Why I Love Writing Software
I suspect that when most people hear that I’m a software developer, they immediately picture some stereotypical antisocial nerd who relates better to machines than to people. I’m sure that is true for some software developers, and although I have some dorky proclivities, it isn’t why I absolutely love writing software.
The irony is I see writing software as an exceptionally creative process - and that’s why I love my job. I can’t sketch, sculpt, sing, sew, or saute, but I am equally passionate about creating. Software is how I express my creativity.
I have the privilege of facing daunting challenges head on, dreaming up elegant solutions and then every day turn these ideas into reality. I get what seem like inconceivably complex objectives, and the slowly piece by piece, understand and bring order to what was once impossible. Like the other creative crafts, I am intimately concerned with how others will interpret what I’ve created, literally trying to reach into their minds. Taking on their person. And when I’m done, countless people use what I created.
When I look at my job as a software developer, I don’t see it as being about the words and symbols that I type. I see it as this incredibly creative art, where I turn the impossible into the trivial for anyone to understand.