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Comment by jaywunder | Hacker News Reader

I think the OP misses the point of the shirt. Lot's of different subcultures and activities have this type of shirt. Someone could just as well wear a shirt that says "Eat. Sleep. Hike. Repeat." And people wouldn't actually think the person _only_ hikes. The shirt is completely ironic because to suggest someone _only_ codes all day is ridiculous. The OP misses the irony.

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Most folks don't hike for a living. On the other hand, lots of folks code for a living. While it is indeed ridiculous to think that someone only does coding, the current culture in some places is that the job should come first - before family, sleep, health, and other such things. So while it is just a bit funny when placed on Hiking, when placed on coding (or any other job activity), it just seems to reinforce such a culture instead.

Some people code for fun too.

Sure, but this shirt is being produced by a corporation and sold at a professional developer conference.

Why does that matter?

I'm sure a "Eat Sleep Hike Repeat" shirt would be produced by a corporation and sold at "hiking conferences".

Again, for the most part, folks aren't out there hiking for a living. Which makes the "hiking conferences" more of a hobbyist convention... outside of people that develop products for hiking.

And I'd still recommend those people to hike for enjoyment in their free time and not be out there developing products or trying to sell what their company makes.

I just don't get the distinction.

If I program for a hobby, who are you to say how I should spend my free time?

Yeah, it would be sad to see someone slaving their life away for their company, but I'm not doing that, and I'm not going to hide that I like to program outside of work (and 100% unrelated to work) because some people on the internet say I should...

And I don't think shaming those who program for a hobby is going to stop companies abusing their workers after-hours...

Maybe not seeing the forest for the trees?

The 'forest' in this case is that tech companies have been trying to transform work into a lifestyle for 20 years now. And, it has now gotten to the point where one is expected to be 'all in' at one's job or not have a job.

The shirt is cool - I kind of like it. And, coding can be a lot of fun. Both are fine things, in of themselves. But, the problem is the larger context of what's going on: companies are tying to trick people into working more and for less money.

The 'elder wisdom' is that a lot of developers have gotten burned out in this industry over the past 20 years. The best of us have worked hard and long and spilled out our creativity and passion. We have developed successful products that have made some people extremely wealthy. And, yet, we never got our implicitly promised reward.

The shirt should say:

Eat. sleep. code. get paid. repeat.

I code for fun as a way to restore myself mentally after coding for money...

Luckily you get time to do the fun part of this. Imagine if you had to do company-approved products in your spare time or if you didn't have that time to be able to work on such things?

I understand - I tried to go to college for graphic design, thinking it would leave my more "fine-arts" type of projects as a hobby and enjoyment.

  >Imagine if you had to do company-approved products in your spare time

What company does that? That's thee worst company ever (and if they don't compensate you for your 'spare' time, then there's probably a lawsuit there)

Some folks don't get spare time because of their work. And it might be something I read along the way, but my understanding is that some places do limit what you can work on in your spare time with coding - clauses that they own whatever you work on, cannot make competing products, and things like that. Some places care very much what you post on facebook (don't say you had a stressful day at work) or whether or not you smoke cigarettes in your free time.

And yes, I'd agree, that does make for bad companies, but some of the places exist.

If your manager and/or corporate environment (whether big co. or startup) encourages you subtly or not so subtly to eat, sleep, code, repeat, there is no irony. The shirt reflects an unhealthy reality.

Correct, the problem is that in this profession they believe in the irony, and suddenly you're presented with bad working conditions as if they were normal or even desirable.

I think the irony is kind of offensive. It might work for other subcultures, but in software coding all the time is a stereotypical desire of an employer, who doesn't care about his employees.

Agreed. And you see this pattern used all over the place, for example [1]. It's just a way to say, "I'm, enthusiastic about ____". Fill in the blank with whatever you want.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat,_Sleep,_Rave,_Repeat

So, that's predated by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat,_Sleep,_Repeat and I suspect many other things. The saying goes back a long time, and it's not clear when it was first adapted to this usage.

Variants go back to at least 1887: https://books.google.com/books?id=1Vk3AQAAMAAJ&dq=Eat%20Slee... "There was nothing to do now but to eat, sleep, rest, and get ready for another raid on the frontier settlements."

But my guess is it entered popular consciousness with the Lasting Kiss lipstick commercial mentioned in http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/29/magazine/beauty-lips-that-...: "Put it on. Eat. Work out. Eat. Go to the office. Eat. Sleep with your man. Eat. Repeat the cycle. And guess what? Your lipstick lasts until you take it off. You can kiss those lipsticks stains good-bye!"

I'm pretty sure this is a take on the popular edm track "eat sleep rave repeat". I'm surprised how much it blew up on this thread.

Lot's of different subcultures and activities have this type of shirt

In that case, I'm waiting for the first doctor to proudly wear his "Eat. Sleep. Operate. Repeat" shirt.

I just woke up with the explicit plan of coding for the next 12 hours...

I do this usually 6 days a week. I don't think it's as ironic as it sounds. I see your point, but I am definitely your counter example

I go through periods where I only code all day.

The difference is, Hiking is good for you.

Money can be good for you.

What's the point of money if you have no time to spend it?

You can drive a BMW and wear a Rolex on your way to work and feel better about yourself.

Don't wear a BMW nor a Rolex but I imagine that the novelty and the "feeling good about yourself" caused by the possession of these two items would fade out pretty quickly.

No problem. You just buy a suit then. And then a huge telly. And then a new pair of shoes. Believe me, you'll never run out of shiny stuff to buy.

You need money to get to the places to Hike... and not be barefoot while doing so.

Or, you can be a broke-ass cracker in Appalachia - although most of them aren't much into hiking if there isn't a trout pond at the end or they're actually driving deer...

I could theoretically just hike my way off to somewhere to hike. Land use laws are different, and as long as I'm not messing up someone's forest, I'm good. And public transport will get one closer.

Indiana, most of those ponds and hunting places were state parks or privately owned places with "no trespassing" signs up, and far out of the way of the city.

Hiking all day everyday would be a literal death march.

Working the brain is just as important as working the body.

I wouldn't say it's irony. The joke is more "ha ha only serious" than not.

The ordering of activities is also a bit strange. I don't like to eat right before sleep; I'd rather eat after sleep, then code.

So transpose the eat and sleep, it rhymes better anyway ;)

Transposing printed text on a T-shirt is not so easy :)

If you're looking for a non-coding hobby, why not make your own T-shirt though

This. The OP is one of "those" people that just likes to find things to be faux offended by.

You're the one who missed the point of the OP, not the other way around.

It's pretty well understood that the shirt isn't itself trying to enforce an actual "eat sleep code repeat" mentality. But that mentality exists and isn't rare at all. A lot of people identify with that mentality. Maybe you identify with that mentality and that's why this post bothers you.

It's.. sad you think anybody here is "offended". You're the only one who seems to have been offended.

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