Becoming a hobbyist coder can offer many benefits, from personal fulfillment to career development. Plus, it’s fun! There's always something new to...
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I originally got into programming because I wanted to become a game developer.
In the third grade I had a Windows 7 laptop for my vision, I used it for assignments and to take notes and such, but in Google Docs I would pretend I was a programmer, writing down gibberish binary information.
I wanted to get involved so I looked for some resources on how to make stuff using HTML and JavaScript, eventually I diversified my reach to Python, then Java.
Though, the first programming I wanted to officially "learn" was Java (with the help of SoloLearn).
Eventually after having enough of my filling of Java I went back to Python for a little bit, before inevitably going back to Java because of the superiority it had.
Originally when I wanted to make my game, RuntDeale, I tried making it in Java because that's what I knew.
However, I ran into problems regarding practicality and the maintainability of my code. (I also did not, and still to this day don't, know how to structure and access other parts of a Java package with correctness.)
Because my code had grown so messy and big in scale, because I had made the blunder of trying to use OpenGL instead of some wrapper (not like there were many I could find), I had to move over to a language that had better game-making capabilities; this lead me to learning Go.
In GoLang I had found bindings for a C library called Raylib, which is what I used up until I figured out Go's version had trouble drawing images. With this, I tried to find another library similar to it to no avail.
Eventually this lead to me learning Rust and Piston. I liked Piston but there was something I, which I do not remember, did not like about it, so I moved to Bevy which proved very beneficial.
The first part of the former sentence is around when I made my first GL project using Piston. took place.
In the mean time though, I had made some other projects, one of which being ParseJS, which has lead my desires in the direction of more general problem solving, especially now that I want to make LexRs, a souped up version of PJS whose name doesn't overpromise its content.
Because I love the idea of starting something from zero then you see your work!!!
You realize this is a reply to me and not an individual comment, right? Just a heads up. ⚠️
XD
Lmao I didn't know that .🤣, thanks for the note.
When I was in 8th grade, I built the Cosmic Elf project in Byte magazine. I loved writing programs in machine code and toggling the instructions into memory (that is dedicated programming)! I then designed and built my own computer with a Forth based OS written in assembly (I didn't hand assemble that). Since then, I have programmed in over 20 different computer languages. Some for fun, some for work, but all of it was really enjoyable!
I've even used Verilog to create ASIC chips. It's all still programming. I don't do hardware design anymore, but I actively program for fun and for making tools to use on my computer to complement my workflows.
Therefore, I'm a hobbyist programmer that made it a career and side job as well.
Can I reframe and ask a question to hobbyist programmers who also work alongside it, how do you balance work coding with coding as a hobby? I used to love coding on passion projects - but I find with work its very hard to motivate myself to work on something else alongside just day to day coding
I don't really have an answer unfortunately, but I want to mention that that's very common in any field that folks used to do for fun and then later get a job in. It's natural for your "coding brain" to be worn out by the time you're done with work, so at the very least, I hope you're not judging yourself for it.
My friend complains about the exact same thing, losing their motivation to draw for themself anymore since becoming a full-time illustrator. One thing they're trying, though I can't be sure whether it's actually helping, is to have occasional "art jams" and draw together with friends who aren't professionals.
I'm hobbyist turned professionalist, remaining hobbyist at the same time. The former allows me to do the latter without having to seek for compensation.
This allows me to develop and research techniques that are a few generations ahead of what my employer is using and have a lot of fun at the same time.
I don't have much free time to code my own projects these days. However, I usually do it if I want to learn something, or build something I don't have.
I'm a long-time user of Visual Studio. Many years ago, there was something that kept niggling away at me. The code tabs are arranged horizontally across the editor. This is great, but longer file names mean that less tabs were visible. I wanted to display them vertically, but there wasn't an option. And so Working Files List was born.
I think someone at Microsoft liked the plugin or idea, because an extremely similar feature was introduced into version 16.4 :)
Got my first computer when I was 8, and just had at it. If I recall correctly the first bit of coding I did was a game called Pong, the PC came with a massive tome aka the user's guide and the code was there. I did it and I liked it.
Fast forward 15 years, I needed proof of proficiency in a certificate and went to an internationally recognised training centre and did a certificate and diploma in information systems management. Guess I did well as they ended up hiring me as an instructor. But during this period I actually discovered I really hate coding (as a job) and focused more on my area of study (BSc Mathematics and Economics and BSc Management Sciences). That said I've never used my degrees to get a job, it's usually the diploma in ISM that does it.
I'm a full fledged hobbyist now, although I do handle tech support, DB and web Dev projects in-house.
I mainly like to keep a foot in the waters just so I'm up to date on the newest tech, currently playing around with REACT, Next and TypeScript and got into UI and UX so my hobby projects are full stack projects, currently working on a barter/bidding app to learn concepts like state management, SSR and SWR. I'm also one of those weird people who likes vanilla CSS.
TL;DR: I love to code. I can dive into tens of thousands of lines of code and stay motivated after 3 hours.
I started off since I liked to see things I had created. I was bad in DIY stuff and programming gave me the opportunity to be creative.
I kept up despite no positive responses and eventually some people in Discord acknowledged that it was not 100% thrash. I'll keep going. Hope you all also never quit as a hobbyist.
It made me really happy and felt validating just to see the title of this post! I honestly do tend to feel pretty alienated as someone who's coding mainly for fun and doesn't want to think about jobs.
I've been an artist my whole life and I love to try out every kind of creative medium I can get my hands on. I started learning bits of Python because eventually video games were a type of art I wanted to make. But after I took a CS class at college (just because it was required for my chemistry degree), I realized that programming is itself a form of making art, even when it's not being used to make a narrative or visuals. Designing algorithms fulfills my creative urge in the same way that drawing or writing or sewing do.
And of course, once I started meeting other devs and getting involved with online communities, the social aspect became a huge factor in making me want to keep pursuing this. I made great friends through the #100DaysofCode tag and the free online bootcamp I did last fall, friendships built around encouraging each other to learn and grow. One of my favorite things about coding, too, is the sense of community that comes from the open source ethos--the fact that you get these Github repos with dozens of different contributors all coming together, the fact that it's so common and encouraged for developers to freely share their work and to hack on other people's projects. Tinkering with someone else's code is such a source of inspiration, and I desperately wish that the visual art community, for instance, had that kind of collaborative spirit.
I feel very strongly about coding being something I do just for the satisfaction of making stuff, instead of as a means to an end (like jobs). But I don't really like to call myself a hobbyist, because that seems to diminish the significance of the craft. (And besides, maybe I'll work in this field eventually--that's just not the point.) Maybe a better word is to call it a passion.
For what it's worth, I do often find it stressful and stifling how lots of communities/resources for new devs or for learning to code will talk about "employable skills" all the time or even assume that everyone learning to code is doing it for career reasons. I'm unable to work due to health and thus have a lot of anxiety around jobs, and that kind of talk gets really alienating for me--I've even avoided joining an otherwise awesome learn-to-code Discord community just because it feels overwhelming that their community is very focused on learning for the sake of employment. And besides, it's just harmful to reinforce our society's assumptions that jobs are more "worthwhile" than hobbies. So, in the same way that the biggest part of making content accessible to different genders is to simply not assume your audience's gender, my main suggestion for making the community accessible to hobbyists (and to people like me with work-related anxiety) is to simply not assume that every code newbie is in it for work.
I always liked computers and tech, something I got/shared with my dad. When I was in my early teens we used to subscribe to a tech magazine and it would have small tutorial articles, cds with linux and bsd OSs so one day I just decided to follow my first HTML tutorial and make anweb page.... from there I explored other languages as a hobbyist and coding was always a puzzle solving/ creative game for me. Kind of playing with legos, but instead of building a miniature castle, I would create something on the screen. It would help me organize stuff from my life!
20years later I made this hobby into profession. 😁
Totally agree with the Lego analogy!
Why do I code? I suppose you can blame my substitute Maths teacher for giving me a TI99 and introducing me to Basic. But I guess the actual answer is that it suits the way my mind works. I get the world isn't black and white. But to me everything is conditional. Causal. Something from something else, and onto something else again. That fascinates me no end. Even now, some ~25 years into it, I still find things I want to better understand. Things that I try to make easier for me to understand and represent with code. It's also really cool to create something useful. Even if it's only useful to you.
Writers, why do you write?
The exact same reason I code! :) Because it just feels good to, and because my head is full of ideas and I need to let them out onto paper or else it'll explode.