Programming as a hobby?

I am not really hobbyist programmer, but I am curious is there anyone here who programs but has no intention to ever work or profit from being a programmer?

Does it count if you intend to stop working as or profiting from being a programmer, and sticking to hobbyism?

I once thought that way, because I believed in programming in a work environment to be involved with a lot of stress against the dead line.
I don't think that way anymore, though...

Yep. Beyond the odd bit of scripting and the occasional one-off tool, I don't program for a living and haven't any intention of doing so.

I'm more interested in designing applications than programming them. Programming by itself is a lot of grunt work.

I'm working on a few serious projects, and once I have them completed I might try to make some revenue on them. So, to me its a little more serious than a hobby, but its not how I make a living.

AndyC said:

Yep. Beyond the odd bit of scripting and the occasional one-off tool, I don't program for a living and haven't any intention of doing so.

I do get paid to write code, but even if I didn't I would still have my projects.  It's really nice to have the ability to make a long, tedious task (like finding cover art for a bunch of DVDs) easy with a touch of digital magic.

I consider myself a hobist programmer...... 

I've noticed it's mainly Microsoft who uses the term "hobbyist programmer" and I've always interpreted this to mean "novice getting started in Visual Basic" since contributing code to FOSS projects has never (in my eyes) been advertised as a 'hobbyist' venture or held "hobbyist" connotations, despite it being a labour of love.

I suppose it's because if you're into CS it's going to be your life; I'm not a psycholinguist, but terms like "hobbyist" imply that person has their time and life managed to such a degree they have no spontaneity, and what is CS without that?

W3bbo said:

I've noticed it's mainly Microsoft who uses the term "hobbyist programmer" and I've always interpreted this to mean "novice getting started in Visual Basic" since contributing code to FOSS projects has never (in my eyes) been advertised as a 'hobbyist' venture or held "hobbyist" connotations, despite it being a labour of love.

I suppose it's because if you're into CS it's going to be your life; I'm not a psycholinguist, but terms like "hobbyist" imply that person has their time and life managed to such a degree they have no spontaneity, and what is CS without that?

Well I would say open source developer and hobbyist developer are two different sets with overlapping elements. Just like you can be a professional open source programmer and make $130,000 a year (sounds about average for a Linux kernel developer), so you are not a hobbyist really. You could also be a hobbyist programmer and only write freeware or write shareware but nothing mainstream. Then you clearly aren't an open source developer, but still a hobbyist developer! So I think there is a fair distinction!

Bass said:

W3bbo said:

*snip*

Well I would say open source developer and hobbyist developer are two different sets with overlapping elements. Just like you can be a professional open source programmer and make $130,000 a year (sounds about average for a Linux kernel developer), so you are not a hobbyist really. You could also be a hobbyist programmer and only write freeware or write shareware but nothing mainstream. Then you clearly aren't an open source developer, but still a hobbyist developer! So I think there is a fair distinction!

I meant writing software not for the company that employs you. It could be "hobbyist programming" (e.g. making small utility programs for yourself) or contributing to FOSS projects unrelated to your career (e.g. contributing towards a FOSS utility program)

W3bbo said:

Bass said:

*snip*

I meant writing software not for the company that employs you. It could be "hobbyist programming" (e.g. making small utility programs for yourself) or contributing to FOSS projects unrelated to your career (e.g. contributing towards a FOSS utility program)

Something is a hobby because you don't treat it that seriously I think, not because you aren't doing it under employment

It happens that I know of someone in TeamB (Borland's recognition of community support, kind of MVP of Microsoft) who is a dentist.

However, most of the people I know who is hobbist programmer also happens to write program to earn their living.

I don't really code much, but I can.. a bit. So I make little things like Physics calculators to make my homework easier, and maths calculators that output exactly what I need from the arguments I put into it from the question. So yeah, I hobby code, but I suppose it's also work.

I don't ever plan to use a computer directly in my line of work though. I hate computing when it's work. It's dull. It's boring. And I'd begin to hate computing itself as a hobby as a result of that. So no, I don't even intend to make my money from computing in general, let alone code!

Personally I've switched my ambitions to doing something much more enjoyable: running theater shows/concerts I've been doing it for nearly 2 years now and it's 100% non-stop fun, from setup, to running, even tidying up afterwards.

brian.shapiro said:

W3bbo said:

*snip*

Something is a hobby because you don't treat it that seriously I think, not because you aren't doing it under employment

For me a hobby is having a Nylon strung £40 guitar from Argos. A serious hobby is getting a Japanese Fender Stratocaster, and playing in a few pub gigs. Once you have a genuine Fender Stratocaster, Ovation, or Les Paul - unless you are wealthy - and have bought a WV camper-van for the band, This is now serious.

In Microsoft terms, if you use VB express you are a hobbyist. Once you have VS professional, or are under source code control and doing it more than 30 hours a week, this is now a serious hobby/profession.

I personally don't think you can be a productive hobbyist because you need a broad set of skill sets to realise most of these projects, and even Clint Rutkas and his disco lights and skateboard are pretty serious offerings.

Popfly however, is pure hobbyist for me. That is a perfect example of not being a professional.

vesuvius said:

brian.shapiro said:

*snip*

For me a hobby is having a Nylon strung £40 guitar from Argos. A serious hobby is getting a Japanese Fender Stratocaster, and playing in a few pub gigs. Once you have a genuine Fender Stratocaster, Ovation, or Les Paul - unless you are wealthy - and have bought a WV camper-van for the band, This is now serious.

In Microsoft terms, if you use VB express you are a hobbyist. Once you have VS professional, or are under source code control and doing it more than 30 hours a week, this is now a serious hobby/profession.

I personally don't think you can be a productive hobbyist because you need a broad set of skill sets to realise most of these projects, and even Clint Rutkas and his disco lights and skateboard are pretty serious offerings.

Popfly however, is pure hobbyist for me. That is a perfect example of not being a professional.

Yep, you need a broad set of skills. It doesn't mean you have to fall under certain tax laws to not be doing a hobby

A hobbyist does the work because its a fun pastime, if you're interested in the work for its own sake its no longer a hobby. Just like you aren't a musician just because you receive a paycheck.

brian.shapiro said:

vesuvius said:

*snip*

Yep, you need a broad set of skills. It doesn't mean you have to fall under certain tax laws to not be doing a hobby

A hobbyist does the work because its a fun pastime, if you're interested in the work for its own sake its no longer a hobby. Just like you aren't a musician just because you receive a paycheck.

Nowadays, I write code as a hobby.

I'd do it professionally, but they won't let me touch the source of what I'm working on, so I have to debugging vicariously thru Brandon