Do you have to love it (and just not like it) to be successful at it in the workplace? Like if someone asked Do you like programming?" One guy says "I like it, I like putting the puzzle together and finding out how to solve the problem. After taking a level 1 and 2 course of it at my community college I feel I am naturally good at it and I find it an enjoyable subject...I certainly wouldn't pursue it just for the money(especially if I didn't enjoy it). I think it could be a rewarding career." vs. "I love it! I could keep myself entertained from wake-up to sun-down writing code, it's something that I eagerly look forward to doing every day...I never thought about it as a career, I just tried it out of the spur of the moment and things just took off from there, I can just think up of something I want to code on a whim." To me, it sounds like an exaggeration to say "you must be a prodigy" to do this, or, " you have to be exceptionally great at math"...that I'm not so sure about. But I have a strong premonition that "love" is a pre-requisite for the successful employed programmer, is that notion exaggerated or is does the passion aspect have to be that extreme as I'm making it out to be for it to work?
Say both are thrown into job x (your generic entry-level programming job...could be for banking applications, could be for client-side interactivity); does the first guy (likes it, doesn't love it) run into a brick wall? I mean, is it enough to find the subject enjoyable and to easily pick it up to have a fulfilling career in it? Do you find that wannabe programmers who take a liking to it in an amateur (specifically academic) setting have a rude awakening when they're in their job..and they end up saying "what the hell was I thinking...this is not at all what I imagined, I suck at my job and I wasted 2 years on an associates in Java." Does this sound like something you have seen occur among friends and/or colleagues?
23 Feb 2015, 10:17 pm
