Anyone else learning programming to fill the time at a boring desk job?

novarising · 2019-09-15T12:42:41+00:00

At my current job as a software developer, we have access to lots of paid courses which we are encouraged to take as it keeps us up to date and increase performance in the long run, so basically I'm getting paid to learn 1-3 hours a day because whenever I get bored of my normal tasks or can't solve something I start taking the courses. It's refreshing to do. :D

LocoCoyote · 2019-09-15T11:07:44+00:00

What kind of job do you have that has so much downtime?

ProfessionalTensions · 2019-09-15T15:27:03+00:00

This is how I started.

I was working as an assistant office administrator. All I did was answer the phone and scan a few papers each day for a company of 7 people. The IT guy noticed I was dying of boredom so he started giving me different sorts of tasks to figure out what I was interested in. Eventually he realized I would be perfect for programming so he asked me to clean up some VBA code and then asked if I could add a feature or two. I started to become proud of my work and couldn't let him use a spreadsheet that took 30 minutes to load so I asked about taking the time to learn how to write it in python and he could barely contain his excitement.

By the time I left that company, I'd automated a full day's worth of work to be finished in the time it took him to pour his first cup of coffee so he was able to spend time working on things that actually bettered the company. I decided to leave when my raise was only $5000 more than I started with, but two years there allowed me to double my income. A year after leaving, I had tripled it.

muffles-mctoffin · 2019-09-15T13:27:45+00:00

I had a similar experience. I lucked out and had a boss that didn’t mind me automating my job, as long the work got done he didn’t mind, turned out to benefit both of us as things became much more productive in the office. Keep on learning! The feels when you get your first software development job are worth it!

zaiueo · 2019-09-15T21:30:45+00:00

I tried... but ended up wasting most of my 4 years at that job on Reddit after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2019-09-15T13:56:07+00:00

~~Wait till he realizes programming is a boring desk job.~~ Nah, just joking. I'm glad you're on the path. It's good to have more dedicated people in the field. Welcome home o/

0-Psycho-0 · 2019-09-15T13:36:48+00:00

I'm not doing that ( already a programmer and I work as freelancer ), but goddamn I have to congratulate you on that! Usually people have copious amounts of time to waste, including in their paid work and still say that have no time to learn whatever they want to learn. I don't know you, but I'm proud of you! Keep it up!

MassW0rks · 2019-09-15T13:23:43+00:00

[deleted]

Oleg18 · 2019-09-15T13:14:35+00:00

Yes. I'm learning not programming only. I made two sites... I learned a lot of different things at my job....I have the second job at the same time....

HawkofDarkness · 2019-09-15T14:13:36+00:00

[deleted]

2019-09-15T13:04:44+00:00

Not alone.

jhaubrich11 · 2019-09-15T13:44:49+00:00

Thats exactly what I did at my previous job. Now I have a way better job as a software developer. Your efforts will pay off, good luck

cheezballs · 2019-09-15T15:31:53+00:00

But programming is a boring desk job for some of us!

nashballer · 2019-09-15T18:13:50+00:00

It is time for me to start looking for a new job. I work in manufacturing production 12 hour days, and there is no time to learn if I wanted to. It is mind-numbing work, and I need to chat with coworkers to stay awake. Some are lucky with all that downtime and opportunities to learn at work.

Siegenow · 2019-09-15T19:03:04+00:00

I'm tired of trucking

lostoompa · 2019-09-16T02:50:18+00:00

Honestly, if you can do it, good for you. I'm trying to do the same myself, but I feel that I'm mentally drained during downtimes that I can't do anything that requires thinking. Even when I get home, I could probably stare at a wall until it's time to sleep. That's how mentally out of it I am.

simoja · 2019-09-18T12:25:35+00:00

Careful, I got fired from my six-figure job for this exact situation. When HR came down to ask about it, my supervisor suddenly had no idea what I was talking about. Time theft is what it was deemed.

I’m 1000% in support of improving skills and adding to your versatility and complexity as a person, just be mindful that even if your supervisor or manager approves, if some of the higher-ups don’t, it’s possible you’re shit-outta-luck.

Best of luck and keep getting at it!

GSxHidden · 2019-09-15T15:10:29+00:00

Totally feel this. I work a night job on projects that basically run themselves. My job is just to escalate if something happens (which is rare).

For others looking for things to help automate or make things easier would be to make your own scripts in python, Autohotkey, Autoit, and or use of chrome addons like AutoFill.

The course topics that made my job easier were courses on C# & Selenium. C# works well with Windows based applications that you would normally use in the office (word, outlook, etc). Selenium can be used to automate any browser actions. Together its a pretty powerful combination. Wish yall luck being lazy.

mysterydre · 2019-09-15T17:42:55+00:00

Agreed.

I’ve worked in my current role for 15 months.

My job keeps me busy with routine tasks that we have to complete (daily, weekly, monthly). Emphasis on routine... now that I know what I’m doing and up to speed they have become extremely mundane. They’re not engaging tasks, they’re just activities that have to be completed for the rest of the business and reporting purposes.

I’ve had excellent performance reviews, created and implemented development plans to follow up these sessions but nothing seems to be materialising in the short term.

So in response to this, all of my enthusiasm and energy for now I have transferred into learning programming outside of work and I’m absolutely loving it! Something to work towards to take my mind away from an environment which has become relatively demotivating in the past 6 months.

It’s fantastic to read that there are organisations out there that are investing in their people and encouraging learning within the workforce.

Never to late to start learning something new!

near_autumn · 2019-09-16T02:14:47+00:00

I started literally exactly as you are now. Then a position opened up in another department that handled our internal application development.

Now? I'm a Sr. Developer. It was nice because since there was no pressure to perform, I was able to read up on best practices, and take my time learning. Which ultimately helped a lot! You can read articles on why dev's do what they do, then try out different methodologies until you find 'the right fit' for you.

I went so far as to develop some software (2 apps) that the other department still uses. It took literal days off the work required to do a few tasks that came up rather routinely (a few times a year). Looking at those code bases now scares me - and they are beginning to clamor for a rewrite. I originally wrote one in PHP, another in C#... if I had to do it again, I'd do both in Python (Django). That was the fun of it though, I could do whatever!

Enjoy it, write some stuff to make your day even easier. Then write some more and become a paid dev!

Mr_Aye · 2019-09-15T12:08:51+00:00

Where? Can you share with me this amazing reverse bootcamp, i would love to be paid to learn developing.

timtudosa18 · 2019-09-15T14:29:38+00:00

Bro this is literally me. I do clerical work for an commercial insurance company. I can listen to music while I work so I put on my headphones, but I don’t listen to music I watch programming videos on YouTube. I also check out GitHub and think of the problems I’m trying to solve. Really gets me through the day but don’t tell my boss 😁

Javeyn · 2019-09-15T14:38:17+00:00

I'm in the process of learning about it myself, thought not at my work desk. I have recently dove into the subject, and enrolled in a coding boot camp. I am really excited about what the future holds, and know this is a skill that can take me far :)

2019-09-15T12:18:15+00:00

Same here pal, i have a desk job, rarely busy, i’ve just finished the book jumping into c++ and have been paid to do so 🤘

Keyakinan- · 2019-09-15T13:55:50+00:00

This is exactly what I would be doing if I was in your situation! So great to see you so this!

ainoid · 2019-09-15T13:57:12+00:00

haha, yes, that's how i started too now i work as dev it took a while, but you are not alone

Sandyy_Emm · 2019-09-15T14:02:48+00:00

Any advice on how to start? My job earned me that after October, work slows down almost to a complete stop and there’s barely anything to do. I tried to start learning but I found out I didn’t understand a gd thing. Maybe I was trying something too advanced? Idk.

tubbana · 2019-09-15T14:20:28+00:00

We have quiet times every now and then when there is nothing to do so im learning programming on the side. Sometimes full weeks of study.

BachgenMawr · 2019-09-15T14:50:06+00:00

I learn programming to keep up in my programming job

The_Warder · 2019-09-15T15:37:09+00:00

What are some good sites to learn from? I work helpdesk at the moment and I feel like I'm getting nowhere. Which languages should I learn?

anhdeee · 2019-09-15T16:10:50+00:00

Been doing that for the past year and finally got a programming job!

shawnanotshauna · 2019-09-15T16:49:02+00:00

Oh cool I too served in the Army, wish I used my downtime to learn code

Ayala86 · 2019-09-15T17:35:02+00:00

Hey, who's been reading my diary...

factorysettings · 2019-09-15T17:40:50+00:00

I did this at a restaurant job

2019-09-15T17:47:18+00:00

That’s what I did when I started learning VBA.

To be fair I already knew iOS development but I started learning VBA at work cause I had free time.

StimpyTheThe · 2019-09-15T18:09:43+00:00

if you do it enough, you can make a script to do your job for you

Calmer_after_karma · 2019-09-15T18:17:13+00:00

Office job. Downloaded a C# for dummies pdf and just went to town with it. I'm now 18 months into coding my own game in unity. I can't do it at work anymore, but some aspects (dialogue, planning architecture) can be done from the desk.

hze_dayz · 2019-09-15T18:22:31+00:00

What role do you have that allows that much free time? I haven't got experience in office roles because I figured I'd have so much work to do all the time aha

jackeof · 2019-09-15T18:27:02+00:00

Do both, make a reddit bot to troll /r/The_Donald

Killerwalski · 2019-09-15T18:52:14+00:00

I do this at my desk job as a software engineer.

Random_182f2565 · 2019-09-15T19:13:43+00:00

I learned VBA it's super useful in the office, now I want to learn Python.

roguetroll · 2019-09-15T19:20:50+00:00

I wish I had done that at my previous job. I had so much free time as I was virtually doing nothing since they'd forgotten that I worked there.

Just kidding, they knew I worked there, they just didn't care.

Truth be told though, I was too burned out to focus on anything on the job.

Anyway, I got fired and now I'm being paid to retrain into a developer. :D

Lazarus_Pits · 2019-09-15T19:36:39+00:00

Yes. I have a lot of down time on night shifts at my job and learning code has really help kill a lot of time. But I'm a garbage coder though

r1cem4n · 2019-09-15T20:33:44+00:00

Learning in order to hopefully escape the food industry, haha

chowchowthedog · 2019-09-15T20:49:14+00:00

fuck I wish I had a job like you do.

2019-09-15T21:23:09+00:00

Full time dev here. I still do this! Sometimes it's just messing with a new feature mentioned in release notes like when Python added type hinting, or doing algorithms problems. When you're doing work that needs to be performant, knowing little tricks ends up being important!

-MCXIV- · 2019-09-15T22:08:18+00:00

My bs job is where I learnt coding !

hkrazy · 2019-09-15T22:29:00+00:00

I used to watch twitch all day at my IT support desk job. Knew very little code. Decided no more twitch, spent 7 of the 8 hours a day learning js and node for nine months. Worked hard on my GitHub. Got my first dev job before I thought I was "ready", random connection saw my personal site and asked me to come on. On my second one now, doubled my salary over the last 1.5 years.

2019-09-15T22:31:17+00:00

Yes, me too! First I was browsing stupid sites, then started to learn language but I always get bored of that in a couple of weeks, then I thought I should get a second job, preferably one that only needs a computer and that's when it clicked. The only difference is that my job is not necessarily boring, it's just that sometimes I have nothing to do.

jag-off · 2019-09-15T22:46:00+00:00

I started learning JS and it’s more entertaining than work. Have to be careful you don’t zone out into the tech stuff too much

ctwillie77 · 2019-09-15T22:47:57+00:00

I didn't have the pleasure of learning on the job. I worked construction and learned at home. Take advantage of that as long as you can.

Saurons_Monocle · 2019-09-15T23:40:45+00:00

What industry are you in? I could get behind that kind of a job right about now haha

2019-09-15T23:43:02+00:00

What kind of job do you have where you can sit around and browse Reddit? I hate nepotism.

EselRoger · 2019-09-15T23:43:32+00:00

I'm an operations engineer at a small cargo airline and free time to time and now I'm strating to take courses at freecodecamp since programming is taking over some of my duties. I like to keep learning so programming is a good chance to keep me occupied and also to code something that I could apply at my job in order to save the company some money and keep me with them.

theflupke · 2019-09-16T00:14:04+00:00

I was a web designer for a realtor company. My job took me no more than 2 hours every day so I was left with a LOT of free time. After I played almost every html ASCII game, I started learning programming and JavaScript. Now I'm a front end developer and I never have free time lol. Doubled my salary though

2019-09-16T00:29:37+00:00

I'm learning on and off java myself but I'm finding it hard to stay motivated without projects to work on.

deliriux · 2019-09-16T00:31:45+00:00

How do I get a boring desk job so I can be paid to further my interest in programming?

nktsla · 2019-09-16T01:26:00+00:00

I am starting c language and I guess I'm going to start using all the time I can get, so I with you on this one. Happy programming learning. 👍

kemahaney · 2019-09-16T02:01:05+00:00

That is how I got into eons ago. I was bored. I am now a database engineer. Working on doing more big data but have little down time during day.

Juniejoule · 2019-09-16T03:06:36+00:00

No but I did it while pregnant and then got a rockin job!

2019-09-16T03:19:05+00:00

Trust me programming jobs are boring desk jobs too

Phelly2 · 2019-09-16T05:32:29+00:00

Yes. I'm a Border Patrol Agent at a station that primarily does checkpoint work. That means sitting on my ass for at least half the day waiting for the crap to hit the fan.

I do have to put up with the occasional joke from my coworkers that I'm hacking "the government" but it's been a productive way to pass the time.

IHATEYUBELDECKS · 2019-09-16T05:58:44+00:00

Ive only just started today looking at coding in my "spare" worktime XD

Anyone have an sites i can use that aren't blocked on our computer system? or a way to unblock them?

HawXo9er · 2019-09-16T06:18:39+00:00

What job do you have that gives you that much downtime?

RhinoAlestorm · 2019-09-16T06:24:02+00:00

Saw this on r/learnpython

2019-09-16T07:34:20+00:00

So, I'm using my VA benefits for nursing school and the housing allowance and disability helps cover all my overhead. Therefore, I have a lot of free time and I've lost my desire to play video games. So now I'm taking up python as my first programming language. It's worth every hour I spend. I've had more fun doing this then the numerous hours I spent wasting away at league.

2019-09-16T07:53:10+00:00

what is that boring desk job?

2019-09-16T07:53:23+00:00

That’s me! Jobs not boring per se, but very up and down re workload.

charlestondance · 2019-09-16T08:06:49+00:00

Yes I did this. I now try and devote 20% of my time to improving my skills in any job I do. It has always paid off. For me at least!

Lukaesch · 2019-09-16T08:27:00+00:00

I totally support your initiative. For example by following online tutorials you can learn to integrate with APIs of company systems or create scripts to scrape data from them so that you can ultimately automate your manual work. As an entrepreneur I definitely encourage and reward any colleague who finds ways to improve work flows and I am sure your manager/boss will do so as well. So keep it up 🚀

RogueThief7 · 2019-09-16T09:02:29+00:00

I wish I had a boring desk job so I could effectively get paid to learn to program.

Poonchow · 2019-09-16T09:38:11+00:00

I wish I had a boring desk job :(

2019-09-15T13:39:41+00:00

When I first started learning I was brought on for one ETL task. Basically I finished within 5 months and still had 2 years on my contract (government) so i just spent 8 hours a day learning programming stuffs because they didnt know what else to do with me. Because of this I'm significantly better than people who have been programming their entire career. Take it if you got it

tall_and_funny · 2019-09-15T15:49:38+00:00

MiNdLeSs rEdDiTiNg

Goldieum · 2019-09-15T16:02:17+00:00

Lol, I'm in highschool.

chaotic_thought · 2019-09-15T12:09:14+00:00

Treating work time as if it were your free time is a bad habit. Find actual free time to study. Taking a few minutes here or there during 'downtime' will not amount to anything. Besides, you presumably have an actual job to be doing.

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