It's NOT funny! With all the AI shit, micro-managers trying to be clones of Hitler, and unemployment to make the line go up, it's something I'm seriously considering.
this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2026
1141 points (99.1% liked)
Programmer Humor
33672 readers
1380 users here now
Welcome to Programmer Humor!
This is a place where you can post jokes, memes, humor, etc. related to programming!
For sharing awful code theres also Programming Horror.
Rules
- Keep content in english
- No advertisements
- Posts must be related to programming or programmer topics
- If the mod doesn't find it funny, you're banned. Ha-ha!... For real: do not use the community for "statements". There are other places for such content. Keep it chill and funny.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
It used to be a meme, because every so often a dev left into that direction, even though most devs loved their job. A month ago, I was talking in the office with three other devs when this came up as a topic. It was not a meme anymore, every single one of us had seriously considered it.
17 year IT veteran here. I work on a dairy farm now. It's a peaceful life.
My buddy recently asked if I had any leads on stagehand work, because he spontaneously quit his IT job last month. He said that compared to the stress of modern IT work, he’d rather be a local roadcase pusher.
I’ve been restoring classic cars for 3 yeses now. Lost my company 3 months before the pandemic and haven’t looked back.
load more comments
(1 replies)
even though most devs loved their job
This is the crazy reality of tech workers. I work in security and I really enjoy my work, but I'm about two days from rage quitting and making furniture out of wood.
load more comments
(2 replies)
I went to trade school a couple years ago. Like three or four of my classmates were former programmers who were sick of the AI shit
load more comments
(1 replies)
None of that shit except maybe the AI goes away in a woodshop. Hell, owners probably love AI because now they don't need to pay a designer and drawer.
The AI reason is enough, but if someone has their own shop, then there aren't micromanagers either.
Oh you mean a one man shop. Unless you're already famous it's just going to be a hobby shop, the furniture market is completely fucked by overseas competition. We made furniture for David Iatesta, which I guess is some fancy ass design house. A ~40 4poster king size bedframe in red oak was our priciest standard option, we sold to them for ~$2.5k, they sanded a little more, and added ugly finishes and sold for $10k+
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Senior engineer of embedded c/c++ here. I have referred to myself a few times on here as trying to live the superposition of the engineer and the goose farmer. Now that I've built a palace of a chicken coop and there are grown chickens running around with the dogs betweenn the play house and koi pond, my back yard is turning into a village from a Zelda game or something.
My power tools are newer and more numerous than my computing devices by far, lol. And it's all higher end DeWalt stuff because using a good tool can be satisfying as hell. Plus I've already spent more money on wood, and the tools will last a long time.
The kernel (heh) of truth underpinning this meme is real and profound. If you spend all your time on screens and in cyberspace, if you go beyond touching grass and get your fingers in the dirt or build something physical, it could be extremely good for you. It works great for me!
I'm an embedded software engineer, too. While I love my job (for the time being) I definitely need to do other stuff with my free time. A junior colleague of mine couldn't understand why I bake my own bread rolls when I could save so much time by just buying them, but I'm sure in time he'll get there.
I'm convinced that there is a flaw deep down in the basics of our culture that essentially says that success and prosperity and a good modern life all mean that you don't need to actually do shit for yourself. All you need to do is make enough money at the job where you presumably actually do productive work, then you can pay some person or some company to take care of all the other shit in life.
No doubt it's a side effect of, if not a primary design feature of, our hyper-capitalist mindset. The ideal citizen is either working or consuming during all waking hours.
Sometimes accomplishing a goal in the way that's the most expensive and takes the most personal effort is actually the best way to go about it, assuming you count "improves my life" in your ROI calculation and not just the dollars in and out.
Not a programmer but doing healthcare IT coming from the equally mind numbing healthcare side.
....I feel you.
My woodworking shop in my basement is my solace that keeps my out of a mental institution. Most of my electric tools are oldet than I am - but the good ones, often bought during closing down sales from small carpentry companies.
Besides a self build CNC it's kept technology free by principle. The CNC is just too handy,though.
Not growing goose,but the ITsec wife dreams of raising Capybaras one day.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I know I specifically asked for a chair, and the chair you made is a very good chair, but my use case is actually reaching things in high places and this just doesn't get to the top shelves so you're gonna need to make the legs longer, I think.
I’m currently going down the software engineer to woodworker pipeline…
I can count the number of people I know who have done that on two hands... Three people.
Me too! I wonder how common it actually is?
There is just something so very satisfying about making something you can physically touch and hold after spending a lot of time ...not... doing that
load more comments
(3 replies)
Same with the neofetch dev, saw all this AI crap coming and just jumped into farming
Living the literal dream. Every software engineers fantasy is to be an artisan carpenter.
Not true, some of them want to raise goats.
Is this is reference to the Microsoft guy's LinkedIn meme? This one: https://programmerhumor.io/microsoft-memes/peak-programmer-career-trajectory-lntk
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(8 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
My senior always jokes about opening a food truck. One day they're gonna push us hard enough that we'll do it, too.
The difference between IT and important jobs, is that I get to drink on the clock in IT. In fact it's mandated.
load more comments
(12 replies)
I'm in biotech and my wife and I keep talking about quitting our jobs and opening a meadery.
load more comments
(37 replies)
...and no mandate to use AI to increase productivity
I was a programmer for 25-some years but I haven't written a line of code since 2019. I now get my engineering jollies from the used school bus I converted to a motorhome and from the house I bought three years ago and am finishing up renovating. For money I drive a school bus, which pays about 1/6 of what I used to make but is infinitely more satisfying. As far as retirement goes, I'm hoping to die a painless death before AI replaces all the CDL jobs in the country. I think AI will work fine for school buses, mainly because kids are easier to replace the younger they are.
load more comments
(2 replies)
i once took over a consultancy gig at a high-tech optical lab. when me and the guy i was replacing were leaving on the last day of the handover i asked just conversationally where he was going next, and he told me he was going back to school to be a painter. guy was in his mid-50s.
load more comments
(2 replies)
The shop teacher at my school actually did lose a couple of fingers to a table saw (not at school). Like right after he retired, too.
Ours got his tie caught in a belt sander. If it wasn't for a quick thinking kid who pulled the cord...
He did get some chin sanding in, which is nice.
Wearing a tie in a workshop is like pointing a gun at other people at the shooting range. Never do it unless you want bad things to happen.
load more comments
(5 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
I did this, except I actually have better pay and benefits than I did working in tech (I was a low paid web developer, now I am a highly paid finish carpenter). I was just warning my coworkers today to get ready for the wave of ex-programmers hitting the trades.
You were really getting shafted as a web developer and likely could've made a lot more... But on the other hand I'm glad you found something you like more. I still prefer programming, with or without AI assistance, to just about any other work I could do. I have a gig where I generally get to solve slightly different problems every day (very wide domain) and I have no idea what other job could provide this without being in danger from LLMs.
I know a few carpenters of the self-employed variety and I gather it can be a very rewarding job if you're into it. I could never, I need more stimulation for my ADHD, I need to be able to do a week worth of work in 2 hours when things are overdue, it doesn't really work in carpentry lol
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
My dad went from db management to running a grocery store.
My one friend is now becoming an HVAC technician
load more comments
(3 replies)
I read "DBMS" as "DSBM" at first.
I need to get out more.
I read it as BDSM... Not sure what I should do...
Get in more
load more comments
(1 replies)
The AI-related bullshit definitely sucks the fun out of programming, but carpenters still have to deal with customers...
load more comments
(2 replies)
The RSS feed shouldn't be added. It should be the primary application.
view more: next ›