IF (programmer's profession. Exists () = FALSE) THEN ...?

More and more questions appear on the Internet like: “How to become a programmer in a month?”, “Where do they pay more?”, “What programming language to learn first?”.

But all of us from time to time ask ourselves other questions: “What would happen if I had not become a programmer?”, “And if the profession of a programmer did not exist at all?”.

Someone considers programming as art, someone as a craft. However, everyone agrees that programmers, and the IT industry as a whole, are a self-evident part of our life, without which reality is simply inconceivable. If Turing, Knut, Wirth, Ritchie, and other pundits had not revealed their designs to the world, someone else would have done it anyway, right? And if we did not work in the position that we occupy now, someone else would have done it too.
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Well, let the IT industry continue to exist. But nevertheless, let's try to fantasize, who would we work with if we chose another specialty?

Alexander Lyamin, founder of Qrator:

Electrician. Last week, debugging the house wiring is divine! Only gdb was missing.

Ivan Khvatov, Yandex:

A physicist

Oleg Balbekov, Vexor:

I would be an entrepreneur, as now. Before IT, I created e-sports teams, shows, tournaments and championships. I dream in the future to make music, write and play it, as well as do thousands of music festivals.

Victor Shaburov, Snapchat:

I was a mathematician, but I moved to programmers, as it brought me more money. Well, programming is also a cool and creative exercise.

Sultan Suleimanov, leading "Chapito" in Meduza:

I am not a professional programmer, but I spend my free time with this - so I can say that this is my hobby. If there were no programming, I would have to look for another hobby - but also to do something and immediately get the result. So, instead of programming, I would weave carpets. This is a simple exercise that takes hands and gives a little rest to the head. Plus, it will allow to show creativity, and if you don’t work with the main work, you can do it professionally - just like programming.

Igor Gladkoborodov, Cob co-founder:

Astronaut! But I would not have been taken as a cosmonaut for health.

Victor Announcer, Avito:

I would become a drunkard, but since the profession of a programmer exists, I manage to combine two favorite things.

Ruslan Fazlyev, Ecwid founder:

In childhood, he dreamed of being a railroad worker.

West Reflex

Gregg Pollack, Codeschool Founder and Envylabs:

A teacher of scientific disciplines.

Answers of foreign colleagues were more varied. Some of them are serious and even somewhat sad.

Bill Carvin, web developer with 20 years of experience

It is not too late to change anything. There are many other ways to make a successful career. I know a woman who worked as a programmer for many years, but then decided to open a perfume store. She was so successful in implementing online orders that she closed the trade and engaged in online marketing.

Another woman worked as a database administrator for many years, after which she decided to leave. She learned and received a degree in archeology, which fascinated her much more than programming. Now her new job is to professionally rake debris.

Russell Wark, Web Developer

I am good enough in web development, without false modesty declare it. I make it a living. It would be good if my work would bring benefit to ordinary people. But no, I have to work with marketers, advertisers and other adventurers who exist only to extort money from people.

Over time, I began to wonder: “Who am I really helping?” Of course, first of all, this is my family and relatives — I help them financially. But besides them, by and large, I help rich people become even richer. I do not make the world better. The money that these people earn thanks to me will not be used to help those in need or to save tropical forests. They will spend the money to buy sports cars that exist to convert large amounts of fuel to decibels of noise.

In addition to IT, I used to show success in painting, science and music. I should have developed more in these areas. I would like to become a scientist working on clean energy sources, a cure for cancer, or invent a way to eliminate hunger on the planet. This will bring real benefit to the world, unlike a web site advertising a new product that will attract the user's attention.

But, unfortunately, I'm over forty. I have family. I can not leave work and spend 3-4 years to study or wait for success in the new field, starting from scratch.

And this person probably would have committed suicide in adolescence if there were no programming.

Canes Johanson, programmer

Many people choose the profession of a programmer because of the high salary. But many of these people should have chosen a different specialty. And over time, some do so, sometimes leaving the IT sphere altogether.

I can say this about myself: I didn’t need anything from three years apart from a computer. I could sit behind him all day. This is my calling. Parents did not share my enthusiasm and did not understand me. However, we must give them their due, went forward and, in their own time, bought me the first computer. Then they helped me save up for the next, more modern one. If, while looking through the magazine, my parents accidentally stumbled upon articles about IT, then they kept them for me. They did not forbid me to sit at the computer for a long time.

I don’t think they would support me in the same way, if I only played computer games. I was programming, rewriting the code of their books, magazines, hacking and reworking games, and so on.

Not sequentially, but in parallel

So far, the work of all these people is connected with software development. However, this does not mean that they are unable to develop their other talents in parallel or to be interested in something else.

Ruslan Fazliev from the city of Ulyanovsk wrote that he could become a railway worker. But there is a special story with him: Ulyanovsk is an important node of the Kuibyshev railway. Therefore, the choice is clear. However, there he would have worked as an engineer, apparently.

Gregg Pollack, for example, writes that he would be a teacher. And it turns out that somehow he provides people with training. He teaches people science, only indirectly. His codeschool project is the largest online learning resource for programmers.

Many list their hobbies, hobbies. They did not become a job just because software development "won".



When I studied at the university for a programmer, in my first year a third of the students in my stream as a hobby were studying music. I managed to observe this victorious procession of programming: with each new course the number of hobby musicians decreased. By graduation, they could be counted on the fingers of one hand of the miller.

Probably, such a student on his course was Oleg Balbekov, who still believes that he will be able to become a musician and takes steps in this direction.

PS Many people want to become rock stars: music or software development. And Alexander Lyamin, meanwhile, was repairing both the wiring and repairing it. Choose hobbies that are easy to combine with programming!