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I met my wife 40 years ago when she stood in front of an IBM 1401 printer. Those lovely long legs were very distracting. I was working with another programmer teaching an IBM 360/30 to tell time.
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I do envy you. I could imagine the harmony of a couple converses on a subject without having to translate into plain English for the other. 
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Depends if the person is an outlier, in my experience people that are an outlier in one field or area usually are in others. In my experience prof devs often work in large teams of 2-10-20 developers and you learn from your peers if you want to rise to the top of the heap you have to know more adopt quicker and prof devs are in it for the money so there is motivation. Further to that if you are on a salary usually working with the latest and greatest tools and who ever is running the show will always be on the hunt for new and better and faster. Final point you learn from the the tech you might be using as well.
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"Balanced life" sounds like one of Those Things from the type of magazine that women read, along with "balanced diet" and "balanced body".
They'll probably recommend a couple of fads in order to attain it.
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To me, A Balanced Life would mean doing no work at all! 
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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Tightrope walkers lead a balanced life. Why not join a circus?
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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vertigo!
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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I know plenty of 'successful' people who lead extremely 'unbalanced' lives.
If you want to be good at anything you will need to be obsessed with that thing, in one way or another, which in itself is probably 'unbalanced'
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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GuyThiebaut wrote: I know plenty of 'successful' people who lead extremely 'unbalanced' lives.
Success in one area does not make up for failure in all others.
Jeremy Falcon
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What if Einstein lived a balanced life? Would he have bothered with any equations or theories?
To be good at something you have to concentrate and work hard on it. To be great at something you have to work very, very hard. Thus, somethings else have to be ignored or minimized. Olympic athletes are great. And they don't really do anything else besides practice all of the time.
I've never met a really great coder/programmer/developer who did not spend more than "balanced" time getting there.
But for other people, who don't care about greatness, then a balanced life is great for them. But don't equate "balanced life" with greatness. There is no such thing.
- Grant
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C Grant Anderson wrote: What if Einstein lived a balanced life? Would he have bothered with any equations or theories?
While I don't know him personally, Einstein was balanced. Perhaps not so much as John Doe in a bar, but enough to at least function well enough to be happy. Anyway, he played instruments, messed around with women, etc.
C Grant Anderson wrote: To be good at something you have to concentrate and work hard on it. To be great at something you have to work very, very hard. Thus, somethings else have to be ignored or minimized. Olympic athletes are great. And they don't really do anything else besides practice all of the time.
I totally agree with you on that man. I really do. Bodybuilders that are hardcore spend their life inside a gym. And yet, most of them are miserable. The gym almost becomes a church for them because that's all they know.
C Grant Anderson wrote: I've never met a really great coder/programmer/developer who did not spend more than "balanced" time getting there.
I have to agree, but coming from that myself, as I've aged I realized what's really important in life. Back in "my day" I lived that crap and knew a lot, but I couldn't communicate well to others. So, I was the only one that knew it. Therefore, my life's work would not have been much useful if I never bothered to learn other skills to get it out there so people can use it. Einstein did this as well. What's the point if you can't market it and you die being great at something nobody ever knows about for instance.
And while I agree with the premise of sacrifice, I really do man. Being happy accounts for a lot. I suppose if you're truly happy doing nothing else with your life then more power to you. I just don't see how knowing one extra tech fact can make up for never knowing the true love of a good woman for instance.
Jeremy Falcon
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That doesn't work for surfing 
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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Technically, a successful life is one where the organism reproduces before it dies. Achieving no other objective can make its life successful.
(Coding by day + coding by night + actually managing to reproduce) doesn't sound too incredibly likely.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Are you currently observing rule no. 11[^]?
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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If I were, I would only be being metaphorically pedantic.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Technically, a successful life is one where the organism reproduces before it dies. Achieving no other objective can make its life successful.
You know, I never thought of it this way. Brilliant.
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It's also the first time I've expressed it that way, so it's a double first.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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You just need an expert[^] to explain it.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Ah yes. A Real Programmer works 10-12 hours at their day job, picks up a bag of Cheeto's and a 12 pack of Red Bull on the way home, and then spends 6 or 7 hours working on an open source project of some sort. On the weekend, he puts in 14 hours on Saturday, and 12 on Sunday (his mom won't do his laundry, so he loses a couple hours; good thing the laundry's in the basement next to his computer desk).
Software Zen: delete this;
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Totally agreed with balancing life and productivity. In the early career days, I used to bring work home but now once I'm out of the office, don't even think about work stuff. From what I see around (colleagues) those that have vested interests in what they do both at work and at home tends to spend more time to stay up current with changing technologies.
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Leng Vang wrote: I used to bring work home but now once I'm out of the office, don't even think about work stuff.
Same here. Life is just more fun that way man.
Jeremy Falcon
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In my near thirty years experience as a strange pilgrim come late (post age 40) to the digital world, and programming, based on working in both small teams and in large companies (Adobe), I have not found one generality about character, behavior, temperament, intelligence, brilliance, etc., that applies to programmers.
That has contributed greatly to my enjoyment of whatever this wanderjahr was/is.
cheers, Bill
« There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad. » Salvador Dali
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Do you need any help to turn it on?
nah, I know, I'll get my coat. 
Don't mind those people who say you're not HOT. At least you know you're COOL.
I'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end of the fall! - Richard Andrew x64
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