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I think a large part of it comes down to why different people like programming. I learned to program when trying to figure out why computers work. I learned to work on cars when trying to figure out how they work. I like building things and I like fixing broken things. Programming happens to be chock full of both, pays well, allows more time to think and analyze the problem and getting paid for it doesn't ruin the enjoyment (for me). I could make more doing something else and I could make more working at companies where I'm not building things, but they aren't what I love doing. Life is too short do not do something you love, it's just a matter of finding something you love to do that you can get paid for.

This parallels much of the photography community, there are people who know every technical aspect and could talk for days about what f-stop/shutter speed to use in certain circumstances etc.. And then there are people who go out and take beautiful photos of beautiful things.

The point is Photography is not about equipment "I can't take that photo without this lens" it's about photos you can take.

Programming is not about Languages and Code structure it's about making something useful using the knowledge you have (Twitter could have been made with PHP or Python or any number of other languages, it still would have been "Twitter") Heck look at PG and Viaweb, none of the users cared that it was made with Clisp just that it did what they needed it to do.

When I was 21, I thought the fun part was learning new technologies and the hard, frustrating, somewhat boring part was writing the code. (I also only knew C++ and Java, so I thought the accidental complexity of these languages was an intrinsic fixture of programming.) Learning Python, then Ocaml, then Lisp, was a lot of fun. (The REPL makes a huge difference in the experience of programming. It makes the code real rather than some hazy gobbledegook.) It was even better to start using these languages for real-world problems.

I'm 28 now and I find the writing of code to be the fun part, because I'm now good at it and know better technologies than C++ and Java. I get into "the zone" and before I know it, 4 hours have passed. Unfortunately, that's not the reality of industrial software engineering where, if you're lucky, 25% of your time might be spent writing code. Learning new platforms (often with so many of them that I can only learn enough to glue them together) is often boring. It's fun to learn new technologies when there's something genuinely new in them, but I'm sick of having to learn new and often less useful ways of doing old things.

I love programming and find it very relaxing.

I would probably also like re-arranging chairs at a charity function. Or solving mathematical puzzles in books. I also love instrument flying, which is like real-time fluid dynamics where you die if you screw it up.

But I've come to understand that these are just properties of the types of people who grok computers -- detail-oriented, able to spend many hours in the zone, and in love with complexity. At some point, the "benefits" from this personality type become drawbacks. There are a lot of guys spending thousands of hours on code in their spare time that might help 3 people -- who are also programmers. I'm not saying this is a bad choice. It just seems to me like we programmers as a whole like trivial things and can spend most of our time on them as long as they tickle our analytic bone. Continuing my flying example, there have been cases of people flying airplanes into the sides of mountains in perfectly good weather while they were fiddling around with the flight computer. Many of us are doing the same thing -- only in very slow motion.

By the way, the fun part is learning the technology. The hard part is working with people to make something they want -- which is why it's about a million times more important.

By the way, the fun part is learning the technology. The hard part is working with people -- which is why it's about a million times more important.

That's very interesting, and indeed seems to mark a certain personality type. Most people would see that exactly the other way around, that working with people is fun and easy, but the technical stuff is hard and extremely frustrating.

It depends completely on your skill and what you're used to. Almost all people tend to think their own area of expertise is easier compared to others and don't understand why other people don't get it like they do (which has a simple answer: years of experience).

There are a lot of guys spending thousands of hours on code in their spare time that might help 3 people -- who are also programmers

Nah, helping 3 people in your spare time is more than helping no one. You're right, if your goal is to help as many people as possible, programming isn't the right time sink. Better to sign up for some volunteer job. On the other hand, you could also be reading a book, playing a game or watching TV and helping exactly no one :)

Edit: and don't forget many non-programmers also spend their spare time on very trivial stuff. The problem is not exactly limited to technical people...

That's very interesting, and indeed seems to mark a certain personality type. Most people would see that exactly the other way around, that working with people is fun and easy, but the technical stuff is hard and extremely frustrating.

Learning technology is fun when it adds something new. For example, if you know functional programming, then Gang-of-Four "design patterns" are completely useless cruft and not especially interesting to learn. It's painful to learn that sort of stuff when it's less powerful than what you already have and would be able to use in a better environment.

"Working with people" can be fun, to a point. It's enjoyable when there's no power relationship, or a symmetric one. What's difficult is the context-switch from programming to interpersonal communication. It takes some time.

The point is that different personality types enjoy different aspects of programming. For some people the technology itself is the fun part. For some its what you can accomplish with it. There is no right or wrong here.

Yes, exactly. I think it's overall too easy to call someone else's use of spare time "trivial" because we don't understand why it could be useful for them, or to other people. We're all limited by our skills and interests. If only we could all be world-savers doing work of great impact and help to every person on earth in our free time...

"It just seems to me like we programmers as a whole like trivial things and can spend most of our time on them as long as they tickle our analytic bone."

This explains why some of us (Me) can spend so much time playing computer RPG's, when we could get the same progression and more real-world benefit by planting a garden. I guess I'm also too impatient for that :)

The more you focus on the computers part, the unhappier you are going to be.

Not necessarily true. :)