this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
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It's easy to do when we're all surrounded constantly by the paradox of money meaning nothing at all, but also the only material thing that dictates the action and activity of everything past and future
Biggest Pill I've had to swallow is that no matter much I love programming and will continue my computer hobbies for life. I will never make a profession out of it. I'm slowly coping with the fact that all my work will ultimately influence very nearly nothing at all...
Why do you say that? Is it by choice or do you not see how you could make it a career?
What kind of impact were you hoping for? I mean lots of jobs have little "influence" - I would actually say almost all jobs. But that doesn't mean we are not all part of collective progress.
Could certainly be argued as a choice ultimately. I didn't quite finish my BS in CS, I'm entering my 30s with a wife that depends on me not leaving my decent and steady warehouse mgmt job atm. I've tried a couple of times--last time I was building a great portfolio maintaining a hobbyist arch distro, but I just never got past the interview stages. My network is too small, and the job market seems to be a dumpster fire with no upturn in sight.
I know these are excuses and ultimately it is a choice that I shouldn't give up on my dreams the way I am, but I wanted to answer your question as honestly as possible for some reason. As far as impact, it's basically been a lifelong dream of mine to just make software that helps improve the quality of life of as many sentient beings as I possibly can. I know it's immature and overly idealist, but I can't shake it
Open source projects and/or contributions can be a good way in.
I didn't know anything about coding when I decided to fix a small bug in my KDE system that was bugging me.. I poked around, asked some questions, figured it out bit by bit.. which led to contributing to KDE more, and now I am a paid KDE developer. I now literally get paid to do something I am passionate about, working on a project that I feel makes a very real impact on the world.
I highly recommend open source to help break into the field. Anyone willing to learn and put some effort in can do it, no previous experience needed. :)