What are the benefits of learning into computers? Specifically coding

What are the benefits of learning into computers? Specifically coding

H-1B

You get to slowly become more and more depressed as you realize the incompetence of the people around you. That and you might get to sit in a nice comfy office, with a nice warm cup of coffee everyday.

This so fucking much. It's not just incompetence, but outright stupidity, too. I genuinely lie awake at night wondering how some people make a bowl of cereal without burning their kitchen down, or somehow manage to not drown themselves eating it.

The more you understand about any field, the more this will hurt you. I studied physics and electronic engineering. Apparently all my degree has gotten me is a sense of bitterness. I hear the same from people with degrees in medical, STEM, or other practical fields.

Biggest benefit is the realization that you're sacrificing your life developing something you don't give a shit about to make other people rich. Another nice benefit is the realization that life is becoming buried in unnecessary complexity that will consume nearly all your time attempting to manage.

loop until death

Let's siphon off some of the depression here.


And then, you realize that just about everyone has the same feelings. Some of them, probably, about you.

Knowledge is highly compartmentalized. I used to work IT at a state testing laboratory. We had people with PhDs in organic chemistry with published works that I couldn't even begin to make sense of. We also had secretaries and admin assistant type people.

The PhD's managed to fuck up their computers by executing the malware of the day and just generally doing stupid luser shit about 3x as much as the secretaries did.

Now, is a secretary smarter than a doctor of organic chemistry?

Something to think about. Most feelings of "that guy is an idiot" come from inadequate communication.


As someone who fucking loves this field, for the most part I don't give a tuppenny fuck about the end product. Some closet faggot Mormon in Utah getting their porn at max bitrate? Not exactly world changing.

I'm much more interested in the process of getting there. Unnecessary complexity? user, assembly is simple - does't mean you want to write everyday fucking programs in it. All of computing (and a good chunk of life for that matter) is abstraction upon abstraction upon abstraction. All abstractions are leaky, and all suck. There's no such thing as a perfect architecture or a perfect system or perfect code. The sooner you realize this and stop pining for an impossible idea, the sooner you learn to enjoy the journey.

Everyone should know at least some basic coding, just like everyone should know at least some basic handiwork. Imagine how pathetic it would be to run to the bike shop and pay someone just to fix just a flat tire for you. Obviously there will always be some tasks that require a professional, but for simple work people should be able to help themselves. It makes you independent and it's a good feeling in general.

So the answer to "what are the benefits of learning computers" is "what are the benefits to learning anything".

But the OP specifically asked about learning into computers???

Some of the more positive benefits is that you will get to understand how a computer works and what you can do with it. You will (in most cases) be able to solve all your computer problems and people will pretty much consider you a wizard

This.

I agree except for the gay porn part. If you know your technology is going to help a man be gay you should stop.

Stupidity isn't the same as lack of knowledge, m8.
Maybe not, but the doctor sure as fuck is stupid.

You left out the part where you get paid a pretty substantial wage in IT, even if you're a H1B pooinloo.

Hell, even if you're with a shitty subcontractor that takes a lot of your dosh away, you're getting paid well for your work.
t. system admin

The same applies. Here is a concrete example: I had a bunch of photos where the date on the camera was wrong. I don't know about any program that can automatically change the data on a hundred or so photographs by a certain time and date difference. If I had known how to code back then I could have just thrown together a small script in Shell or Python or something and have it done in one swoop. That experience made me feel really pathetic and it was one of the motivators for getting into computers properly.

Another example is cloning NTFS hard drives. There is literally no program that can create a perfect 1:1 copy of such a drive. Some Windows programs come close to 1:1, but they still need Windows to "repair" the installation afterwards. However, there are some Unix tools that do a part of that task, so I was able to glue them together using a Shell script, which I then automated using another shell script so I was able to type one command and have the entire process on autopilot instead of having to babysit twenty hard drives all day.


Fun fact, the manual that came with my bike does not show how to take off the rear wheel, it tells me to have it professionally done. Omission of documentation is already a step in that direction. Of course I just typed the name of my gears into YouTube and found a video; one really just has to insert a thin metal rod into a hole and pull it like a lever so you can dislodge the wire, that is seriously all that's needed.

I make great money now (senior embedded systems engineer), but the older I get the more I realize money is irrelevant. It's only the young and ignorant who value money over life. If I could go back and change my younger self's view of life I would have chosen a different path.

I also believe a good number of NEETs are NEETs because they are lost, don't have any hope, or just don't know what to do with their lives because they haven't figured out what they want to do. Instead they just ride it out escaping life through video games, internet, etc.

That's the issue with becoming an expert at anything. Most people are just a waste of oxygen.

And you thought being an aristocrat had no downsides.

Everyone will hate you and leave you alone

as are those who call themselves experts

the dumb meme that coding and computer science teaches you to think abstractly is accurate

yet logical approaches aren't always best

STEMfag here, can confirm. I've also gotten to learn how much there is to know, how much I don't know, and how much I will never know. But coding can at least distract me from all that for awhile, so there is a benefit.

None. Now go away.

IT guys who act obnoxious about being smarter tend to be some of the most stupid fucks around, though. Their troubles include picking up women, talking, driving, haggling, public speaking, eating healthy, getting fit, investing their money, and even understanding basic logic. Watch some mong prove the point by getting angry at this post because he can't understand a subset of a group isn't the whole group.