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Do you enjoy programming outside of work?
I have found this to be a semi controversial topic. Its almost becoming a required point for getting a new job to have open source work that you can show. Some people just enjoy working on programming side projects and others don't want to do any more after they leave the office.
Whats your opinion on this? Do you work on any side projects? Do you think its reasonable for interviewers to look for open source work when hiring?
What those people need to realise is that programming as a hobby does not equal having a rich GitHub page. And vice-versa. I love programming and I explore new languages and topics constantly. In a private BitBucket repo. On the other hand, if I was a trickster who just really wants those sweet coderbux, it wouldn't take me too much to fill my GH with effectively stolen code.
Personally I have one open source project that I have been working on for a while now, It was probably the main thing that got me my last job and I quite enjoy working on it. I use it as a sort of tech playground to try out all the shiny new things that were rated as too risky to use on our app at work so I mess around with them at home and bring back a summary of how it went. One thing I like is I don't feel any pressure to get things done on my side project, some days I feel ultra productive and spend an extra hour at home programming and some days I just want to play games so it works out for me.
One thing thats a little bit unique for tech is you can practice programming and prove your skills to an employer without having worked in programming before. Everything you need can be done at home and then you can publish it online and put a link in your resume which helps you get started on your first job.
I really like programming outside of work. When I'm working on hobby projects, it doesn't feel like work. It feels more like I'm on vacation, or playing a game. It's hard to explain. I guess I just like programming.
I think it's good for interviewers to check a programmer's portfolio. It's the same for artists. It's easier to hire a concept artist or an illustrator once you see what they can do from their previous works.
Yes, I love it and it is very important to me to be able to do that. I've worked on many hobby projects over the years, but my main passion project is a virtual snail simulation. In fact I'm sitting on my couch working on it right now.
Did you want to share a link to your snail simulator?
It isn't really "out", but I have a link to the repository (https://gitlab.com/drakonka/gosnaillife/) and to a dev log (http://liza.io/categories/snails/)
That looks like you have put an incredible amount of work in to that. You should really add a readme to show off what it does or will do.
Thank you, I will do that. I have a short "SnailLife" section on my blog linked above but I should really formulate a more detailed and current readme in the repository.
I don't.
It feels too much like I'm coming home to do my job, but for longer, even if I'm working on something I want to work on. And I do 50 to 60 hour weeks, so I'm coming home exhausted most days. (I'm fine with the hours, but the amount of mental capacity to energetically pursue side projects is poor.) My job today feels like I'm putting everything on the table, and coming home spent so I don't want to pick up an IDE, I just want to sit down with a good book.
I'm actually in the middle of seeking another job that will leave me less mentally spent throughout the day, so I can come home and program and work on fun side projects as a hobby. Because, one day, I'd also like to build these side projects into my job. I'm hoping that I will be successful in redirecting my career to something something that plays to my strengths more—I'm not an excellent programmer—but will leave my days with less stress and mental exhaustion.
Specifically, I'm wanting to move to an analyst position—I'm spending a lot of time studying stats on the side to prep for the career jump too. Data Analysis is something I've had to do at my present job a bunch and I've never hated it, so I'm thinking I'll do well in a jump into a product-focused data analyst position, rather than as software engineer that constantly ships production code.
I do program outside of work however most of mine has been small scripts to solve specific problems or add to my Conky setup. Recently I've started working on a larger project with the goal of generating some additional income though I do find it difficult to stay motivated after a full day of coding at work.
From an employer's perspective I can understand them wanting to see what I've accomplished, however I don't think it necessarily needs to be open source to do that. The projects I work on for my current employer are owned by them; I wouldn't be able to show much of that work in my portfolio. Rather than requiring open source I would think that simply being able to show the source along with any collaboration should be enough.
Nope. You'd have to threaten to pull teeth to get me to code once I'm clocked out. Tildes came really close to getting me to want to, but after about 45 minutes trying to get the dev environment working with Vagrant I gave up. Realistically I wouldn't have contributed much if ever because I don't like coding once I'm done with work. I'd rather watch movies/tv, go to the gym, cook dinner, play video games, etc. I would rather try to find a new hobby or hang out with people than spend time where I am not required to code, thinking about coding.
When I had no job I loved to program at home, but now that I program at work, not so much (I have enough of it). That said I do work on open source projects at work now (when nobody is looking).
Yes, I do, but I don't make "programs and applications" like I do at work. I do more scripting, tinkering, and hacking existing software. I rarely have an end-goal, and it's more for experimentation and learning, playing with new languages, and just wasting time
Nope. But I don't enjoy programming at all. Never had the brain for it. And I started back in the 70's.
It's like writer's block, but with coding.
Well - were I to look for an artist or a photographer, I would first look for their portfolio, and open source work/side projects are a portfolio of sort. Maybe artists are too different from programmers for the comparison to be a good one, but I don't think it's unreasonable for interviewers to look for it. I think it's unreasonable for interviewers to discard a candidate if they don't have one, though.
That said - and keeping in mind the fact that I do not have a job yet - I do enjoy programming and working on side projects, if only because what I work on is pretty much just tools that I use or that would make my life easier. That's why I got into programming, a long, long, long time ago - I can make the computer do stuff for me. I can even create mini-universes with it, and how cool is that?
I like programming, I'm self-taught. I used to want to work as a programmer, but I later decided to go with humanities research.
I have a couple open source projects, the most important being my collection of little Elisp programs. They've got a few users and some contributors. Apart from that, I have a static site generator which I'll be rewriting soon, and it is both a tool I use and a project intended to keep my programming knowledge fresh. I also contribute to open source every now and then, I have a few little patches to Emacs and related stuff.
My biggest programming / devops project is my config, dotfiles + emacs.d + /etc + programs I use, which provides me a reproducible (not as in reproducible builds) environment that fits my needs quite good. It includes many scripts and config files, and it is been going on since quite a few years.
Programming is quite a useful trait to have, especially in all sorts of research because you can code up little tools for yourself, or use it to help with your research directly like many STEM disciplines and also many humanities disciplines do. It can also be used to create art and games which are not only a job but an area of creative production so that's a thing that makes programming fun and useful out of a software developer job.
I like programming and have a few side projects. I think working on open source shouldn't be a requirement, especially since some companies will work you to death, but open source work should be used as an alternative to technical interviews where you implement arbitrary algorithms that won't actually be used at your job.
Kinda sorta?
I've started many projects but because of limited free time and how unevenly it comes I haven't been able to actually accomplish any of them. Most of the time when I return I find myself trying to solve problems I had already solved before and just forgot about it. One time I completely rewrote an entire class simply because I forgot I already wrote an implementation.
I program more outside of my job when I have one than at all when I don't. Not sure what that says about me.