10 regrets of experienced programmers

I recently asked "You are on your deathbed, what do you regret the most about programming?". Let's break down the biggest mistakes shared by most software engineers.

#programming #tech #humor

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🔖 Topics Covered

- How do I become a better programmer?
- What do programmers regret?
- Pros and cons of learning to code
- Common mistakes in software engineering
- Worst programming languages

[TheFrenchClipper]

100% on the low-level languages.
I started with ASM, moved on to C, then C++ so i could comfortably hate Java, JS, front-end in general and complain about un-optimized programs and languages for the rest of my life.

[animeshsingh]

The section: "I wish I would have finished more projects" was left unfinished.
Nice touch!

[rkonTheAutomator]

Dear programmers - start working out. Genuinely. I started waking up super early to lift in the morning, and I'd never skip it now. You feel WAY BETTER and look your absolute best. Just fuckin do it.

[richdobbs]

I regret that by the time I got really effective at programming I started getting jobs at places that were toxic and had little interest in actually solving programming problems.

[ivonvoid]

Programming for 42 years now and still loving it as i enjoy looking for the simplest ways to solve complex problems. Programming brings your ideas to life.

[michaelnelson]

I'm 67 and severely disabled (since 52). I programmed professionally in Assembly, C, C++, C#, and Visual Basic (yuck). In 2021, I taught myself Python and have completed several projects for my own use. Keeps my mind sharp. I'm contemplating learning a new programming language now. It's much more fun now than when I did it for a living.

[borg_cube]

"I wish I did (or didn't) such and such when I was young." is the setup for severe anxiety and depression....don't go there. Ever. Regrets are futile, the past is gone.

[nixel]

My biggest regret is trying to make a career out of programming. It went from an interest, to a hobby, to an education, to a job. Somewhere along the line (roughly at 'education'), I realized the parts of programming I enjoy the most are also the parts that employers don't pay me for.

I've switched careers now, and that old unfinished Javascript game that's bitrotting on my harddrive is starting to look like a pretty fun project again. At least, until I look at the code. Man, what was I thinking.

[scoutchorton]

5:08 definitely would agree that my three semesters of community college working pretty much exclusively in C really shifted my mindset from “how do I solve this problem” to “how do I solve this problem in a way the computer can handle it efficiently”. That’s really been a shifting point in my experience as a developer

[Moon-liki]

the most regret is not taking algorithm and data structure classes seriously in college. Now I'm learning it to pass coding interviews and it is brutal. Recursion is my new worst enemy.

[polloman]

I’m not a tech programmer, but I program PLCs for a living and let me tell you, when you energize machines and it starts doing exactly what you programmed it to do, it feels amazing!
I’ll never get tired of admiring some of the most complex machines, watching them work is just breath taking.

[RottenMuLoT]

I'm quite surprised nobody talks about it but my biggest regret so far after almost 20 years is all that time not enjoying myself much and not having much good time with my colleagues and co-workers. It is always about solving problems, problems everywhere, all the time only problems. Problems, problems, problems. And at some point you get absorbed into it. Days, weeks, months, quarters, years are passing by and when you look back it is important to value our time on this planet. Gosh, I spent more time with my coworkers than with my mother, my dad and my brother, combined! Your team is literally your second family.

Like a road trip, the end goal is not what matters most but the adventures you went through and the people you met in between.

[Reality-hater]

I regret not learning how to farm and live off grid

[openmarkand]

I'm 35yo and coding since my 14'. I loved doing that for opensource and contributed vastly and then made my career on programming. my last company was almost perfect and I made myself extensively motivated and invested then an older one gets hired and disliked most of the thing I've designed. all of the things I've made was working, fully documented, rigorously tested and carefully formatted. cloc shown half of the lines were comments. then this individual made pressure and humiliated me on the very minimal error he could find that I would fix in 10 minutes at most and eventually he even managed to get me fired from the company. now I'm in the process of changing my whole life and searching in which area I could enjoy working again. It's terrible how the hell someone can manage you to hate your initial passion. the last point of the video is definitely for me. because of that individual I feel like programming is useless and that I don't provide anything meaningful for people and for the society.

for those who starts, take fucking care of your mental health.

[geuros]

Reminds me a nice quote I learnt from playing Civ IV:

"The designer knows he's achieved perfection not when there's nothing left to add, but when there's nothing left to take away"

[lcher]

I've been on youtube since 13 years and this is my first comment. The No. 10 hit me hard. As a developer with more than 15+ years of experience I've had the same thoughts and I believe I'm going thru exactly what you mentioned.

[kaiser]

As someone who switched careers 3 times, trust me, the crappy things about programming are WAY less crappy than the crappy things about other careers.

[EarendilMitsos]

You're so harsh on yourself with that last point. You have a brilliant mind, you have inspired me to look into things that I'm completely unfamiliar with your '100 second' videos and you help us laugh and navigate these crazy times in tech. _Thank you_ Jeff, sincerely, thank you.

[tapu_]

I have too many regrets to keep track of

[elliotanderson]

I had several jobs: Java fullstack developer, penetration tester, and C# fullstack developer. I got a CS master's degree. In the end, I came to conclude that I hate coding. I never actually create anything new or do anything that makes me feel worthy; it's either CRUD or copy-paste. In the end, I'm just a script boy or someone who knows how to use certain frameworks. There's little to no value in my job, and LeetCode is a scam. The tech interview is a scam. LeetCode helps you become familiar with data structures and algorithms, but I'm pretty sure you don't learn any problem-solving skills because many LeetCode problems essentially just apply a very specific solution to a very specific problem which you will never see in your lifetime. And we created this toxic environment.