how many ex programmers are on ET
- Thread starter oil_trader
- Start date
Ditto... that is so true... writing software for others is like pulling teeth... like doing the backstroke thru mollasses.. or like walking thru a mud swamp (the digusting inability of the business you are working with to properly articulate their idea / vison)...
<font size = 5>AS IN<font color = red> SPECS PLEAAASSEESSEE !</font size></font color>
But building professional grade subscription software to sell can be fun if you do the upFront design properly...
coding and modeling is fun because you are paid to figure out 3D crossword puzzles...
Trading can be fun or harrowing since you are paid or not paid to figure out 7D Chess puzzles while walking a tightrope and singing the blues...
cj...
_________________
HAVE STOP - WILL TRADE
If You Have The Vision We Have The Code
I'm a burned out coder, trying to trade part-time in the mornings, outside work. I can program anything just can't get consistent. I am a good discretionary trader. But I don't think the part-time, trade a few hours here and there thing is viable long-term. I think you have to go at it 100%. Trade the entire session every day. At least starting out. I keep looking at automated solutions, but deep down I think a voice is telling me, that discretion will be my method. I wish I could quantify what I see with my gut
No, I got there pretty late. 2000-2003. No real way to make money.
For most tech workers, options are usually worthless. Unless you really think the product is going to change the world, you generally should opt for a higher salary as opposed to options.
The other thing about tech companies: They give you dates at which the options vest. Those dates are far out, usually 1-2 years out. They can lay you off before the options vest, and you lose.
I hate the tech industry. It's just a form of suicide.
My last job was outsourced. I managed to find another one. However I am totally burned out. Tech industry is basically f**ked up except for a few like GOOG or EBAY.
Yeah, pretty much.
I was a bright-eyed guy who loved to code. I was a machine, cranking out 6-7 thousand lines of code a day, 16 hours a day. It's all I cared about.
Then, I lost it all when I worked at Intel. First things first -- Intel is not a bad place to work. But, there was one incident that changed my mind about software writing forever --
There was some guy there who gave some asstastic job. They basically lied to me about the job description, and I got some really crappy job. I asked him if I could maybe change it up a little and do something related to what I originally wanted to go there for in the first place. That asshole wrote me up and threatened to fire me unless I did what they asked. So I did what they asked, though I did it pretty sloppily and slowly.
I stopped doing work altogether, except for the bare minimum. I used to do less and less work and just stopped caring. I showed up to work late and left work early. I figured I'd collect paychecks until I got fired. The thing was, ... even though I was working less, my employee review scores were going up. When I realized that I didn't have to do any work or had to do very little work to be seen favorably by management, I pretty much just stopped caring altogether.
Basically, the way to succeed in corporate America is like this:
- Smile a lot
- Never contradict anyone
You will shine in corporate America then. As soon as you open your mouth about anything, you're dead. Shutting your mouth is an extremely tall order for someone who gets obsessed with a project and spends 16 hours a day on it.
But, here's why tech is a joke:
- It's hard to find a company and a project you believe in
- If you do find a product you believe in, your input doesn't really matter as much as management's. This is really tough to swallow for an obsessive coder.
So, really, it all boils down to this: Writing software for other people is just not fun. Or, at least, I don't have the personality for it.
Some people are not born traders. Some people are not born corporate programmers.