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Stop writing code.

8 points by hncoder ↗ HN
Stop writing code. Know how to write code. Be good at it. Be very good at it. But don't do it for long. Or else your growth will be stalled. You'll be just a resource. Unless you're Walter Bright or Andrei Alexandrescu and lets face it, most of us are not them or cannot become like them. Most of us are just making minor enhancements, copy-pasting or running behind new languages/frameworks in an attempt to look cool.

8 comments

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angersock
To quote Eisenhower:

"Nuts."

Most of us are just making minor enhancements, copy-pasting or running behind new languages/frameworks in an attempt to look cool.

Speak for yourself--and how do you expect to get good, I mean really good, at coding if you don't play around with silly things and minor modifications?

gtmtg
I don't think that there's anything wrong with writing code itself, but perhaps apply it in a different context, e.g. robotics or computer vision, to actually make a contribution.
wturner
I code as a catalyst to be creative in a technical enclave where I constantly learn new things people are willing to pay for.

I am sorry but I will not stop this. At least not at the moment. I don't think any of this is cool. This activity is my personal escape from "fluff" while still being able to subsist in a society driven by it.

cpayne624
I sympathize and get it. As a Fed developer I feel your frustration, trust me. I love coding, though. Wouldn't want to do anything else. After all the meetings and strategizing, levels of management and Scrums, nothing matters w/out capable devs pushing code. I think the key is finding a group to work with that acknowledges and appreciates your value.