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Ask HN: How many hours have you spent programming?

4 points by godarderik ↗ HN
I just got done reading about the 10,000 hour rule in "Outliers", and I thought it would be interesting to find out how much time people on here have spent programming. Try to also include your skill level and what age you started programming.

10 comments

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antoarts
What if I have no idea for how many hours I have been programming in total?
sidmitra
The problem really is that no one really measures the amount of time spent unless he has to.

I only track time now because i have to bill them to clients, and it seems i have tracked approx 2500+ hours from December 2009, which is when i started freelancing.

And i've probably been programming since college, but really minor stuff not much beyond the curriculum. But i've always played around with new technologies, even if it was just hello world in different dialects.

bartonfink
I've probably spent around 7,000 hours programming in total. I'm a fairly strong developer by most accounts, but I'm no Bill Joy or John Carmack.

I started programming when I was around 10 or so (my dad was in college for CS at the time and I "helped" with his assignments), but didn't keep it up and stopped until college.

tnip
I have absolutely no clue as to how much time I've spent programming. I've been programming for about five to six years now, and in a month I'll be a sophomore in college. I don't really know what my skill level is either - for me, I just like learning new concepts. Take what I know and use that to learn more while refining what I know in the process.
ericHosick
I've been programming for about 17 years as a software engineer (full on programming almost every day) and last 10 years part time (as I fill a lot of other roles now). So, about 27 years total. I am guessing at least 20,000 hours at the computer.
godarderik
How much of that time was spent actually programming? Would say doing other (related) things such as reading HN have had a large impact on your programming ability?
ericHosick
That is actual programming and engineering.

HN has had little impact on my approaches to software development. HN has helped greatly in my understanding of the startup process which is why I frequent this place.

chrisbennet
If I had to guess, 45,000? I've been a pure developer for 25 years with a maybe a couple years off in between contracts when I just worked on my own projects. When I code for myself, I only code around 5 hours a day. -Chris
belial
I have spent almost 9640 hours programming...

I started programming when I was in school... But I have been involved in professional programming (working in a firm) for 3 years now... I'm between Intermediate and Senior level... And calculating the time I've spent programming in the firm (only) it would be almost equal to 9640 hours!! :D

hacker007
Let's see..I started my current job in Jan. 2010 and I have worked around 3000 hours so far just for my full time job. For my start-up which I started in May 2011, I probably spend another 500 hours.

I started programming since I started college in 1999. I am guessing around 17,500 hours.