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Comment by invalidOrTaken | Hacker News Reader

Frankly, I'd be more interested in "How a developer learned to forge metal."

I don't think there's a much of a story to write about it, but I decided I don't want to waste a life employed in IT after all (as someone who's been coding all his life), and wanted to learn something new. Eventually I chose metal work; now I'm learning welding and machining. I'm also hoping to learn something about casting and forging and stuff.

Coding will remain a hobby so that I may focus on what I love about it, and stay true to my principles & avoid making any compromises due to commercial pressure.

It wasn't an easy decision to make and I still feel horribly uncertain about my life and all tha. On the other hand, learning something completely different is very very refreshing, and inspiring.

I'm currently learning how to weld as well (full time program). There's definitely something very satisfying in learning how to build things with your hands.

Indeed. Thinking back what once got me into programming as a kid (and what still keeps me interested) was the idea that with a reasonably powerful computer and some skill & time, I could create any software imaginable. It wasn't a special affection to software in particular, but to making things -- and computers made making things very accessible because once you had a computer, you had all the tools you needed.

Now the maker inside me must've realized that making physical objects we use and rely on all the time isn't impossible, and can indeed be quite accessible once you learn a few things and make some investments (or find a good hackerspace?).

I would recommend any coders out there who code out of the love of creation and the freedom that comes with it, to at least consider expanding their horizon and learning to manipulate more than just bits. It doesn't have to be metal, in fact with 3D printing and diy electronics you could end up with something really awesome. (But don't forget 3d-fad isn't the only way to deal with plastics; it can be machined too, for instance). Combined with your software knowledge, who knows what great new ideas a new skill might bring with it? It'll deepen the experience of making for sure.

I started as a kid as well. One of the wonderful things about computers being self-contained learning environments is that there's such a wide range of possibilities for expressing your intellectual curiosities and ideas.

Now that I'm a bit older though, I am enjoying the physicality of working with my hands, producing something tangible and having something that can outlast me, instead of code that most likely will just last some years.

After I'm done with my welding training, I'd like to do at least some introductory machining classes. Perhaps even a furniture making course. I have to good fortune of living very close my community college, and as long as I can work part time as a developer (albeit at odd hours) I want to keep learning how to build things with my hands.

My own story is pretty simple.

I lived in California, and found Ardenwood Forge nearby. The blacksmith there (who you've likely seen before if you watch Mythbusters) was willing to teach people for what felt like a tiny amount of money, and Scott was a great teacher.

The biggest thing that I had to learn was "how to know when its done" - which can range from when it's functional to when it's functional and form is beautiful as well, or anywhere in between. There's some of that in programming as well, but "it works" and "the tests pass" are hard and fast stopping points compared to "Do I add another twist to this, or should I add a scroll instead?"

The biggest thing I miss from smithing is creating something physical. Watching a program form and execute perfectly is fun, but there's something simply magical about taking a letter punch and turning it into a elegant scribe.

Sadly, I have not continued beyond learning the basics, but I still look on the craft with a smile, and hope that some day I can spend the time to do it again.

It's still far too early for me to write much about it, but maybe I'll have more to say in the future. So far, I've taken a single-session introductory class at a smithy a couple towns over and gone back a few times since then for some self-directed practice. My range of techniques is very limited, and even without straying too far from what I know, I am still frequently surprised by what turns out to be easy and what turns out to be hard. I don't remember going through such a stage with coding. I was not exposed to the notion of algorithms or programming techniques or commonly-encountered sub-problems until long after I started, so I couldn't really think about difficulty in those terms.

Reddit is there for you:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Blacksmith/wiki/faq

This made me laugh hard because I couldn't agree more.

Software development, metalwork, carpentry, all have the same base skills, of planning, patience, and perseverance.

I do all, and many more such engineering/mechanical/creative type things, and I know many developers who are as adept at hacking in the real as in the aether.

Anyway, my point I guess is that it's all the same domain, and the skills are eminently transferable, and the internet fills in the knowledge blanks to a large extent.

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