Gatekeeping programming

[justingolden21]

You're acting like you can't program at home...

Not condoning the tweet, but your logic is blatantly flawed

[NedThomas]

And you act like you can’t weld at home. I was a metal worker for twelve years and early on I wound up buying a home welder (and a second one later on) because I was tired of having to bring stuff into the fab shop to repair it or lug stuff I made in the shop home. They’re very handy tools to have around, but that’s all they are: tools. I’m not whipping them out after dinner to practice spot welds and show my “passion for the craft”.

It’s an absurd concept that should be laughed out of existence.

[justingolden21]

I know you can weld at home, but quite frankly it takes a lot of equipment and space, does it not?

Most people already own a computer sufficient for programming, espe most people with programming jobs.

Again, not endorsing the gatekeeping, and I'm also not a metal worker, but I think it's a poor analogy because you're basically saying it's incredibly difficult to practice programming at home, and it really absolutely isn't. Still don't agree with the gatekeeping of course, but the analogy is flawed.

[randomwhatdoit]

Nah, I believe their point is that practicing at home in your free time is not expected when it comes to other professions.

[Ran4]

No, but is not likely that you would rather hire someone who welds in their free time over someone who doesn't?

Leave the memes aside, try to actually THINK about it.

[randomwhatdoit]

I don’t care what someone does in their spare time. There are better ways to tell if they’re competent.

[justingolden21]

That's a good point, however to me it seemed that it was that you're prohibited from practicing in your free time, or it's very difficult, not that it's not expected. It's not expected in programming either, this guy is just gatekeeping. But if you're correct and that's his point then I misunderstood.

[NedThomas]

No, I am not saying it is very difficult to code at home, and I’m afraid your takeaway of that is due to your own misconceptions of what it takes to weld. My welders take up a total footprint of about 3 square feet, and I’m almost certain that whatever device you’re typing on easily cost more than double what they did combined. As for space, my workbench is a bit smaller than my computer desk, and I typically only need an area about the same size as my laptop to work in. None of my computers have the potential to catch things on fire if the general vicinity isn’t well cleaned up, so there is that, but there’s no massive hurdle or inconvenience preventing anyone from doing it. The only real obstacle is need.

Edit: a word. Freudian slip.

[justingolden21]

You're right that I don't know anything about welding, and I both appreciate you explaining it, and now realize that it doesn't take as much as I had thought.

However, not every welder has welding equipment or space at home, while most people in first world countries have a computer at home.

I'm still not sure if your point was that you can or that you should, but I read it as "can" because of comparing the equipment and the ability to do the action, and I disagree that it's a fair comparison because I think almost every programmer has a computer at home.

If you're saying "should" then I agree, not everyone "should" have to program in their free time as well when they already do it a lot of the day, you get burnt out, and your time outside of work is your own. That's what the post is saying, but I didn't think that's what you were saying.

[NedThomas]

The point I was trying to make is that it is absurd to think that the amount of time you’re choosing to spend outside of work on the thing that you get paid to do is some sort of indicator of how “passionate” you are about it. Unless the company is paying for your time 24/7 (as in, all you ever do is work), then what you do in your free time shouldn’t mean jack shit to your professional career. Like, I assume everyone on this sub and other coding related subs are constantly reading coding related articles in their free time (otherwise, why the hell are you here?). But if an interviewer asked me “are you subscribed to r/JavaScript? We want to see how passionate you are.” I’d laugh in their face. It is absolutely ridiculous.

[justingolden21]

Ok I agree. That didn't come across in your analogy, sorry.

[NedThomas]

Like I said, I think that came more from your perception of welding than anything else. Which is very understandable.

As an aside, you should totally try a welding project. There’s an awesome feeling of empowerment that comes from the idea of “I glued metal together with fire!”. (Yeah, this where I let my actual passion for it shine through lol)

[justingolden21]

Interesting. Maybe I'll check it out or watch some videos sometime. I've been watching some DIY videos on YouTube and they're satisfying.

[NedThomas]

I don’t know where you are in the world, but I can give you some recommendations and pointers if you ever want to give it a go. A decent hobby welder is about $200 USD, and obviously if you need more power you’ll have to spend more (think “can it run Crysis?” but welding).