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?"

Comments

Open Source

[abhi_beckert]

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.

Who needs to be a billionaire?

[wrook]

I quit my 100 hour a week job and picked something a little bit less stressful. Now I'm only working 35 hours a week and don't program for a living. I live 5 minutes from work. I have plenty of time to do whatever I want including coding. I hate this attitude that you need to have more money that many small countries in order to do what you want. There are many routes to happiness. Programmers are supposed to be good problem solvers -- find a solution that works for you!

Re:Who needs to be a billionaire?

[Fourier404]

Programming something I'm not particularly fond of is better than spending 35 hours/week I'm probably even less interested in. Obviously you have to put in those hours in order to make a living, and the point of this article is "if you didn't have to do it for a living (i.e. you already have more money than you need), what would you be programming?", not "what would you do with a tons of money?"

Re:Who needs to be a billionaire?

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel you are deliberately misinterpreting the question, and changing to subject to congratulate yourself on your life. The entire premise is set up to eliminate one common consideration in evaluating the many paths to happiness, and then asking if coding is in the remaining options.

For me, a person who also lives close to work and does 35-40 hours a week in a job I'm happy with and well-paid for, the answer is...no. I would probably not code. I probably wouldn't go back to school for physics, either, but that's at least in the realm of possibility and would be above coding on the list of things to do, despite the difference in time commitments (I mean, I might put together a batch file or something for myself to make my life slightly easier, but no significant coding).

The vision in my head is of an eternal weekend, and it is a glorious one. The only thing that could persuade me to code again would be the prospect of meeting people that I have something in common with. Like many slashdotters, I'm not naturally very social.

Re:Who needs to be a billionaire?

[nEoN nOoDlE]

you don't need a billion dollars to be happy, but if he loses his job, he still could continue doing whatever he wants to do for the rest of his life, and his children (if he has any) don't have to work a single day of their lives. You might be happy, but you're happiness hangs on the state of the company you work for. If they start downsizing, or go completely bust, you could say goodbye to your 35 hour/week job that's 5 minutes away from home. I don't know about you, but my happiness being beholden to a third party I have no control over adds a certain level of stress which eats away at that happiness. A billion dollars to relieve that stress would be nice.

Re:Who needs to be a billionaire?

[AvitarX]

You should definitely work on the Linux kernel then.

Lots of polite discussion with people of similar interests.

No.

[pizza_milkshake]

No, I would buy a nice, quiet island out in the middle of nowhere. And blow it up.

Re:No.

[maxume]

Australia has a glorious future ahead of it.

Re:Wow

[Sylos]

To each their own. Yeah, if I had 60 billion dollars and 20 years to spend it on doing things I wanted..I'd travel the world, visit the people, etc. But at the end of the day? I'd log on to check my emails, read slashdot (:o), mod someone flamebait for GP, then wander off and program. Just because someone is wealthy as sin doesn't mean they have to stop enjoying certain things. Programming is fun. No need to stop programming. If anything, it removes the stress from deadlines or certain requirements and lets you program completely on your own terms. It would mean that all those things you ever wanted to do, you could do. You could wander off to 'theoryland' and think things through without someone breathing down your neck asking for "results" or a deadline that forces a hack job. It'd truly let someone do what they wanted.

I'm confused...

[fahrbot-bot]

It's always been my job to be a statistical software developer...

Does this mean his code only probably runs correctly?

Of Freakin' Course!

[Rary]

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.

Of course.

[Anonymous Coward]

Money buys one the freedom to do what makes one happy.

Re:Wow

[rtb61]

I don't enjoy coding all that much but, there is a great deal of problem solving, expressive creativity in the solutions, intense neural stimulation and satisfaction from a well crafted application. Whilst I would not make it my happy, I certainly wouldn't make a blanket statement that it is undesirable. Things are would rate coding far above in terms of qualitative life experience and contributing to society.

Sticking my penis non-reproductively inside as many people as possible.
Aimless global travel, pretending I'm someone special and, deserve to be waited on hand and foot.
Excessive drug abuse, both legal and illegal.
Politics as a satisfaction of ego.
Strutting around with a charitable foundation that only gives away the absolute legal minimum to sustain it's legal status each year.

I admit I really enjoy learning and using new software applications from games, to office suites, CAD, graphics, databases etc. thanks to all those open source coders who enjoy coding and the value it brings to society and sincerely thank you very much indeed.