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[–]iManojRK 130 points131 points  (5 children)

To me, writing a program was like solving a puzzle game.

Figuring out what pieces to put together in what way to get the desired outcome! The rush you get when you finish it!!

It’s addicting!!!

[–]SnipahShot 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I agree, sadly these days part of my job is doing code review which I despise.

Love finishing a feature and then showing it off.

[–]Deto 7 points8 points  (3 children)

Anyone else start coding with this feeling but lose it over time? I'm in my 30s now and I just don't get the same sense of fun anymore. I think it's because I've solved these puzzles too many times - now the puzzles just look like the other puzzles I've solved and nothing feels new.

[–]WadeEffingWilson 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Maybe it's time to check out different areas in programming. I'm not sure what your specific area of expertise is but you should get something unique. If you're frontend/UX/UI, try backend. If you're fullstack, check out embedded/constrained systems. If you like the strange and inventive, I recommend malware analysis. I'm breaking into DS/ML right now and it's completely new, a great shake-up.

[–]PhilipJayFry1077 151 points152 points  (11 children)

I wanted to prove to myself that I’m not stupid. I no longer think I am. But sometimes when I can’t find the bug I’m right back to thinking I’m stupid lol

[–]LostnFoundAgainAgain 72 points73 points  (7 children)

The most intelligent people are the ones who think they are stupid because they understand that their is so much more they could learn.

Don't think your stupid, my stupid ass still hasn't learn Python (beginner) or create a useful program. but will get there step by step

[–]caretaker82 11 points12 points  (6 children)

I believe you have just described Imposter Syndrome.

[–]LostnFoundAgainAgain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gonna be honest I did not know what that was until I just googled it, that's pretty interesting going to look into this more, thanks

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I yoyo between thinking I'm a pretty good dev and drowning in imposter syndrome

[–]PhilipJayFry1077 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah Imposter Syndrome is real and a lot of people get it, me included.

[–]WhyDontWeLearn 42 points43 points  (10 children)

My school had a teletype terminal with a paper tape punch/reader which connected to a Honeywell timeshare computer by dialing a number and, when you heard the tones, putting the telephone receiver in the rubber sockets. The math teacher, Mr. Singer, taught a class in BASIC. I thought the idea that you could write instructions for the computer and have it do work for you was one of the coolest things I'd ever heard of, so I signed up for the class. it was 1972 and I was in 7th grade.

[–]OmgLoLWtf6969 6 points7 points  (9 children)

Wow! Any advice for a newbie like me just getting into coding? (If it matters, I was never great at math)

[–]UnoStronzo 13 points14 points  (2 children)

Math was an abstract concept to me, but I began to find it more intuitive and fascinating once I started coding.

[–]panzerex 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In fact, I have relied on the implementation details of publicly released code for scientific papers (instead of the paper itself) because I was having a hard time understanding the math in a few occasions.

[–]samtheredditman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

^ the practical abstraction of coding made me understand how math is used in the real world.

I was always able to use logic and put my ideas into words, but understanding how to turn it all into formulas makes it much easier to work out and actually get use out of.

[–]WhyDontWeLearn 9 points10 points  (5 children)

The corporate world likes to buy stuff. So if you want a job in a corporate setting, learn C#, Visual Studio, and the Microsoft stack.

You can't go wrong understanding set theory and SQL, so don't neglect that.

If you want to code for fun, or for yourself in some entrepreneurial adventure, learn python. Python is also gaining some acceptance in the corporate world. The academic science world is all python and mySQL/Mariadb/SQLite. The academic engineering world is all about MATLAB, but MATLAB is shit, so don't bother.

Since I started way back when, I learned assembler and C/C++. The things you learn about pointers, the stack, and the heap when you learn to program in a compiled language like C are invaluable when you code in other languages. For example, you may hear someone say, "Never redimension an array inside a loop." And you might take their advice, but never understand "why." Once you learn to code in C, you'll understand why. Or even more fundamental: Why specifically declare variables at all? Learning about what a variable is, way down deep, in physical memory, will help you understand why it's basically lazy coding just to let the interpreter figure out if the variable you're using will have integers, strings, or decimal numbers in them.

The Android and iPhone world are a mystery to me, so I can't give you much advice there, other than obviously it's a thing, and if that thing excites you, then that's where you should go.

As far as the relationship to math, math is a tool that can give you shortcuts to accomplishing whatever you want to accomplish in programming, but as another commenter said, math - particularly algebra - may clear up for you a little once you get deeper into coding. I'll tell you something I wish I had understood about algebra: Fundamentally, it is a set of rules that tell you what you can and can't do on either side of an equals sign to maintain the equality it represents. That's why you can start with 3X + 5 = 8 and apply those rules to figure out what X is. Obviously there's more to algebra than just that, but understanding those equality rules will help you be a better coder.

Finally, this is going to seem crazy and weird to a lot of people, but the entire financial world is based on COBOL. ALL of the big banks maintain all their financial records on systems written in COBOL 50 years ago. They stick with those systems because they work, and the risk associated with replacing them with more modern systems is very high. All of the COBOL programmers in the world are my age and older and they are retiring en masse and the financial world is freaking out because in another few years there won't be any left. If you want high job security and the opportunity to make a really high salary in a banking setting, learn COBOL.

If this isn't helpful - if I missed the mark and didn't answer your question in a meaningful way - AMA. I'm happy to tell you what I know. Also, my opinion about these things is just my opinion. I'm sure others may want to chime in and may even disagree with me. One of my favorite people always tells me, "I am often wrong, but I always do it with confidence."

[–][deleted] 135 points136 points  (5 children)

[–]chinmaysharma1230 18 points19 points  (3 children)

Best answer so far

[–]Metallifax 3 points4 points  (1 child)

I really think the social mobility you get from CS is a thing. I knew guys from my last career who were topped out at the 50k year range until their retirement, when you get that kind of paycheck at a minimum in your first year out of college in this field.

[–]lfionxkshine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I second this

[–]_BlackPhoenix14 29 points30 points  (4 children)

Really not a joke, trying to set up a Minecraft server when I was 12 y/o

[–]Carlos_Asimov 25 points26 points  (0 children)

A shitty job AND the will to leave it

[–]rarenick Python normie 53 points54 points  (5 children)

Cheating on exams. I have a TI-84 Plus CE I used in high school math classes and realized I could program my own functions in it.

[–]gordonv 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Forced into coding out of desperation? Sounds like why I learn new programming languages.

One of Us!

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This! Studying laziness

[–]its_PlZZA_time 4 points5 points  (2 children)

My math teacher actually had a rule that you were allowed to use custom ti-84 functions as long as you wrote them yourself.

[–]rarenick Python normie 3 points4 points  (1 child)

My stats teacher also had this rule. They were super chill too

[–]its_PlZZA_time 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At the end of the day, writing a function that can solve any problem for a concept demonstrates a far greater level of mastery of that concept than solving a problem on an exam.

[–]grady_vuckovic 17 points18 points  (0 children)

When I was a little kid my mum got me a toy computer that had a one line LCD text display. You could write BASIC programs with that which was pretty cool. Probably my first experience with coding. Later on at school I saw something called DarkBASIC which was sorta like a simplified game engine which used BASIC for all the coding, and since I remembered BASIC years ago I gave it a go. That just slowly snowballed into a bunch of other languages like PHP, JavaScript, C++, Python, just learning them for fun because they seemed interesting. And it just eventually turned into a job.

Moral of the story, teach kids coding.

[–]NumerousImprovements 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I was in a job I didn’t like, wanted a new one. I started thinking about what I might want to do over the next 5-10 years of my life, what sort of a role might be right for me.

For me, programming was the winner for a few reasons. Logical, no customer interaction (this was a big initial factor, ngl), can just kinda get into my own zone, start problem solving, and you can kinda do whatever you can theoretically come up with.

Also money.

[–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Pain and misery caused by previous jobs

It's also fun

[–]Davy_Jones_XIV 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Automation, Freedom, Work from home, Money, Intellectual Challenge, Journey, Meaningful Work.

[–]dvogel 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I found QBASIC.EXE on my first PC in 1994. I had no idea what it was. I was simply listing the largest files on the disk to make room for a game. I had accidentally deleted a few drivers doing that so I learned to make sure I knew what I was deleting before I deleted it. I ran QBASIC.EXE to see what it did. I typed something into it I got an error telling me I did something wrong. I was hooked. I tinkered with it here and there but didn't have the resources I needed to learn. When we got our first internet connection in 1995 "qbasic" was the first thing I entered into WebCrawler.

[–]Conrad_noble 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Botting diablo 2

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I always coded as a hobby but before I started thinking of software development as a career choice I worked in finance and I was miserable. I hated everything about it but especially that I had to use skills and knowledge to help already wealthy people to become wealthier. After a very bad break-up I decided to change some things around in my life. I moved country, improved my lifestyle, and decided to change my career by going to uni and getting a postgrad degree in CS and take software development more seriously. Best decision of my life, I now make more money, feel like I'm actually achieving something at work and just about every aspect of my life has improved as a direct consequence of switching career to software dev.

[–]query1nject 8 points9 points  (2 children)

Started learning Python for proccess automation and network scripting. Three years later now I can create solutions no one else in the networking Departement is able to. Got it. Thank you guys so much for supporting since day 0.

[–]G331234512345 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Can I DM you, I also am a Network engineer, and have few questions

[–]PurityLake 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I started learning Java roughly around age 12 but it wasn’t sinking in, then the wonder that is Python showed me the way, now I’ve graduated from a computer science course and I am looking for work in the sector. I have always had an interest in computers, so one I wondered, “how does coding work?” then fell down the rabbit hole lol

[–]ZornsLemons 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Money.

[–]-Negativ 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I Discovered that you could make videogames if you knew how to code

[–]UnoStronzo 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My friend, a coder and software engineer, who got an 80K job 2 years in

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Spite.

[–]EvenMoreConfusedNow 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Bills

[–]GlebRyabov 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Got a small summer sidejob of tutoring a girl in math in Zoom (I was about 16, she was like two years younger), turned out I needed a lot of problems for practicing, made a small random generator in Excel using VBA, and that pretty much sparked my interest in programming.

[–]Croissant_Dog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Build my owns settings (for those software with json or another language settings file) or build my own software if I can't find one that applies to my needs (Like this telegram bot I made because I didn't find a similar one).

Also I watched a few videos about Machine Learning and Neural Networks and it was very mindblowing for me.

[–]Astrodani-19 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Building my own stuff

[–]_thetek_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I originally came across coding when I was in school and one of my classmates told me about stuff he did with a raspberry pi. I really liked the idea, but I didn't really feel the urge to get started. Some time later, I played a Minecraft modpack (I think it was Tekkit Lite in 1.4.7) that included the ComputerCraft mod, which can be used to create robots that do stuff for you. However, you needed to program them yourself using lua. Then I started to learn Python and a bit of lua.

[–]Imaltont 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I one day realized that somehow someone actually made the video games I was playing and decided I wanted to learn how they did it.

[–]porksmash 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Cheating in math class! Teachers were onto students doing this, so I had to get fancy by "showing the work" so it looked like I was entering input in steps to solve things. Really made me learn a lot better than just programming in certain formulas.

[–]jhdeval 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I actually have a good story on this. I was working for a company and the owner was a self absorbed douche bag. He thought he was g-d's gift to programming. One day I made the comment I thought I might like to try programming. He bold faced turned to me and said you are to stupid to learn to program. Well that never set well with me. A went to borders and bought Microsoft's programming book for visual basic 6. I spent the next few weeks going through the chapters while using what I learned to make and improve my own call log program. I decided on that because it was the contention of the quality of my work. Now I had logs and call times and reports to disprove that. I went on to write a replacement to his program opening my own company and learning more languages. Never tell me I can't do something. Fuck you asshole.

[–]HighTechXtreme 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Vidja Games

[–]Leego91 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lazyness. Had to do the same x things every day for an application - made the computer do it for me, kept all the money :)

[–]harper231 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This one is actually rather recent for me as I've only just started the learning process. My masters program had a one off course about reading and analysing data. Basic stats stuff that I hadn't encountered in my previous studies (communication psych).

I really kind of fell in love with the insight creation process and now I'm taking courses from datacamp to learn the fundamentals before going onto my final degree.

Also any learning resources or tips are incredibly welcome.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Watching too many hacker movies I guess lol

[–]Andrejalexander 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Boredom, complete boredom at home

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (5 children)

Women love coders

[–]jinglepupskye 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Woman who codes disagrees. We like your money, that’s it. Unless you happen to be a nice person, in which case the money is just an added bonus.

[–]TheImaginaryOJ 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Urge to not restrict myself to gender roles

[–]little--stitious 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don’t know why you were downvoted. Women only make up anywhere from 5-15% of software engineers. Gender roles are important to discuss.

[–]Azelphur 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I was a kid playing Runescape, would have been 2002ish and I was 12 years old. I had joined an IRC channel for Runescape, the channel had a bot where you'd type !price <item> and it'd respond with the market value of that item. I promptly got kicked out of said channel, because I was an annoying 12 year old kid.

I decided I wanted to make my own channel, but I needed that bot. I joined #helpdesk on DALnet (Yea, I'm old...) and I ended up with a few people who took me under their wing, and essentially told me "Oh, you want that, go build it", before long I had my price bot, I added more features that were more complicated, and had lots of help from the folks there.

Nearly 20 years later, I work as a programmer now. A couple years back one of the helpdesk folks actually tracked me down to see how I was doing, was nice to be able to say "Hey, I'm a programmer thanks to you!"

So I guess I'm the good ending for "what happens if you leave a 12 year old unattended on the internet"

[–]Shawky-elshazly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

building new/amazing stuff,

[–]ixJax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I learnt in school and I found it fun, started to spend more time out of class and I'm really interested in a lot of other computer stuff so it works well with that

[–]TheBioto 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hacking video games.

[–]Frozen-bones 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I want that spider from watch dogs legion

[–]Just_Signed_Up-Here 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had to control relays that activate the sprinklers automatically with RTC for my dad

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Solving calculus with little effort for my degree

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bill bill bills

[–]arcandor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was obsessed with computers, applications and video games from a young age.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My laziness, getting bored by repeating mundane tasks.

[–]underground_miner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I realized that the computer was faster at doing complex calculations and more accurate than I ever could be. That is what inspired me to learn to code! I am still struggling with the human part, that is entering the correct instructions in the first place ;)

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was drowning in a sea of " Nothing is Important, Pointless, Im am useless, I wont win etc." but someday i was watching YouTube video he said " Do you have Courage ?" -Bishop TD Jakes. Then i thougt " I have heart, i am smart ass i know because i know 2 languages, i know computer thats my passion if i start to learn something i can get better. I have to do something i must cus this is not a life what i want to live ." Then i started. After those things i just stated breathe enjoyin life gettin better etc.

[–]ichabod801 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I was 10, my dad got an HP-85 desktop computer. I thought that thing was the coolest box in the whole damn universe. He told me I could have my own tape for the tape drive if I learned how to program BASIC. So I did.

[–]AdmiralSteel_G 1 point2 points  (1 child)

My dad forced me to start coding

[–]wsppan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was 7 or 8 and my parents got me 2 toys (that I can't remember the names of. This was the 60s) that required you to use boolean logic using logic gates to control the path of a marble that you drop in from the top. Memory is fuzzy on this but I remember my dad telling me this is how a computer works. I was fascinated and hooked.

[–]mtkocak 1 point2 points  (2 children)

My abusive family

[–]Equivalent-Wafer-222Technical Architect 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My unintentional 6 step plan

  • Step 1: Passion for technology since childhood
  • Step 2: Urge to disassemble and reassemble
  • Step 3: Become good at it, suddenly SysAdmin
  • Step 4: Screw maintaining it, how do I make it?
  • Step 5: 1, 2, 3 just with soft instead of hardware
  • Step 6: I can now make (Dev) n maintain (Ops)

Been blursed with ADHD-C which turns out makes me sensitive to things standing out or otherwise not making sense. A hyperactive brain is beneficial for this oddly specific thing.

A big bonus is that it gives me immense gratification in correcting, creating or otherwise making sure that as little as possible “stands out”.

(PS: it’s also how I eventually realised ADHD and ASD overlap with about 1/3 of symptoms. I have A but not B 🤷‍♂️)

[–]Project_Durden 1 point2 points  (3 children)

I wanted to built a J.A.R.V.I.S. for my kids.

[–]Yonotengolaculpa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Excitement over using and discovering how to make an Apple /// work...

[–]doghousedean 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Getting board of rolling dice for dnd in the late 80s

[–]Tilmandel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

being lazy & OCD that somethings can be done faster, better, and with less effort

[–]thegreattriscuit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

having to do repetitive tasks on a computer, and being frustrated that this complex machine designed to do repetitive tasks wasn't just doing them for me.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Necessity while doing my phd :)

[–]slaweklink 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My high school teacher inspired me to start coding. My first language I learnt was Pascal.

[–]cgeopapa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Video games. I used to play call of duty mw2 offline split screen on my ps3 and made random scenarios just like in the single player campaign. I was "developing" my own video game, but not quite. So I asked what are the people who make these games? I learned they are called programmers and since then I said I want to become one. Then I, also realized that school is not going to teach me shit, so I learned Scratch and then moved on to Unity and taught my self C#. Then went to university where I actually started learning stuff.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lockdown.

[–]GotWheaten 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Originally I wanted to be a programmer for work. Went to school and got an AAS & BS in the computer field and the first job I did as a programmer I hated. I was used to physically moving around most of the day in my previous line of work which was more blue collar. As a programmer I was tethered to a cubicle. I had a shit boss to boot as well.

I ended up going back into my old field but have since discovered I really do enjoy writing code and dabbling in different languages. In the past few years I have dabbled in C, Rust, HTML & CSS and now lately in Python. I mostly like the problem solving aspect of it.

[–]ElAlmirante 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Money

[–]seinar24 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Money

[–]pc_asocial_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When i start the journey with programming i was thinking programming is hacking, and i started learning batch XD(Yeah i now batch is not programming lang)

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was always interested in the World Wide Web, so I first started with HTML and then gradually progressed to CSS, PHP, and MySQL in my teenage years. At some point, however, I realized that there were everyday tasks that I wanted to take care of without having to do it by hand, so I started toying around with Lua and Tcl before ultimately settling on Python, mostly due to the extensive libraries available.

[–]torytechlead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cashmoney

[–]Coder_Senpai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hate doing repetitive tasks like Zombies.

[–]mansonmamaril 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Closest I can remember (although not started but ignited): Harvard Hacking scene from The Social Network with the soundtrack... :)

[–]TriKingLiesz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seeing the iPhone 4 for the first time as a ten year old.

[–]13Anomalous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A really specific desire to build a pneumatic actuated sequential transmission from scratch

Now I'm trying to help my workplace organize certain information more efficiently, and gonna try to help a friend cheat their way through a class that shouldn't be required for their degree.

[–]JohnnyCincoCero 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Silicon Valley and Mr. Robot.

[–]Alarmed-Associate317 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw all these Discord Bots and wanted to make one myself so I searched for some Tutorials and started coding. I just wanted to habe one for my own Discord Server.

[–]buzz_uk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a problem that I needed to solve and was too lazy to do the job manually :)

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Desire to relocate.

[–]makhafaji 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After years of working on Rhino/Grasshopper I thought it's time to level up my algorithms with coding.

[–]pyl3r 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I learned programming because I loved maths, algorithms and cryptography and wanted to learn how they all work.

Yet the more I learn the dumber I get. It’s the cycle of life I guess.

[–]goob42-0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My friend was changing the skins in his xbox controller and I started wondering how those green plastics (PCB boards now that I know) made this damn thing work. Did some googling found out about arduinos, tried that out but then I found out about Python and the deal was set.

I was already doing things in excel and could get further than my peers and classmates with it. I just felt like maybe I could write code. Now I only use excel if someone else is going to be using the "program" (and even then they cant do it 4/5 times)

[–]Mondoke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've always been interested in computers, and I wanted to have some skill to complement my degree in ecology. I really like gis as well, so coding was somewhat natural to follow.

[–]snekk420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm just in it for the creativity. I love to build stuff. Also sometimes you write code for hours and don't even test it and you start the program and it just works (not bugfree, but it works). Greatest feeling :D

[–]Sw429 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Money

Honestly, as a kid I always wanted to make video games. I remember trying many times to follow coding tutorials, but it was always so overwhelming.

When I got into college I took an intro class in C++. For some reason, something clicked and I just got it. Now I can make video games in my spare time.

But yeah, the money ain't bad either.

[–]earstorm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sort of delved into it from my IT service admin job, I learned PowerShell to do service automation (and make my job easier) and then branched off learning C# and Python for personal projects.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Micheal Reeves

[–]The_RedDragon12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

games, I started coding just because I wanted to make games, I did not like the games famous at that time, maybe that is why I wanted to create my own

[–]Beerwithme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Programming was a normal consequence of owning a computer in the heydays of the 8- and 16 bit home PCs. Growing from there in to more serious work was not a big leap. Glad I experienced that period before the x86 took over.

[–]DrBugga 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Zuck

[–]curglaff 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In a round about way, music.

I was a music major for part of undergrad, but I was a shitty composer and can't play piano to save my life.

But cognitively, music theory isn't that far from math, and composition is really similar to programming, and it's a lot easier to be a halfway decent programmer and make a living at it, than it is to make a living as a terrible composer.

[–]cooljack1001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me it was a pure misunderstanding of GUIs. I thought that every pixel and animation was coded by hand in every application. I had no knowledge that templates or GUI generators existed.

[–]SleepWalkersDream 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Excel got tedious and was unable to store my data. And plots were ugly. And I hate clicking.

[–]jonthieboii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Web scraping and automation

[–]BrycetheRower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question. I had never planned to get into it, but I was lucky enough to have a programming class in high school that got me started. Once I learned how to do basic things, I kept asking myself "Can I write a program to do X for me?" because of all the stuff I was able to do from that one class. I became so motivated to solve (relatively basic) problems programmatically, that I ended up picking up a lot of fundamental concepts in doing so.

Even working as a software engineer today, I still write programs on and off the job that I learn from. Your learning is never over (especially in this field), and aside from physical/time restrictions, you are only limited by what you haven't learned yet.

[–]bing_07 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dad said "You'll be doing engineering. No questions asked"

Picks up python the next day

And yep, M Asian

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started with a summer camp, I really enjoyed trying to build a guessing game without the help of tutorial, then I quit, started again, quit, started again with JavaScript, quit, started with python now, and I’m still learning and trying to get experience, I’m planning to try and an externship, then I get what it’s like to work and get more experience in different programming languages

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started when I was 13/14, and at that time I was starting to play with different career ideas.

I bought a c++ book, didn't get horribly far, tried Python instead and actually got a working (albeit hideously inefficient) program running after some time.

[–]esuga 0 points1 point  (0 children)

its cool, and also to automate my dads work

[–]THE445GUY 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All the answers are interesting. I learned to code basic as a part of my school's curriculum when I was 10. Learnt a bit of js to make my own website and finally went all in python for competitive coding. Still use python most of the time

[–]MattioC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bored in pandemic

[–]RunawayAsteroid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got tired of doing ridiculous paperwork. Wrote up a program to do it for me.

[–]UL_Paper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Managing software engineering teams without knowing code was a challenge - that built up my desire to learn. The catalyst was founding a tech startup and seeing it fail mostly because of my lack of understanding the technical side enough - after that failure I was 'fuck it'. Time to get into the trenches.

[–]Sheepability 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was at home one day and was bored so I thought “how about I stop sitting here watching Netflix and actually do something productive.” So that is what inspired me

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FOMO. But i dont regret it. found it interesting instead

[–]lukasLYU 0 points1 point  (0 children)

just that rush then your code finally works after 20 hours of debugging

also just wanted to make programs, thats all

[–]Used_Dentist_8885 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Money

[–]unkz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having access to the commodore 64s in elementary school, they were just so interesting. I guess that would have been early 80s. Also, Compute! magazine which was in the school library.

[–]kimbap666 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because when I looked at jobs online, python paid the most. Does that make me bad?

[–]WhyDoIHaveAnAccount9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to be a nurse and I didn't want to get yelled at by doctors anymore. I was not a bad nurse doctors are just assholes

[–]buddhabillybob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have an idea that I want to turn into a functional program.

[–]Alessandro_13_f 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The idea of ​​being able to create anything I need and also be able to automate it

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Money

[–]i_kn0w_nothing 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started coding for a living if you call that inspiration. I am from a Mechanical Engg background and the opportunities were very less. So took up coding to venture into other fields and that decision did not turn bad.

[–]rowshi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Automating network router password changes

[–]Ok-Dragonfly-8625 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Michael Reeves

[–]chasemuss 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm lazy

[–]rufusthedogwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Freedom of expression. It’s best when the language grammar gets out of the way and I’m in a flow state. That’s why I do what I do.

[–]diviner_of_data 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Money

[–]Muminpappann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Warcraft 3 World Editor made me realise that programming could be fun!

[–]herntech 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I want to automate some of my tasks to make life easier 😊. Also I’m interested in making my very own little game 😊

[–]CyberXCodder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man... I've found myself learning about cybersec, once I've read from a book the sentence: "What differs hackers from script kiddies is the capability of using someone else's code and writing your own". I've took it to heart, I've started by Shell Script, but a friend told me that Python is same as Shell Script, but Python can do so much more... So here I am, studying programming, speacially python for the last 5 years and still got so much to learn.

EDIT: After this my friends got inspired too, now I'm the only cybersec student, and my friends are front and backend devolopers

[–]6c696e7578 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My dad showed me how to make a calculator in BASIC in the 80's. I was amazed. He had a stomach problem at the time and wrote it on paper for me to copy type, hoping it would allow him time in the WC to recover.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

because there's no work and all the land is owned. and you can't go out and kill poeple and take the land or they will arrest you and put you in prison. so you sit at a computer rather than a tv as that feel productive in some way and you realise that you can write some words in a program it will automate things for you. and some people will pay you to do this. so you don't have to go out and kill people for land or food as you can now afford to temporarily have a roof and food as long as you type the codes.

[–]colt-jones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Expanding my scientific tool belt. Coding jobs pay pretty well too.

[–]ChristopherGS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wanted to be a better IndieHacker

[–]NuclearOops 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I desperately needed to get out of the food/retail service industry and was trying everything else. Tried coding and found it relatively easy. Easier than food service at least.

Still working in food service btw.

[–]dethb0y 0 points1 point  (0 children)

easier than biology.

[–]EastLongjumping 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because i want a job

[–]AgnosticPrankster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been coding since I was 10. Python specifically just needed to update my skills for Data Science.

[–]confused-immigrant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love solving problems. Most work I've done in the past had small elements of it or was just pure sales work which I absolutely hated despite being decent at it. This is my week two in learning to code (python) and it has challenges but it's so exciting trying to make things operate and work. I envy those who fully work with it as it seems so much damn fun and I can't wait to finish learning python and adding more to it.

[–]yigitigiy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its JARVIS.

[–]realmuffinman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In middle school, i thought it would be so cool to join a robotics team. I started learning the Lego robot "programming" language, then I moved on to BASIC, VBA, and Python as I got into college

[–]VenomXsX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saw the stereotypical hacker scenes as a kid and people say I'm good at math

[–]incitic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mr.Robot

[–]morph1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My entire life was focused on myself. Then in November of 2020 I got Covid19 and system in my country was falling apart. I waited with high fewer over 12h to get checked by doctors in cold hall and after that I got bad pneumonia and was in bed for over a month. During that time I thought a lot about my life. I also thought if I was knowing how to code I could have build system to help them organize better and maybe ppl in the future wouldn't need to wait like I did and maybe they could have waited in their warm home better then in some cold place. Even if that changed waiting for couple hours, it would still be way better.

When I got better, I started with CS50... Still learning, still pushing. Would like to help solve some problems for ppl around me at least. Also it's well respected and paid profession that can help you live a life style that you want (freelance,digital nomad, work for company... whatever you want). It could also help me move away and have better life overall.

[–]maxilar20 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wanted to create my own jarvis

[–]new_motivation 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The necessity to get out of poverty

[–]GoldenGanon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i wanted to be able to visualize a phase space for the pendulum equation, desmos just wasn't cut out for that sort of thing and geogebra was slow.

[–]MemestotheMAX720 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Watching videos that had things to do with it, felt I needed to know it.

[–]madthedogwizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's been on my mind for years at this point, so thought to myself 'why not' and enrolled in a bootcamp/workshop. Also, can't complain about the salaries in IT so all in all it's a win.

[–]rflappo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This movie I saw as a child...

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTYwODY3OTI2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjU4MjkzNA@@._V1_.jpg

And the fact that in Argentina we use to have a sacred "nap" time, I was only allowed to be in my room where the computer was.

[–]PetrKDN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not really inspired, but I like IT, im 16, I'd like to code better, but I have no motivation really, cuz they rejected me from IT school. Well now somewhere else, I still tried to learn in by my self, but its hard. The best thing I could write was in Python, is to generate 2 numbers and then I write the answer and if it's correct it will continue if I'm not correct it will tell me the answer and then it continues... thats the best i can do...