essay on the Mind of a Coder
Armando:
I'm now thinking that we'd be better off if more of them were programmers. :o
-CWuestefeld (September 14, 2007, 08:39 PM)
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;D If all of us were programmers, It wouldn't be too lively out there. And hospitals would be even more filled with patients with coronary diseases, diabetes, back problems, etc. ;)
Lashiec:
I should make a quick note about this essay. The relationship of a person with its job varies from person to person, but you can classify people in two groups: those who work for a living, and those who live to work. The essay is directed at the latter, as most people, even programmers, don't go nuts like the article is saying. I would go even further and say this is specific for the hacker community, not the modern hacker, but those ones in the 70s who spent tons of hours in antediluvian computers tweaking up to the most specific detail (and designing terrible GUIs :D), as I detected some ideas that seem to be recurrent in Eric S. Raymond written work (that is, I read some of the things mentioned in the essay in another place ;)).
That's all. Oh, it seems I'm a ENFJ, although that test was quite of short sighted for me, as all the answers were either black or white, no middle point, so I cheated (sort of) in some of them :D
One more thing (oh man, I'm quoting Steve Jobs). As app says, obsession with perfection is not necessarily related with programming. I'm quite picky about how to do things this or the other way, my room is neatly arranged and if someone moves something I'll go mad (well, almost)... but my medium brother or my mother are even worse (particularly the former, it's almost sickening), I'm a bit in the middle point between my parents stance about perfection. Also, lots of programmers are known for their careless attitude to perfection outside code.
EDIT: Rephrasing and some clarifications
nudone:
Armando, thanks for reminding me about Csikszentmihalyi. i read 'flow' many years ago and i found it to be one of those defining books that can provide a paradigm shift with how you view the world. unfortunately i can't remember much about it as it was passed on to someone else straight after reading it - who then passed it on again, etc.
reading the bits you've quoted makes me realise i must have forgotten almost everything that was said. i was also working in an absolutely soul destroying job at the time so i think i found the idea of 'flow' a bit too much of a luxury that wasn't attainable for the majority. i probably just missunderstood the argument at the time as i tend to believe in 'flow' nowadays.
Armando:
Armando, thanks for reminding me about Csikszentmihalyi. -nudone (September 15, 2007, 04:01 PM)
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You're welcome.
i read 'flow' many years ago and i found it to be one of those defining books that can provide a paradigm shift with how you view the world. unfortunately i can't remember much about it as it was passed on to someone else straight after reading it - who then passed it on again, etc. reading the bits you've quoted makes me realise i must have forgotten almost everything that was said. i was also working in an absolutely soul destroying job at the time so i think i found the idea of 'flow' a bit too much of a luxury that wasn't attainable for the majority. i probably just missunderstood the argument at the time as i tend to believe in 'flow' nowadays.
-nudone (September 15, 2007, 04:01 PM)
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It is a great book if you can distill and transform into actions some if the enunciated principles. (Actually, the posted excerpts are from "Finding Flow", a condensed and more recent version of Flow, the original work. I do have both books here and Finding Flow is more accessible; its structure is clearer.)
M.C. is sometimes a bit overrated (and some flaws in his experiments have been pointed out since Flow was first edited -- Allen Parducci, for instance, raises some questions about Experience Sampling Method, or ESM, which M.C. developed at the University of Chicago in the early 70s for gathering data): from M.C.s perspective, Flow (and happiness) seem to be only a matter of following certain fairly simple principles. I generally find his ideas interesting and fascinating (and often immensely inspiring), but, again, he tends to dismiss some important facts...
BTW, there are some good summaries of the Flow theory on the net. One is by M.C. himself, it seems (or maybe not...) : http://web.ionsys.com/~remedy/FLOW%20%20.htm
It is not the whole thing, but better than... nothing!
Armando:
The relationship of a person with its job varies from person to person, but you can classify people in two groups: those who work for a living, and those who live to work. -Lashiec (September 15, 2007, 12:44 PM)
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True to a certain extent... But IMO this distinction flattens a bit too much the complexity of the interrelated factors which can lead to these 2 seemingly diametrically opposed attitudes. Some “obsessed workers” aren't even living to work per se, but are just addicted to any activities which would allow them to avoid certain uncomfortable aspects of their existence they should probably face to sustain personal growth in other weak lines of development (sexual, emotional, intellectual, etc.) -- it should also probably be noted that identification with work is more common in males (yes, studies say). The same reasoning can be applied to the other category : many are satisfied (or have to be satisfied…) with the minimum of "working for a living", for avoidance reasons, lack of awareness of themselves, or for very unhealthy contextual causes…
That's all. Oh, it seems I'm a ENFJ, although that test was quite of short sighted for me, as all the answers were either black or white, no middle point, so I cheated (sort of) in some of them :D
One more thing (oh man, I'm quoting Steve Jobs). As app says, obsession with perfection is not necessarily related with programming. I'm quite picky about how to do things this or the other way, my room is neatly arranged and if someone moves something I'll go mad (well, almost)... but my medium brother or my mother are even worse (particularly the former, it's almost sickening), I'm a bit in the middle point between my parents stance about perfection. Also, lots of programmers are known for their careless attitude to perfection outside code.
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Some Myers Briggs tests are just not accurate enough. So it’s better to 1) do the tests (and the real ones) 2) and also read ALL the descriptions to see if other personality types descriptions fit better. It's fun stuff. :) A bit like an astrological system for nerds...
Uncontrolled obsession with perfection is just a bad disease. Believe me...
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