Louis Salin's Blog - All Comments

re: I don't just code

Natook — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:49:39 GMT

Oh, how wonderful this was to read!

I keep beating myself up because I don't code in my spare time. Because I thought that I should and that every great developer does it.

It's nice to see that there is someone else out there who isn't coding at every awake moment of the day.

Thank you!

re: I don't just code

G D Mlner — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:44:21 GMT

Read a good novel or history book. Front to back. That's what I do when I am feeling burned out from coding.

I used to read 30 - 40 non-tech books a year. Now I am lucky to get in 2 or 3.

Or go hiking for a week. Camp out. Surely this is a sign of too much screen time.

Cheers.

re: I don't just code

Tim Tyrrell — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:34:21 GMT

Louis,

I hear you and I am the same way. After kid/wife time there is not much left in the tank to put the learning into action. Very honest post but you are not alone, if anything, you and I are the norm.

re: I don't just code

mendicant — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:17:58 GMT

I feel the exact same way Louis. I keep thinking I want to stay up late... write some cool code... but it's hard. I've got a family too, and I can't just take myself away from them in order to do something 'fun'. That, and I start on something and two weeks later I lose interest (usually after finding out that I really don't care for how much time it's taking).

I already have a business that I have to write code for after hours too (though not every day). So having work, second work and then even more coding? No thanks. I'll spend some time with the kids, play on a slow pitch team, play some xbox... whatever. Cause in the end, coding all day and all night just burns me out and makes me worse at my day job.

re: I don't just code

Louis Salin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:50:30 GMT

Wow, thanks for the great comments! Derick, I think you know me too well. Ninja assassins are on the way. I am collecting recipes and fine tuning them with the intention of publishing a niche cookbook.

Michael, this balance is truly important indeed! We'll see where that takes me.

Steve, I love the idea of craftsmanship. This is partly why I want to focus on what I know already, to develop this craftsmanship.

Eddy, I love photography! I think I'll stick with cooking though, but I'll have to take pictures of what I cook, which will require a light box. Fun times ahead.

Mihai, thanks. I'll try that.

Frank, I'm not going to stop blogging. I still code for a living, and I'm still learning everyday. :)

Aaron, yeah, I do tend to ramble. I'd like to be the next big star coder, obviously. But it seems that people get there by being themselves, like you said. Thanks for reading!

re: I don't just code

Aaron — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:35:32 GMT

I read your post and want to say thanks!

I'm a similar person in that I can't spend all my time coding or I get burnt out, and feel as if I'm not doing enough if I'm not spending all my time coding. I thought your post went from being a rambling to being a powerful message to people like me with the beginning of your last paragraph. "I suppose the journey is what's important. " is something I know I need to hear more often and remind myself of every day, I don't have to be the next Hanselman. I have to remember to just be myself, try my best, and enjoy the journey along the way! Thanks for the post and reminding us all that life is a journey, and it's our own personally journey, so make it enjoyable and have fun!

I hope you find that happy medium and enjoy your journey, where ever it may take you!

Thanks for the reminder!

re: I don't just code

Frank Quednau — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:41:33 GMT

All nice and well, but there's a tendency to describe blogging as a frikkin' fashion. Not the first time I see that. Well, I am saddened to hear people think like that, as blogs are *one of my most important information sources on the web*. If passionate guys like you stop blogging, the internet would be only half-worth it. Do people think twitter can replace that void? No, it cannot. twitter is a shattered mirror, pieces of you being reflected all over, until you lose where all originated from. It's humanity desperately trying to multi-thread. Take a break, write a blog post. Blogging can be *original content*. It's authoring! People wrote all the time. Who is trying to tell me that authoring is a fashion? Stop being afraid of the fashion police!

Sorry, you just stroke a chord with me. Take care and have a good time with your family.

re: I don't just code

Mihai Lazar — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:47:55 GMT

As others have already pointed out you got burned. The best thing for you would be to stop checking everything out, if you want to learn something learn it, but know it's going to take energy and time. Sometimes it takes more time than you ever imagined.

If it's not satisfying than just stop. There's nothing magical about programming, it all depends on the experience you have in order to write something that is useful.

Programming to save the world is not our concern. Most of us dream about building the oh so cool next gen framework, but that won't happen over night.

You seem to be like a child in the candy store, you got so addicted to trying out all of what the store has to offer that you forgot the reason you started.

Just try and find somebody that really needs an application, make him the most simple show a form, read some values, store those to the database. Apply abstractions afterwards, and remember :" There is nothing that can't be solved by using a different abstraction, except when you have too many abstractions". Writing the perfect code doesn't exist, there is just the best I know how at this moment.

Just write code, simple code, try to get back into the vibe.

re: I don't just code

derick.bailey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:54:03 GMT

I hear tale that you're quite the chef... ever considered cooking for fun and as a way to get your mind off code? maybe take some cooking classes? or write a cookbook? or ... so many different things you could do with that skill.

re: I don't just code

Eddy Young — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:39:46 GMT

Photography.

Photography is what makes me not think of code before and after I start work.

re: I don't just code

Steve — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:30:06 GMT

It's easy to burnout in this profession.

For me lately it's more about 'how' vs 'what'

It doesn't matter if it's lisp or peel it's the craftsmanship around what I build.

Your better off to just take care of yourself, chasing down techologies is futile in the end but the patterns last longer.

re: I don't just code

Michael Foltz — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:01:43 GMT

Good to hear that you're considering some flesh time as an alternative to another development project to give you a sense of meaning. I had an existential dilemma with my life that was too heavily centered around programming a while back.

My initial decision was to move somewhere to Europe and seek out some adventure. I ended up opening a hostel with a friend of mine (who was also a programmer). Doing something physical, something that made you break a sweat, something that you could walk into and look around, something that would draw people in...turned out to be immensely satisfying in a way that I would have never imagined.

Eventually, the economy drug us down and we had to close up shop. I've since returned home, where I continue to program for a living. But I enjoy it more, and I've discovered the balance between the creative pleasure of programming and the physical pleasure of being human (in the biological and social sense).

The next big thing will come along when you least expect it, and it will be so compelling that you'll have no doubt about what you need to do with your life. It will come when its ready to, and no amount of obsession or impatience will bring it to your doorstep a day sooner. In the meantime, just keep the faith, and enjoy what you have today (your family, your health, your friends, etc.)

re: I don't just code

Artem — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:03:05 GMT

Both IronScheme and IronLisp are on Codeplex already :)

www.codeplex.com/.../search

re: Gtk# for .Net developers

Joy — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:25:22 GMT

Great! The articles so far have been full of great material. Glad to hear the serious will continue. Keep 'em coming!

re: Querying Rally with ruby

Enrique Sanchez — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:24:18 GMT

Mmm what was the change on the String class? i mean the underscorize part?