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I ended up studying programming somewhat by accident. Leading up to university I had no real idea what I wanted to do. I loved computers and I had built a few desktop computers in my teens, but I couldn't see myself writing software.
I'd never done it before, so I didn't know what to expect, but I imagined it would be boring. Or that it would ruin my love for computers somehow.
But I couldn't imagine anything else I would do either.
I ended up following some friends into mechanical engineering. I had a passing interest in cars and mechanical "stuff" like robotics, engines, and so on. Again, I hadn't really done much in that space so I didn't know what to expect. But at the time I felt it made sense to give it a try.
I hated it. Or at least I hated how it was being taught at that university.
There were a couple of exceptions though: "Intro to computer science" was one. "Technical drawing with SolidWorks" was another. I loved those classes. Computer science in particular. I learnt to tell the computer what to do, and I LOVED it. I spent hours working on homework - for fun!
So at the end of the year I decided to switch to a computer science degree and never looked back.
That was over 10 years ago now. So do I still feel the same way? In a word, yes.
A lot has changed since, both in my own interests and skills as well the world as a whole. But my passion for computers hasn't changed. It's my safe space. Somewhere where I know what the rules are and everything follows logic and can be explained in some way.
Some colleagues have confessed that they have grown tired of solving the same problem over and over again, and are therefore moving toward a management kind of role. I get it. There is only so many ways to implement an API, right?
I struggle to explain it, but I still feel that joy from implementing something and seeing it work for the first time. Even if it's something I've built several times before. The trick for me is to keep experimenting. I've built a DB query before, but have I built one with this tool? Or that one?
That is why I find so much joy in my hobby projects. I can do whatever I want, however I want. I can experiment freely, make mistakes, make poor decisions, and learn from them. So I never really implement the same thing twice - Each time I face a problem I bring different experiences and create something unique. Not necessarily better, but different enough to keep it interesting.
I don't know if I'll be a developer forever, but I can't see myself doing anything I would enjoy more. My responsibilities have changed over the years - from (somewhat) blindly implementing features to taking ownership of large features and architectural decisions. I do enjoy that work too, just let me be the one who gets to do the fun work of implementing it!
See you tomorrow 👋