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Who Wants To Be a Billionaire Coder?
theodp writes "Computerworld reports that 60-year-old billionaire John Sall still enjoys cranking out code as the chief architect of JMP ('John's Macintosh Project'), the less-profitable-but-more-fun software from SAS that's used primarily by research scientists, engineers, and Six Sigma manufacturing types. 'It's always been my job to be a statistical software developer,' explains SAS co-founder Sall. So if you didn't have to work — and had more money than George Lucas and Steven Spielberg — would you be like Sall and continue to program? And if so, what type of projects would you work on?"
I would work on open source alternatives to software which currently only has good commercial options. Anything which I didn't have the knowledge to work on myself (artwork, interface design, low level algorithms, security...), I would hire experts to work on.
I've been programming for, like, uh.... about 27 or 28 years. Arguably longer if you wanna go back to really little kid stuff.
If I had that much money - was basically (if I wanted to be) in the leisure class - what I would like to believe about myself is that I would try to secure my family's material conditions really well, try to make as efficient as possible my wealth management program, and, as to hacking.....
There are *so many* really great and valuable potential projects that (a) nobody is investing in; (b) have an investment horizon that is tough because these are projects that will take a good 5 years, let's say, to get to where seeing a return is on the table. A good 10 years before you start to see the possibility of "done".
I would start an R&D lab but a very small one - perhaps 10 people - and while we'd try to have some positive income spin-offs each year from 0 onward, the goal would be to create the kind of environment where we can take off some of the bigger, long-neglected problems.
You kids these days don't know what's possible in a GUI framework. You don't know how to do language design, systems software generally, databases, file systems, or a whole lot of other basics. You've inherited really mediocre crap and you take for granted that that's where things are at. And the industry has ceased production of grey-beards. (Also: get off my lawn!)
"like tears in the rain", -t
If I was financially independent, I'd probably be working on flight control systems for UAVs.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Of course I'd program if I didn't have to work for a living. I mean, I didn't get into this business because I thought it would be profitable. I got into it because it's want I enjoy doing. The fact that I happen to get paid fairly well for it is just bloody awesome, but if it wasn't profitable, I'd have some crappy day job I hate and would code in my spare time. Likewise, if I simply didn't need the money, then I wouldn't need the crappy day job, but I'd still code in my (much more significant) spare time — in addition to all the other things that I enjoy doing.
The tougher question is what projects I'd work on. I suppose I could do anything I want, so I'd probably do less useful coding. I'd build things that have already been built just because I want to see how I would do it. I'd build things that are silly just because the idea popped into my head. I'd probably start tons of projects that I'd never get around to finishing.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
At my day job in the software industry, I often feel like a musician who has to make a living writing advertising jingles. At least I get do use my talent, but it's not what I'd create if I had complete freedom.
I often dream about having the freedom and unlimited time to code whatever I want, on my own schedule, to my own standards, without any concern about whether the product could make money or not. One lifetime would not be long enough to code all of the cool ideas which I'm constantly thinking up.
I mostly use scripting: bash and tcl/expect. Over my career, I learned and used about four dozen languages. I see them now as being more the same than they are different. There is rarely an inherent benefit in one over the other. Bash is always available on the platforms I use. When I need more complex code tcl/expect provides command interaction and timer-based processing.
In both cases, the code executes more than fast enough on a single user modern desktop. Compiling code is unnecessary, especially when the majority of the heavy lifting is being performed by highly optimized GNU utilities.
I don't have a problem learning new languages, I just see less of a reason to. Just as fewer people see a need to write assembly now (I did that for 15 years), I imagine in another couple of decades (if that long) compiled languages will seem antiquated to most. You'll be telling someone on Slashdot that you coded in a compiled language for 15 years then. And it will seem just as strange. :)
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
It's strange. Eternal weekends start to get boring after a while. You start running out of stuff to do. Then you don't do anything. Then a month down the line, you wonder what just happened to the month before.
Having a job isn't simply about money. It's also about the accomplishment, and feeling accomplished. Some people loathe their jobs. That's unfortunate. But for those who do something they like doing, that they feel is worthwhile doing, the money's just icing on the cake. Or it's really, an extra bonus for what they'd be doing for free anything.
What happens to people on an eternal weekend after a while is an accelerated mid-life crisis. Life itself becomes meaningless.
As to answer the question myself, I probably wouldn't code if I didn't have to. I have other interests and hobbies that I'd be interested in pursuing. It's nothing terribly grand, mind you, just things that I'd rather be doing that's not coding.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
"Some people loathe their jobs. That's unfortunate. But for those who do something they like doing, that they feel is worthwhile doing, the money's just icing on the cake. Or it's really, an extra bonus for what they'd be doing for free anything."
Not really. It starts out that way but then what you started out loving becomes your job. Next thing you know, thats the last thing you want to do in your spare time. Whatever your job is, do the best job of it you can. Not because your employer deserves it, they probably don't, but because you spend a substantial portion of your life doing it. You can also make more money but you can't make more time. Time is not money, it is far far more precious.
Honestly, given the freedom to ignore financial concerns I would probably leave technology behind at this point in my life. Think private monastery in the mountains and a very zen lifestyle.