Lmaydev ,

Personally I just love programming. It's my main hobby but it's great to also be able to do it as job.

jadero ,

15 years as a hobbyist, 20 years as a professional spending hobby time on other pursuits, 5 years where I never wanted to see a computer again, starting back into hobby in my retirement.

When I was working as a programmer, I had too many interests to justify pursuing hobby projects when I could be building a boat, playing in a community band, or whatever.

otl ,
@otl@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

So you went 5 years without any programming? What got you back into it?

jadero ,

There were a number of factors. First and foremost, I've loved programming since one of my younger brothers got a programmable calculator for university. Not long after, I bought one of the first VIC-20s. Programming and playing in a community band were my only hobbies.

My last programming job was with a great company that turned toxic when it got bought by an investment group. That pushed me to a state of depression and burnout, leading to our decision to move to our cabin before retirement, where I went back to a labour job. There was no internet or cell signal at home and my aging laptop just got stuffed in the back of a closet. I spent my hobby time fishing, rowing, hiking, swimming, and learning how to grow stuff.

Then a change of leadership turned that job into something I could no longer tolerate, so I switched to driving school bus. I realized that with the extra time, I could start early on retirement activities, one of which was (is) education for fun. I started hitting the library computer (singular!) between bus runs on the days it was open. Before I knew it, I was taking online programming courses, buying a new laptop, and getting Starlink at home.

I fully retired last June and am starting to ramp up my skills. I've got 3 programming projects in various states of planning and development, and recently decided which one to pour my energies into. (Keeping in mind that I'm also into building boats and furniture and into long-distance rowing and swimming. And fishing, hiking, growing and preserving fruits and vegetables ...).

Sorry, I've rambled on, but I'm just so excited and have so much energy and motivation now that all day, every day is mine to do with as I will.

otl ,
@otl@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Fantastic story - thanks for sharing!

jadero ,

No problem, thanks for reading!

akincisor ,
@akincisor@sh.itjust.works avatar

While I was single I had multiple side projects for my own amusement.

More recently, I haven't had time to scratch that itch and the urge has been getting worse to the point that I'm now doing a bit of side stuff during work hours (but not on work hardware).

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