Excellent. This is what I wish I could have said in response to that other article, but couldn't find the words for.
This post is exactly right -- and I've seen a few newly-hired programmers in their first job out of college who had a very difficult time adjusting to the "real world", where programming isn't about fun and games and self-fulfillment any more, it's about creating real-world value.
There's nothing unique to programming in this -- journalists discover they can't write about whatever they want, scientists have to follow the funding, etc.
However, I do wonder if programmers, on average, might have particularly inflated expectations of what their jobs will be like? Just like the original blog post expressed. And what makes this so?
This post is exactly right -- and I've seen a few newly-hired programmers in their first job out of college who had a very difficult time adjusting to the "real world", where programming isn't about fun and games and self-fulfillment any more, it's about creating real-world value.
There's nothing unique to programming in this -- journalists discover they can't write about whatever they want, scientists have to follow the funding, etc.
However, I do wonder if programmers, on average, might have particularly inflated expectations of what their jobs will be like? Just like the original blog post expressed. And what makes this so?