Is programming as a job boring?

[namrog84]

Request a room with a window or more 'open' or look for another software related job in the area??

I think it'd be easier to paint a window with beatifull apple trees outside and a shinny sun and fix it in my cube 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5rlTrdF5Cs
Make a little town/view and put a smart window in front of it
Or get a cheap flat screen tv, add a camera, and program in a 'window' that adjusts the view depending where you are
Also they make 'ambient light lamps' that emit higher quality (color temperature closer to the sun) specifically designed for the 'dark closed off rooms' that some of us have to toil away in

http://www.amazon.com/Sunlight-Spectrum-Simulates-Daylight-Touch/dp/B003DRBOJ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357582104&sr=8-1&keywords=daylight+lamp

I've used this 2nd one before, its insanely bright, but it does emit a 'sun light' feel.
http://www.amazon.com/NatureBright-SunTouch-Plus-Light-Therapy/dp/B000W8Y7FY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1357582104&sr=8-2&keywords=daylight+lamp

[divxdede]

I read that a job is not boring if it's always fun.
But i will take my 10 years in the same company for providing my position on it:
  1. I love my job
  2. It's not always fun. It's a Job and even if the mains tasks maybe fun, you have responsabilities, dead-lines , and you must handles theses and it's not a fun time
  3. It's difficult... A job is not easy (i assume this as a true assertion in computer science at least )
  4. Some day i don't want to go to my job because i know it will be a hard day

But with all of theses statements, i continue to love my job even if there are boring period on it....

In a "freetime" developpement process, you are developping only when you want. in other words, only when it's fun for you.
It's very different with a Job, you must work even if it's not "your" day and even if you don't found it fun

[Cero]

Change is scary

I rearrange my furniture every 3 months or so. I love change =D

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Eli Delventhal]

Interesting I think I've had more positive experiences than most of you guys. I've worked professionally in games for... coming up on 5 years now. For the most part, I feel appreciated when I do good work, and not like a cog. That's not to say I haven't had issues. But when I felt I wasn't getting paid enough I asked for more, and they gave it. When it came time to leave for reasons related to organization and red tape, I was offered a substantial raise to keep me there.

In terms of getting bored, I definitely do, all the time. My last two jobs were very gamey and I had a lot of responsibility, but I got extremely frustrated with being more or less stuck in the "doer" role and having little say in the design. Really it can be very frustrating at typical game companies where 50% of the employees don't seem to directly contribute anything to the product, instead they plan things and do stuff that you aren't privilege to being told.

At my current company, there isn't any of that, but I'm not really doing much in the way of games anymore. And the games I do work on are pretty simple and are meant to train your brain, not necessarily to be fun. I have a big hand in design and people respect my opinion now, but now I'm bored with what I'm actually working on.

Can't have it all, I guess. I'm attempting to go full indie in the near future, we'll see what happens. That way I can at least get bored with myself, but if I don't do the work there is no meat getting on the table.

I think the ideal situation is to be Markus Persson.

[ra4king]

I currently work at a fast food restaurant, earning minimum wage. I envy all of you with programming jobs so you complainers better shut up.

[ReBirth]

I currently work at a fast food restaurant, earning minimum wage. I envy all of you with programming jobs so you complainers better shut up.

No! you to shut up! I am unemployed now! no wage at all!

[Riven]

I currently work at a fast food restaurant, earning minimum wage. I envy all of you with programming jobs so you complainers better shut up.

When you're all grown up in a few years (ahem) you will look back at this job and think it's not so bad...

Nothing is worse than seeing an incompetent manager, boss or co-worker ruin a project you're invested into. Then when it's falling apart, they blame you. The simple life in a fast food restaurant is not that bad. At certain points in my professional life I wished I had an office cleaning job - a lot less frustrations, I'd imagine.

[ReBirth]

Sometime you need to value a job not from the wage, but wage/stress ratio I agree with Riven, I don't mind simple job like that as long it leaves you enough energy for your own project at home/night.

[sproingie]

The simple life in a fast food restaurant is not that bad. At certain points in my professional life I wished I had an office cleaning job - a lot less frustrations, I'd imagine.

I wouldn't mind flipping burgers at my current pay ... as it is in the real world, I do prefer the money.

[theagentd]

I currently work at a fast food restaurant, earning minimum wage. I envy all of you with programming jobs so you complainers better shut up.

When you're all grown up in a few years (ahem) you will look back at this job and think it's not so bad...

I worked at a fast food restaurant during the summer break 4 years ago. I earned around $9 an hour since I was only 16 at the time. When I had 8 hour passes, I had an unpaid lunch break and the discount I got on food was the same as my student discount so I basically ate up an hour of work by simply having lunch. The manager had this way of talking to people like you were about to be fired any minute. All tasks were perfectly timed so if the ketchup ran out or anything unexpected at all happened, something got burnt and someone got angry. The people I worked with were people I felt like I had nothing in common with at all so we had nothing to talk about at all during lunch breaks.

The only good thing that came out of it was this computer and, well, the experience so I'd say it was worth it. At least it keeps me motivated to study since I know where I'll end up if I were to drop out.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[ra4king]

I currently work at a fast food restaurant, earning minimum wage. I envy all of you with programming jobs so you complainers better shut up.

When you're all grown up in a few years (ahem) you will look back at this job and think it's not so bad...

I worked at a fast food restaurant during the summer break 4 years ago. I earned around $9 an hour since I was only 16 at the time. When I had 8 hour passes, I had an unpaid lunch break and the discount I got on food was the same as my student discount so I basically ate up an hour of work by simply having lunch. The manager had this way of talking to people like you were about to be fired any minute. All tasks were perfectly timed so if the ketchup ran out or anything unexpected at all happened, something got burnt and someone got angry. The people I worked with were people I felt like I had nothing in common with at all so we had nothing to talk about at all during lunch breaks.

Are you secretly working with me? This is EXACTLY how it is at my job.....except I make $7.25 an hour

[divxdede]

One advantage to work on a complete different domain as the computer science is to keep your motivation up for your indies developpements.
When you dev  10 hours per day at work, you haven't always the motivation to continue at home

[pitbuller]

Free work times and I can do 20% of the time what ever I want. Rest of the time I "have" to develop cool games. Yeah this programming thingy is really "boring".

[teletubo]

I happen to work with 5-6 guys who were with me in the university, so we do have a lot of fun in the breaks (which we do quite often). It seems like we're still in university, but now we have money!
So I think a large part of not getting bored of a job is to have fun not only on what you're doing (programming) but also have a nice workplace. Having fun doing anything that you are paid to do is not easy, so I would focus on the second part.

Although I agree that it should be nice to change jobs in 2 or 3 years, I've been in this same job for the past 5 years. I really have no complains (of course I would be happier to make some more money, but that's a complain everybody will have at any time). I do have a lot of free time, at the point that let's say, 50% of my games I've written, I did it here (at work). [size=4pt] Hopefully nobody I know will read this[/size]

Anyway,you should never forget that you spend more time with your workmates than you do with your family, so it is crucial to get along with the people you spend most time with. If before lunchtime you're desperate to get home because you can't stand your workmates or your activities, it's definetely time to look for something else.

[Cero]

The simple life in a fast food restaurant is not that bad. At certain points in my professional life I wished I had an office cleaning job - a lot less frustrations, I'd imagine.

I wouldn't mind flipping burgers at my current pay ... as it is in the real world, I do prefer the money.

you people forget the smell.
backed in mcdonalds smell even after showering

these kinds of jobs kill your brain cells; i seriously dont think they are valuable experiences, I hated them
its a waste of life, especially considering all these tasks could be done by a machine

but this whole thread sure reminds you of "Office Space"

[Riven]

Cas encourages me to wear 37 pieces of flair

[Eli Delventhal]

Cas encourages me to wear 37 pieces of flair

Hahaha. Awesome. I'll bet he does.

"Riven, I can't help but notice that you're wearing the minimum number of flair pieces today. Are you okay with the bare minimum?"

[luisoft]

I do have a lot of free time, at the point that let's say, 50% of my games I've written, I did it here (at work).

Ha, catch you! You're fired! Just kidding 

I want your job! Since you're also from Brazil, I just got curious where do you work?

[teletubo]

I do have a lot of free time, at the point that let's say, 50% of my games I've written, I did it here (at work).

Ha, catch you! You're fired! Just kidding  

I want your job! Since you're also from Brazil, I just got curious where do you work?

I work at Sao Paulo inernational airport, with Air Traffic control. Since the guys are pretty bad ass to pilot those planes anyway, I just leave them to sort out what to do and write my games instead.

[ReBirth]

I work at Air Traffic control. Since the guys are pretty bad ass to pilot those planes anyway, I just leave them to sort out what to do and write my games instead.

Let's hope your job is not crucial or high risking

Oh ya I just got a call for interview tomorrow for an enterprise programmer. Lolwut? enterprise? someone like me?

[Cero]

I do have a lot of free time, at the point that let's say, 50% of my games I've written, I did it here (at work).

I can relate :D

[deepthought]

I do have a lot of free time, at the point that let's say, 50% of my games I've written, I did it here (at work).

Ha, catch you! You're fired! Just kidding  

I want your job! Since you're also from Brazil, I just got curious where do you work?

I work at Sao Paulo inernational airport, with Air Traffic control. Since the guys are pretty bad ass to pilot those planes anyway, I just leave them to sort out what to do and write my games instead.

that's going to be hard to explain if one crashes

[namrog84]

Cas encourages me to wear 37 pieces of flair

Hahaha. Awesome. I'll bet he does.

"Riven, I can't help but notice that you're wearing the minimum number of flair pieces today. Are you okay with the bare minimum?"

You should always wear at least the required minimum+1 so that you don't agitate the master!

[concerto49]

I find any amount of programming with commercial element can get boring. Fun program ends up being:

- title change
- image change
- upload new files
- customer support
- text changes
- minor business logic updates

End of finding most of the day spent doing boring mundane tasks. You are no longer programming. New features and feature requests are also very boring business functions.

[theagentd]

you people forget the smell.
backed in mcdonalds smell even after showering

these kinds of jobs kill your brain cells; i seriously dont think they are valuable experiences, I hated them
its a waste of life, especially considering all these tasks could be done by a machine

Oh, god, the smell. Took at least a few days to get rid of it...

Like I said, the "good" part of the experience was that I now know where I really don't want to work.

[matheus23]

I currently work at a fast food restaurant, earning minimum wage. I envy all of you with programming jobs so you complainers better shut up.

When you're all grown up in a few years (ahem) you will look back at this job and think it's not so bad...

I worked at a fast food restaurant during the summer break 4 years ago. I earned around $9 an hour since I was only 16 at the time. When I had 8 hour passes, I had an unpaid lunch break and the discount I got on food was the same as my student discount so I basically ate up an hour of work by simply having lunch. The manager had this way of talking to people like you were about to be fired any minute. All tasks were perfectly timed so if the ketchup ran out or anything unexpected at all happened, something got burnt and someone got angry. The people I worked with were people I felt like I had nothing in common with at all so we had nothing to talk about at all during lunch breaks.

The only good thing that came out of it was this computer and, well, the experience so I'd say it was worth it. At least it keeps me motivated to study since I know where I'll end up if I were to drop out.

I'm so lucky here ... In my summer break I worked at the SAP. I earned 8€ per hour and didn't have strict work times. I was allowed to be missing a day or two, when I wanted to, and It was a programming job, not a bring-me-coffee job.
I even participated at some meetings to tell them what I did and showcased them my demos...

The experience was awesome. The food wasn't too healthy probably, but it tasted very good. Well, my colleagues were awesome, one of them had birthday for example and then sprang us ice cream. Even better is: One of our local radio stations had an Ice-cream event and they gave us (about 1k to 2k people) ice cream...

Basically... It was such a wonderful wonderland :O

Having this experience with 15 is... I don't know. Probably good that I read your post

[Varkas]

Does it get boring after a while?

If you only do programming, I say, yes it gets boring. But there are jobs which include some programming but also other tasks like system design, testing, maintenance and customer care, and if you are lucky also some design taks (user interfaces, graphical presentation).

These are definitely better than pure programming jobs, but also more demanding on your skills and knowledge portfolio.

[Magnesus]

I completely agree with Varkas. Also a lot depends also on what you are programming - corporate jobs are usually extremely boring. Especially since you need to sit 8 hours at the job no mater if there are things to do or not.

[Grunnt]

If you only do programming, I say, yes it gets boring. But there are jobs which include some programming but also other tasks like system design, testing, maintenance and customer care, and if you are lucky also some design taks (user interfaces, graphical presentation).

Yeah, precisely. Doing the same kind of programming, in the same language, in the same context, that gets boring all-right. I do program a bit in my job, but it's mostly prototype kind of stuff (not too advanced from programming perspective, but sometimes pretty cool from an innovation perspective, like a dyke monitoring platform). However, I also do research in the impact of information technology on society (I'm part philosopher of technology), and do some project management. For me programming definitely does not get boring, but that's mainly because I do totally different things as well. I suppose it also helps to keep developing yourself, e.g. by learning new concepts or new languages. But not every job leaves room for that.

Even riding in a rocket to space for each and every day gets boring after a while. Right?  

[ReBirth]

That's why I apply for a job that requires Java and one other language, so I can learn something since I only know Java well. Lately I got with PHP pair.