The computer industry

Alphathree33

Platinum Member
Dec 1, 2000
2,419
0
0
I'm sitting at the office right now on a Friday afternoon. I have a few little tidbits of work to do that are mindnumbingly boring -- updating whitepapers.

I thought this job as "Product Manager" would be more rewarding than my job as "Application Developer".

As it turns out, when you stare at a computer for eight hours a day, five days a week, it doesn't matter if you're writing lines of code or lines or English, it drains the life right out of you.

Over the past five years, I have undergone a tedious transformation:

I was a complete loner geek with no girlfriend who spent all of his time in front of a computer
Then I became a social geek with no girlfriend who spent most of his time in front of a computer
Then I became a social geek with a girlfriend who spent a lot of his time in front of a computer
Now I am a social geek who dates girls and has fun who spends only his working hours in front of a computer

I no longer strive to be a Google developer who players counterstrike all day.

I want to be someone who deals with living, breathing individuals. A politician, a reporter, a lawyer.

My hobbies have gone from computer games, magic: the gathering and math contests to dating, comedy, swing dancing, political campaigning and writing.

But no matter how much I change myself, I am still a computer engineer who works for a software company. I'm too far into my degree to start over, my resume too far bent in one direction to unbend it.

I am posting this only in the hope that it provokes thought among the geeks here who might believe there is more to life... believe me when I say there is. But it's hard to get there... it doesn't happen over night... and you can paint yourself into a corner if you're not careful.

You can be a geek, know what it means to recompile your linux kernel and love a good episode of star trek while also still being HUMAN.

Remember, there was life before the computer. We evolved without the computer, we were built without the computer in mind.
 

Nocturnal

Lifer
Jan 8, 2002
18,927
0
76
I envy you and I'd trade my right testicle to be in your position, and thats the truth. Or even to just have your brain, to be able to understand and comprehend programming with just by reading a simple book.
 

Rallispec

Lifer
Jul 26, 2001
12,375
10
81
i've foudn that working in the computer industry makes me avoid computers more and more when i'm not at work.

i haven't even turned on my personal computer at home in weeks.


 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
62,947
19,190
136
Originally posted by: Rallispec
i've foudn that working in the computer industry makes me avoid computers more and more when i'm not at work.

i haven't even turned on my personal computer at home in weeks.

I've been working in IT for five years now, and I'm still on my PC at home a fair bit. I have ceased any programming in my spare time, though, unless it's to help out a friend. My Dink Smallwood mod shall never be finished, I fear :(
 
Aug 25, 2004
11,151
1
81
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Originally posted by: Rallispec
i've foudn that working in the computer industry makes me avoid computers more and more when i'm not at work.

i haven't even turned on my personal computer at home in weeks.

I've been working in IT for five years now, and I'm still on my PC at home a fair bit. I have ceased any programming in my spare time, though, unless it's to help out a friend. My Dink Smallwood mod shall never be finished, I fear :(

OMG i loved that game!!!!