posts: New post, Coding is a craft

Author: Matt Fleming

_posts/2019-05-22-coding-is-craft.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: Coding is a Craft
+---
+
+I remember the exact room I was in the first time I realised that, for me,
+programming was about more than just solving problems. It was shortly before
+graduating from University, and I was sat in a meeting room in the Imagination
+Technologies office in Leeds. My soon-to-be-boss asked me:
+
+> "If you weren't a programmer, what other job would you do?"
+
+No one had ever asked me that before. And I don't think I've ever been asked
+since. But thinking about it for all of 10 seconds, I realised that I wanted to
+create things, no matter what job I had.
+
+It's taken me a long time to accept that it's OK to want to build things with
+software that doesn't simultaneously solve a problem. It's OK to write code for
+the sake of it.
+
+Because, personally, writing code feels a lot like practicing a craft. Yes, you
+get better the more you do it. But it also fulfills a deep-seated desire to
+bring something into the world that didn't exist before. Not that I'm saying no
+one's ever written a boot loader before, but no one's ever written a boot
+loader that way I wrote [mine](https://github.com/mfleming/efilinux).
+
+Viewed this way, side projects take on a whole new purpose. They're a
+great way to exercise your creativity. You need side projects, not necessarily
+to learn new skills, but to use the ones you already have.
+
+Writing code isn't just about solving problems. It's also good for the soul.