this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2024
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I've always been curious as to what "normal" people think programming is like. The wildest theory I've heard is "typing ones and zeroes" (I'm a software engineer)

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[–] Sekrayray 45 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It’s like building the NY subway system—you’re constantly adding on new bypasses and trying to maintenance old tunnels in order to account for new features/population. It ultimately ends up working most of the time and the daily commuters get to move from Point A to Point B with minimal interruption, but if you viewed the subway as a whole it’s a cobbled mess with lots of redundancy. Some of the architects who are currently around don’t even know where the oldest tunnels go, or why they’re there.

Wanted to give a take on it that didn’t focus on the obvious “language” aspect. I could be 100% wrong on this—I’m sort of basing it off of comments I’ve seen here or there. I know very few folks who work in tech and I work in healthcare.

[–] c0mbatbag3l 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Honestly that's more like network engineering than programming, but you're surprisingly accurate.

[–] Jeremyward 16 points 10 months ago

This is an accurate representation of tech debt.

[–] BobaFett26 6 points 10 months ago

Definitely spot on for network engineering.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Fascinatingly accurate.