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Being a programmer has its fair share of challenges that can make the job stressful to handle at times. Among them are tight deadlines, unclear project requirements, and the pressure to deliver high-quality work.
Fortunately, there are online communities, such as the Programming World Facebook group, to provide some much-needed levity to these hardworking individuals. The page is rife with clever, hilarious memes that perfectly illustrate the plight of every programmer, from debugging issues to the stresses of writing code.
If you’re in the industry, these images will likely resonate with you. Feel free to take a short breather from the computer and have a few laughs.
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Having the title of a computer programmer may have a nice ring to it. However, full-stack developer Pranta Dutta believes the job is often romanticized. As he wrote in a post on the Dev.to community, their lives are way more stressful than what most perceive.
“(Coding is) more like building a LEGO spaceship from scratch while the instructions are in Klingon and half the pieces are missing,” Dutta wrote.
Software engineer and startup founder Walter Guevara has been at it for more than two decades. In an article for his website, he also dispelled some myths about programmers, particularly those who glamorize their lives on social media.
“Being a professional programmer is much different than being an Instagram model. For one, you are not in bed,” he wrote. “You are in traffic probably, on your way to an 8 am meeting with your team as you discuss the quarterly earnings and product roadmap.”
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Rick Murray 3 months ago
I wrote a huge chunk of code a decade ago when I was completely wiped out with flu (but my dumb brain wanted to be occupied even though I was barely functional *in* *bed*). Later on, I spent the entire winter break trying to work out how the hell that code even worked. To give an example of what I'm taking about, one of the comments was along the lines of "// f**k it, I can't remember the pointer syntax here" and then it switches to *screenfuls* of inline assembler. Deep dark magic that I didn't even know I knew - and given my inability to work out what the hell is going on, I'm not sure I do know... but the bloody code *works*.
However, Guevara also clarified that programming is as stressful as any other job, especially those that involve working on a computer. It entails the same obligations as responding to emails and attending meetings, which can consume an entire day.
As he noted, life as a programmer is “only as stressful as you allow it to be.” And if you’re in the same line of work, he advises enjoying the good days and finding a way to get through the dull and tedious ones.
So, how do programmers or those in similar occupations mitigate the stress of their jobs? Software engineer and full-stack technologist Madhusudhan Konda encourages people in the industry to pick up a hobby instead of simply blowing off some after-work steam at the local pub or binge-watching a Netflix series.
“People don’t really understand the benefits of having a consistent hobby – it’s a saviour in your later part of life – trust me,” he wrote in an article for Medium, suggesting simple activities like reading, hiking, and LEGO building, to more complex hobbies like pottery.
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Konta also shared some valuable advice on time management, which many professionals may struggle with. According to him, it’s about finding the difference between actual work and the noise surrounding it.
He also recommends using the Pomodoro Technique, which involves working in 25-minute intervals followed by five-minute breaks in between. However, he urges working in 55-minute intervals instead.
“Focusing all your energy on that line of work and ignoring the rest of the unnecessary noise is what gets you going further in your career,” he wrote.
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Ryan Mercer 3 months ago
It's the one on the right, but I pace a lot. Sometimes I'm not even sure how I'm tracing it all in my mind, but after enough consternation I start to sense the contours of what the code is asking for. Yes, it asks, and sometimes it's not clear to me why it's asking, but it eventually reveals itself.
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Dave Platt 3 months ago
If you leave a nanosecond-wide timing window anywhere in your code, someone will successfully steer an entire aircraft carrier through the opening... most likely during a critical demo to the customer. They probably won't even scrape the paint on the sides.
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Rick Murray 3 months ago
Oh, I love the UK Government crest. Nice touch for our current technologically clueless shitgibbons in charge.
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Zig Zag Wanderer 3 months ago
We had a complete server failure once. Backup didn't work. Massive panic. Most of us had local copies of all code. One guy didn't. By a freak of coincidence, his software was still loaded in memory overnight, so he was able to save locally. Saved his job, too!
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driedgrapes 3 months ago
Oh c'mon where's the proof! No one will believe such unproven extravagant statements.
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Narwhal Blast 3 months ago
I think it’s the way things go… you get the pc to make money, then a nice chair, and then an awesome bed! At least that’s what I did, but my back hurt sleeping on the couch for so long….
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Ryan Mercer 3 months ago (edited)
When I was in 3rd grade we had reading time. I always grabbed the Apple Basic journals. Then I would ask to take it home and copy the demo code to my Apple IIc. Stuff like Lemonade Stand. Then I would experiment with it to learn how it worked. In 7th grade I would complete the programming projects in class, then take it home and add more to it. Then I would bring it back to class and ask for extra credit. In high school, I had a friend with a WAREZ copy of Borland C++. So I bought a book called Learn C++ in 21 Days, then ate, breathed, and slept it, and it still took 45 days... liars. It was the 90's, so I also learned HTML, CSS, just because. Then I spent some time getting paid to learn PHP, SQL, XML, XSL (weirdest mark up language to ever bend my brain), all in service to the new dot-com economy. In college I learned Java, but I didn't learn maths, so no CS degree... but d**n I love programming. Its like playing with a loose tooth. Hurts a little, but I keep doing it.
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Zig Zag Wanderer 3 months ago
We used to be encouraged to do side projects. Many were amazingly useful, and it kept morale high.
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Rick Murray 3 months ago
And the table is one random bloke in Nebraska. https://xkcd.com/2347/
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Lee Gilliland 3 months ago
Would have been funnier if the two guys were holding hands. Yes, this is how comedians and catoonists think.
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General Anaesthesia 3 months ago
Google's Authentic Ignorance (AI), August 8, 2025: GoogleAI-2...759a3e.jpg 
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Rick Murray 3 months ago
"Multiple times a day" versus "Rarely or never". Looks like we can see who gets the work done and who thinks they do the work.
James Ward 3 months ago
What I learned from coding is never try to improve somebody else's program. If you break it, you bought it. That way if it stops working you pass it back to them.
Rick Murray 3 months ago
"Multiple times a day" versus "Rarely or never". Looks like we can see who gets the work done and who thinks they do the work.
James Ward 3 months ago
What I learned from coding is never try to improve somebody else's program. If you break it, you bought it. That way if it stops working you pass it back to them.
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