I am with you. I have a great job, a big enough salary, flexible schedule, yet I want to do something that is truly mine and that I am 100% in charge. It is unique to me, but this is what makes it a passion for me.
Everyone should have the gut to express their personal view of success.
Honestly, my realistic dream is to own a house in an area I like with a dog(s) and family. Ideally working 2/3days a week optionally remotely with all major expenses paid off.
I want to have the time and money to be able to follow my interests. And if I have to still work a bit to get that, then fine.
I'm a passionate learner and sharer. I always try to give back to the developer community. I create mobile and Web applications by day. Not Batman by night, in case you wondered :)
A *very* seasoned software engineer, I wrote my first basic game, a lunar landing game, in Basic in 1969. Currently I am doing web development in Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Elm.
To summarize, I'm a writer, programmer, cook, interviewer, poet, musician, masseur, coach, speaker, and more. I've got a million projects on the go at all times. I traded stability for chaos, and I love it, except for the financial part now.
That is so freaking cool -- sounds like a dream to be able to combine all of your interests! I'm sure you'll figure out the income part -- you are so talented at so much!
Software dev at Netflix | DC techie | Conference speaker | egghead Instructor | TC39 Educators Committee | Girls Who Code Facilitator | Board game geek | @laurieontech on twitter
I want to be a person who is present for the ones that I love. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. There are so many elements to that goal: health, financial stability, work-life balance, etc.
I also want to be who I am suppose to be. Though my description of "who I suppose to be" is different from what people expect of me.
I want to be close to my family, friends and who I see important.
To point to a semi-fictional archetype I would be happy to aspire to:
Brad Pitt's character in The Big Short.
This is probably odd because it is really a sad story full of sad people and Pitt's character may be the most honestly sad of all (sad in terms of emotions).
Hopefully I can accomplish this while staying happy and optimistic, but that character really understood how the world worked, he lived in a beautiful mountainous location and was there for mentees when they needed him (even if he was a bit grumpy along the way).
When designing my situation, I think about that character. I can tell I am going in that direction and I hope I can continue to achieve the good parts of that situation.
Along these lines, I really appreciated this post:
We humans must find a certain contentment in whatever situation we find ourselves in, but in terms of situations to position one's self to be in. This is my line of thinking. 🙂
When I was around 12-13 I always imagined myself at 25 with my own apartment, at the pool with a margarita. I'm 26 and I don't have any of that ; ----;
But I still want to grow up into that image, but with the added bonus that the pool and apartment are in my personal island. B3
Versatile software engineer with a background in .NET consulting and CMS development. Working on regaining my embedded development skills to get more involved with IoT opportunities.
I'm about to turn 28 and am in same position...no house, credit is a dumpster fire (but have a subprime auto loan on a badass sports car!) and I'm watching all my friends get married and settle down with kids and I am nowhere near any of that...I just keep hoping one of my random startup ideas finally pans out and I can sell out and live a more stable life...maybe next year
Equal parts higher-ed IT, web dev and support; with a dash of freelance consulting thrown in for good measure. (Oct/19: Seeking change of pace. Not afraid to take a step back in order to move ahead!)
I'm a passionate learner and sharer. I always try to give back to the developer community. I create mobile and Web applications by day. Not Batman by night, in case you wondered :)
Urban legend, former IMDb editor, conference speaker, Seattle CoderDojo organizer. Love finding inspiration in dev tools and products, then sharing it with dev communities.
Location
Seattle, WA
Education
BA in Creative Writing, multiple aCloudGuru certification courses, Udemy classes, etc.
I want to enjoy a more balanced life and have more saying in what i put my time and energy into. That means, being part of a team that creates and sustains something actually useful and having my free time and enjoying life more.
A *very* seasoned software engineer, I wrote my first basic game, a lunar landing game, in Basic in 1969. Currently I am doing web development in Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Elm.
to be honest, i no longer know. i think it's because i am a grown-up. after 4+ decades at this, i figure this is what i am as an adult. i guess the next thing is to figure out what i want to do when i retire. i sure will miss this, though
Versatile software engineer with a background in .NET consulting and CMS development. Working on regaining my embedded development skills to get more involved with IoT opportunities.
I am liking management a lot more than I thought I would, but there's still one area of interest I haven't explored yet...DevOps. I have set up a homelab to expose myself to that side of computing and if I continue to enjoy it, ai might try to move into a Site Reliability Engineer role
I think there are 2 ways this question can be answered.
Career: I want to be useful. There are people who have no access to knowledge and also there are people who are willing to not learn. I am quite annoyed by how eager people are to stay uninformed and away from learning even though they have access to WWW. Maybe a teacher to teach, sysadmin to keep knowledge servers running, businessman to sponsor poor kids.
Life: I want to be with my family and happy together.
Hello All:
I am currently teaching myself how to code for three reasons:
#1 To prove to myself that I can do it.
#2 To show little girls, it's never too late to do what you want.
#3 To improve my social skills for networking or just for friends in general.
Eventually I'd like to get into game programming and development. The immediate goal is website development for a family Company and that is what is getting my foot in the door.
I'm a passionate learner and sharer. I always try to give back to the developer community. I create mobile and Web applications by day. Not Batman by night, in case you wondered :)
It's taken many years, but I can finally say I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up. Now I just have to keep it that way.
I am having such a great time managing a fantastic development team and doubling as the team lead. I get to stay hands-on with code, tools and everything else and I get to take the teams vision and help drive it forward.
Max is a life enhancer for tech & entrepreneurship. Which seeks to blend both to build innovative products or services for the world that solves hard problems.
Well Ali, I’m 66 years on this planet and I’ve been developing software for 40 odd years of that time. I have to say I wanted to be a programmer/ developer.
I'm a professional PHP, Python and Javascript developer from the UK. I've worked with Django, Laravel, and React, among others. I also maintain a legacy Zend 1 application.
Started out teaching English at Embry-Riddle.
Graded 10,000 essays.
Lesson learned.
Became a mathematics teacher.
Discovered computing.
Never looked back.
Location
Houston TX
Education
Stetson University: B.A., M.A. in English; M.S. in mathematics
He/Him/His
I'm a Software Engineer and a teacher.
There's no feeling quite like the one you get when you watch someone's eyes light up learning something they didn't know.
I'm already grown up and quite happy with working on being precisely and exactly myself. There is no magic future - one is what one fills their hours with and that speaks for itself.
CS student and passionate about learning, I love CODE! long walks on the beach, sunsets, and computers. Programming is opening up a new medium for me to become creative with and I love it!
Really good question! I'd love to be a Game Dev, learn and grow every day, possibly pass the experience I got from this life to someone. Bonus: everything of this, but near to the sea.
Frontend developer by day, iOS developer by night. Currently working on learning iOS development and my own blog, Mike Decodes, where I'm decoding the tech industry. Come hang out with me on Twitter!
That's exactly what I want to do as well! I've always loved the idea of owning a cafe. If this whole tech thing doesn't work out, I might just go for it.
I want to teach a lot, I come from a place with a lot of mediocre techies(not blaming anyone). One of the reason is due to lack of quality information and I would love help give them that.
I am a Tech Lead working with Tech Mahindra, Germany. My journey to the role of a developer has been interesting. After spending 5 years into Banks I have moved back into full-time SW development.
I am learning that I love educating people in software. Bringing others up and helping them flourish feels like something that will make a true difference.
At my 30s I found out that there was a developer inside a Political Science Graduated.
I've been COO an CMO for 4 years but I decided to persue my dream and become a Front-end developer:)
Location
Elche, Alicante, Spain
Education
Certificate of Higher Education for Web Applications Development & Degree in Political Science
How’s it going, I'm a Adam, a Full-Stack Engineer, actively searching for work. I'm all about JavaScript. And Frontend but don't let that fool you - I've also got some serious Backend skills.
Location
City of Bath, UK 🇬🇧
Education
10 plus years* active enterprise development experience and a Fine art degree 🎨
🤔 That actually sounds really good, real sofas not those office pretend sofas that look kind of okay but you sit on them and it feels like regret and dust.
I want to own a company earning enough to have employees for whom I hope to manage it fairly so everyone is, if not happy to go to work, at least not dreading it.
How’s it going, I'm a Adam, a Full-Stack Engineer, actively searching for work. I'm all about JavaScript. And Frontend but don't let that fool you - I've also got some serious Backend skills.
Location
City of Bath, UK 🇬🇧
Education
10 plus years* active enterprise development experience and a Fine art degree 🎨
I want to be working for passion, not for survival.
I am with you. I have a great job, a big enough salary, flexible schedule, yet I want to do something that is truly mine and that I am 100% in charge. It is unique to me, but this is what makes it a passion for me.
Everyone should have the gut to express their personal view of success.
Honestly, my realistic dream is to own a house in an area I like with a dog(s) and family. Ideally working 2/3days a week optionally remotely with all major expenses paid off.
I want to have the time and money to be able to follow my interests. And if I have to still work a bit to get that, then fine.
This resonates too deeply
I want to be educating people on the topics I care most about.
this this this this this
We need so many people thinking this way around the World on every topic that affects future generations.
Amen.
don't wait, begin now
That’s the plan! Writing articles; making videos; released my first course early this year :D
I want to be what I am now...
...but perhaps making enough money to survive. :)
To summarize, I'm a writer, programmer, cook, interviewer, poet, musician, masseur, coach, speaker, and more. I've got a million projects on the go at all times. I traded stability for chaos, and I love it, except for the financial part now.
I don't mix with grown up careers well. :)
That is so freaking cool -- sounds like a dream to be able to combine all of your interests! I'm sure you'll figure out the income part -- you are so talented at so much!
Really
How can one be all this things
You try to juggle. Many things will fall and break. But you keep adding more. Eventually some things will stay in the air.
I want to be a person who is present for the ones that I love. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. There are so many elements to that goal: health, financial stability, work-life balance, etc.
I also want to be who I am suppose to be. Though my description of "who I suppose to be" is different from what people expect of me.
I want to be close to my family, friends and who I see important.
I can relate to that very much. And it’s not easy to balance the factors, I feel.
To point to a semi-fictional archetype I would be happy to aspire to:
Brad Pitt's character in The Big Short.
This is probably odd because it is really a sad story full of sad people and Pitt's character may be the most honestly sad of all (sad in terms of emotions).
Hopefully I can accomplish this while staying happy and optimistic, but that character really understood how the world worked, he lived in a beautiful mountainous location and was there for mentees when they needed him (even if he was a bit grumpy along the way).
When designing my situation, I think about that character. I can tell I am going in that direction and I hope I can continue to achieve the good parts of that situation.
Along these lines, I really appreciated this post:
How to write code and snowboard every day
Theodore Bendixson ・ Dec 8 '18 ・ 7 min read
We humans must find a certain contentment in whatever situation we find ourselves in, but in terms of situations to position one's self to be in. This is my line of thinking. 🙂
Loved that article, really thoughtful... Thanks Ben!
Would you mind sharing the results of the last six months of your experience after commenting on the article?
When I was around 12-13 I always imagined myself at 25 with my own apartment, at the pool with a margarita. I'm 26 and I don't have any of that ; ----;
But I still want to grow up into that image, but with the added bonus that the pool and apartment are in my personal island. B3
I'm about to turn 28 and am in same position...no house, credit is a dumpster fire (but have a subprime auto loan on a badass sports car!) and I'm watching all my friends get married and settle down with kids and I am nowhere near any of that...I just keep hoping one of my random startup ideas finally pans out and I can sell out and live a more stable life...maybe next year
I just wanna simply sit somewhere watching my family having fun
What did I want to be (before the harsh realities of life)?
...A meteorologist. (Damn you university calculus for crushing the dream!)
Today, what do I want to be when I "grow up" (aka retire)?
I'd like to buy a mini-excavator and dig holes for pocket money! :)
I love this idea, maybe call it 'caffeine commit'
Idris Elba
lmao XD
I want to enjoy a more balanced life and have more saying in what i put my time and energy into. That means, being part of a team that creates and sustains something actually useful and having my free time and enjoying life more.
to be honest, i no longer know. i think it's because i am a grown-up. after 4+ decades at this, i figure this is what i am as an adult. i guess the next thing is to figure out what i want to do when i retire. i sure will miss this, though
Astronaut
A Unicorn.
Nah, I wish..
Probably either freelancing and having a month or two off a year to travel, or managing a small team of developers using the latest tech.
I want to be working traveling for other countries.
I am liking management a lot more than I thought I would, but there's still one area of interest I haven't explored yet...DevOps. I have set up a homelab to expose myself to that side of computing and if I continue to enjoy it, ai might try to move into a Site Reliability Engineer role
I think there are 2 ways this question can be answered.
Career: I want to be useful. There are people who have no access to knowledge and also there are people who are willing to not learn. I am quite annoyed by how eager people are to stay uninformed and away from learning even though they have access to WWW. Maybe a teacher to teach, sysadmin to keep knowledge servers running, businessman to sponsor poor kids.
Life: I want to be with my family and happy together.
Hello All:
I am currently teaching myself how to code for three reasons:
#1 To prove to myself that I can do it.
#2 To show little girls, it's never too late to do what you want.
#3 To improve my social skills for networking or just for friends in general.
Eventually I'd like to get into game programming and development. The immediate goal is website development for a family Company and that is what is getting my foot in the door.
It's taken many years, but I can finally say I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up. Now I just have to keep it that way.
I am having such a great time managing a fantastic development team and doubling as the team lead. I get to stay hands-on with code, tools and everything else and I get to take the teams vision and help drive it forward.
Angel investor to help tech startups and building future tech entrepreneurs.
Well Ali, I’m 66 years on this planet and I’ve been developing software for 40 odd years of that time. I have to say I wanted to be a programmer/ developer.
Captain Mal Reynolds, and no power in the 'verse can stop me!
OSS developer.
I'm already old
and living your dream?
Curious. That's all I ask. I never want to be complacent with my knowledge. I want to learn for the rest of my days.
An astronaut!
More realistically I'd like to finish my piloting lessons and then learn to fly gliders.
I want to lead my own team first. Then perhaps my own practice, or start my own consultancy
Still have my eye on the stars, possibly.
Earn money by my passion and buy whatever I want :D
I'd like be a world traveler, maybe as a digital nomads.
I'm already grown up and quite happy with working on being precisely and exactly myself. There is no magic future - one is what one fills their hours with and that speaks for itself.
I want to be the best at what I do, make lead a team and make it great, I also want to never stop learning.
Accepted
I want to manage my own team of engineers and make them successful in all measures, and when I get too old, I'm going to teach college courses
I want to be a lazy bum while my mobile app rakes in the dough #thedream
Really good question! I'd love to be a Game Dev, learn and grow every day, possibly pass the experience I got from this life to someone. Bonus: everything of this, but near to the sea.
I want to travel and explain my mistakes to juniors.
I want to build my own company!!!
And Help the young and less fortunate in learning tech
I want to maintain/create a product that helps people connect while being there for the ones I love. Also play more games/watch more anime
That's exactly what I want to do as well! I've always loved the idea of owning a cafe. If this whole tech thing doesn't work out, I might just go for it.
I dream with someday getting a job as developer in Google
I want to be a front-end web developer that combines my experience as a teacher and love for UX together. I'd love to work Disney in some way.
I want to teach a lot, I come from a place with a lot of mediocre techies(not blaming anyone). One of the reason is due to lack of quality information and I would love help give them that.
Younger, but I think I grow up too much already.
I would love to keep learning and teaching :)
A writer.
I want to make enough to afford a rant.
The idea of cafe with code review for a coffee sounds great. I think I will try with Beer and call it Brew Commit
This is a good way to check yourself for purpose. Ikigai
infobeautiful4.s3.amazonaws.com/20...
star ship captain :)
I am learning that I love educating people in software. Bringing others up and helping them flourish feels like something that will make a true difference.
I want to get hired as a front-end dev
I want to develop interactive graphics and simulations. And teach people how to make cool stuff like that.
A passionate developer in a company with fancy couches and sofas :D
🤔 That actually sounds really good, real sofas not those office pretend sofas that look kind of okay but you sit on them and it feels like regret and dust.
Heh. I wanna do something with computers.
I'll let you know when I figure it out. 😁
I want to own a company earning enough to have employees for whom I hope to manage it fairly so everyone is, if not happy to go to work, at least not dreading it.
young again
Well I didn't imagine myself here that's for sure. Life is like a tree of pruned branches, youl end up at master eventually.