Katy Computers Frustrated Programmers

What do frustrated programmers want to do instead?

Programmers often get frustrated because their compiler or their operating system makes it difficult to write code in an efficient, beautiful way. (Don't we all want to write beautiful code, after all?) In my experience, the most common way of expressing that frustration is to say, "I'm going to give up programming, and do ... instead". Here's a growing list of things I've seen filling in the blanks:

Sue Davis (in person)
"I think I'll go sell flowers in the airport."

Phil Edwards (on comp.lang.c++.moderated)
"... is making me seriously consider giving up computers and running a secondhand bookstore."

Matt Storz (on microsoft.public.vc.language)
"... I'd quit my job and move to Norway to fish."

Rich Mulvey (in person)
"I think I'll quit my job and become a beach bum."

And believe me, in Rochester, that would be a good trick, especially in January.

A hardware engineer, burned out on thinking in nanoseconds (Soul of a New Machine) Exact reference coming soon...
"I will go to a commune in Vermont, and deal with no unit of time shorter than a season."

Judy Buckholtz (in person)
"Just about anything!"

James (on comp.software.year-2000)
I'm planning on being firmly in the *hunker down* mode myself. Maybe open a little cafe or a bookstore.

Francis A. Ney, Jr. (on comp.software.year-2000)
Heck, I plan to go into TB horse racing full-time.

Right after I fix Charles Town Races' accounting computer (he he he)...

Never (on her notify list)
It's a sign. An omen. I should get out of the computer business and start raising frogs or something.

Hans-Georg Michna (on a private newsgroup)
[We] might as well change profession. How about learning massage? Computers will not interfere in that for the next 10 years...

Phil Burns (on the off-ramp)
Whine, bitch, moan I am sick of 'puters!
Maybe I shoulda been a garbage collector, then i could smoke and look at the cool shit people were throwing away[...]

Todd B. (on the off-ramp)
If this industry falls apart, then I will just become a garbage collector... (You realize they make over $20/hr!) ;-)

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This page was last modified on 1999/02/16