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It Is Programmer Day - Why So Apathetic?
mikejuk writes: Programmers Day comes around every year and yet each year it seems to be increasingly ignored. Why, when we are trying to encourage children to take up all things computing, is Programmers Day such a big flop? If you've not encountered it before, the idea is that on a specific day we celebrate computer programmers. It is designated to be on the 256th day of the year, which in most years is September 13th and this year, 2015, it falls on a Sunday. If you don't know why it's the 256th day, then you probably aren't a programmer and there is no point in explaining. The usual suggestions for things to do on programmer day include telling jokes and other fairly lame stuff. How about instead: Teach someone to program just a little bit.
When is Plumber Day? Car Mechanic Day? Kindergarten Teacher Day maybe?
What?
Um, because the set of "${X} days/months" is a meaningless, stupid concept, curated by people without any meaningful claim to authority or unusual credibility?
This article's premise is about as sensical as asking why everyone named "Frank" isn't celebrating the fact that I live in North America.
Is that 256 counting from 0 or from 1?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Amazon doesn't let me take days off.
we're all at work. Otherwise, we'll be replaced by several H1B's.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Programmers day ain't official until Hallmark makes a card for it.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
It is mostly ignored because of the condescending attitude that too many programmers have. We're supposed to be encouraging young people to get into programming, and in the same breath belittle people who dont understand why it would be on the 256th day of the year?
I'm going to link an obligatory XKCD reference now: https://xkcd.com/1053/
It's a bit short...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
... then you probably aren't a programmer and there is no point in explaining." THAT explains a lot.
Does he spam Slashdot as well?
Merry cache miss.
On Sunday - because we're programmers.
Greed is the root of all evil.
You should read/watch "A Christmas Carol". There's a bit where Kermit the Frog uh I mean Bob Cratchitt tells Mr Ebenezer Caine Scrooge that there's there's no point making his employees work on Christmas day because there's no one to do business with. Scrooge considers this to be robbery but concedes the point.
You may or may not wish to consider the point and how it applies to working on a national holiday.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
1111 1111 represents 255. Celebrate Programmer Day on September 13th, the 256th day of the year.
Suggested topic of conversation: Off by one errors.
> You would be surprised to learn that many make more than your average programmer.
Almost half, I would guess!
Probably not because they made a classic OBOB error.
No, they didn't. Zero is a value. So, the 256th day is found at index 255 in the calendar.
Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
Programmer's day is just more hype from Hallmark and American Greetings and another attempt to sell a lot of greeting cards.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I ignore all "so and so's" days. And weeks. And months.
Everyone wants to stand out and be treated special for doing what they normally do. It doesn't work that way. Being "normal" isn't "standout" in any way, size, shape, or form.
You are who you are and you don't deserve special treatment that others don't get.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Look for a company that cares about quality and you'll find quality workers. There are as many crappy companies as there are crappy programmers. It can take a bit of effort for a good programmer to find a good company.
I give it precisely the same attention/respect that I do for national blueberry day and national "dress up your pet" day.
-Styopa
I was born on January 0th, you insensitive clod!
One reason for people's apathy could be that the actual "Programmer's Day" is Oct 31st, also known as Programmer's X-mas because, as you're all aware, 31 Oct == 25 Dec. This has been celebrated in Sweden for a long time, since the 18th century in fact, and considered so important that Oct 31st is Edit's name day[1].
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_name_day_list_of_2001
Depends where you live but at least for teachers there are often school boards or larger organization bodies that insure that even the new ones make better salaries than a lot of programmers. So the distribution is compressed around a high salary. A starting salary in Ontario for example is 51k + a pension, 20 sick days a year that can be banked for early retirement. There pension pays out 60% of their best 5 yrs salary (so don't want to be a principal? Well just do it for 5 years because you'll then make another $10k a year or so when retired). 10yrs in teachers are making about 90k a year more if they are department heads or move into VP or principal positions. They also have full medical and dental with no employee portion of the premiums. So in short at least in my experience in the province, they make an about average to high programmers salary with way more vacation, way better pension, and about a $100 a month savings because not paying anything towards their benefits.
Plumbers, electricians etc all can make really good money too. Some aspects of their job sucks and they might not be able to do it till 65 though, so I guess you're paying towards early retirement for them.