Why I quit programming

Life, programming

Career of a programmer is interesting. Sitting on a chair at least 8 hours a day watching a computer screen and typing some commands that computer can understand and do what a programmer wants to do. Sometimes. Sometimes computer just says “Error” and do nothing.

How/Why I started coding

I write about it in this article: “How programming changed my life“.

What programming really is

I write about it in this article: “What programming really is“.

Coding career

My coding career was great. I started my career after I quit college in 2012 and I ended my career in 2015. I learnt a lot. I started working in a small web development company and after a year I was able to work on my own as a freelancer. I have a portfolio on hromnik.com. I have built a lot of web pages and applications. But unfortunately a lot of applications do not exist any more. They were not successful. The most successful and useful application I built is CoderMania – an e-learning platform for learning to code interactively. Unfortunately, I stopped developing it because I changed my priorities in my life. I started teaching people to code but I realized that there is something more important than coding and teaching people to code.

Changed priorities

I started meditating in April 2015 and I realized in September that teaching people to code is not something that the world needs right now. I realized that the world needs something else. Something more important. The world is full of suffering. There are wars, fear, hate, violence, poverty and a lot of other terrible things. I realized that people can live without these terrible things. I want people to live in harmony, love, happiness and abundance as I do thanks to meditation.

Meditation as a highway to a happier life

Meditation is not something alien to us. It’s a natural activity for humans to gain and retain the state of unconditional love and happiness. There are wars, fear, hate, violence, poverty and other terrible things because people don’t meditate. Many people live unconsciously instead of consciously. They don’t live their lives at their full potential. Many people live in fear or even hate. Quite a lot of people are able to hurt other people and other living beings. It’s not necessary. People can live in harmony if they start living consciously instead of unconsciously.

Once people get a certain level of consciousness they will not be able to hurt any living being if not necessary. They will live in love and happiness instead of fear and hate. They will understand that helping each other is important. Selfishness will go away. Trust me. I was selfish, fearful and angry. I could get mad about any small things. I started meditating and my life changed dramatically. I realized a lot. I can see things that other people don’t see. It’s interesting to see that people create all their trouble in their minds. I can see that people can live in harmony, love, happiness and abundance. I don’t live in a wonderland. I live in the same world as you. I see what’s happening. I see a lot of terrible things. But I also see that it’s not necessary.

You might say: “Ok, but what can I do about it? I can’t change the whole world“. Albert Einstein said: “The world is not a dangerous place to live because of bad people, but because of people who don’t do anything about it“. You don’t have to change the whole world. You can change at least yourself and your surroundings. Once you manage to change yourself, things will happen in a magical way.

Mahatma Gandhi once said:

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

You can change yourself through meditation more quickly than without it. You might say: “Oh thanks, I am content with myself. I’m not the one who should change. Others should change”. That’s what I thought too. But it doesn’t work like that. You cannot change others. You can just change yourself and inspire others to change. Once you can live without fear, anger, hate and judging, others will wonder how you managed it. They will probably want to know how to live happier life. And you will tell them: “I just meditate a few minutes a day. I listen to my inner voice, my heart and do actions according to it. That’s my recipe for happy life“.

And people will probably tell you: “I don’t need to meditate. Meditation is a waste of time“. I know, I had similar thoughts about meditation. But I started to meditate because I was curious what meditation can bring to me. And I was very surprised after a few months, how it purified my consciousness. It’s mind-blowing.

If you want to open a new dimension of life – life full of love, happiness, abundance and harmony, you should practice daily meditation. Yes, daily. It’s not enough to meditate once a week. If you want to feel effects of meditation, you have to meditate every day. If you want muscle, you also have to work out more often than once a week. Meditation is similar to body workout. It needs to be done often and regularly. Start to meditate at least 5 minutes a day and you will feel results after a few months. You will feel much better and you will understand a lot of things about yourself, life and the universe. 5 minutes a day. It’s a minimum for beginners. Everyone can do a 5 minutes meditation. Everyone can change their perception of life in a few months. Everyone can be happier.

Happy people are more important than happy computers

So the main reason why I quit programming is to teach people how they can live without fear, anger, hate, judging and others not so nice thoughts and feelings. People should learn how to live happier life as soon as possible. That’s the most important thing. I have learned a lot and I want to teach others how to live happier life. Once everyone is happy, I can teach coding and maybe even code again.

The second reason why I quit programming is that I want to work with people instead of computers. I want to switch my life from virtual reality to the real one.

Working with computers is nice and comfortable, but I don’t see meaning in it while people live in fear, hate, anger and other miserable feelings. I want to talk to people and show them how they can live happier life.

What will I do?

You may ask: “And what about money?“. This is the most frequent question I get. I know that many people need a lot of money for their living. That’s a trap of The Matrix (this system). I was able to minimize my expenses and I need money for just food, cheap accommodation and travelling (which can also be free – hitchhiking). That’s all. I was able to save enough money to live more than year without a paid job and do what I like – to write articles on my blog, to create videos, to meet great people and this all created and still creates new opportunities for me and others. I haven’t been coding for more than 10 months and I am one of the happiest people in the world. I can work in kids summer camp. I can also work on a farm. I can make and sell food. I can do a lot of things that I love. I don’t need to earn much money. I am happy when I do what I love, when I eat great food, when I am surrounded by great people. I am a new age hippie and I am happy.

Do what you love and be happy too

I don’t like to work 8 hours a day, 160 and more hours per month. This system is not for me and also not for many others who want to disconnect from The Matrix and want to do what they really like no matter how much money they earn. Money is a trap of The Matrix. Humans are the only species who need to pay for living. Many people just can’t stop working and be free. They are slaves of their expenses and money. It’s a terrible life. It’s a modern slavery which produces stress, fear, anxiety, cancer and other diseases. I could talk about the Matrix even more but you probably already know it. You live in it. But you may not know how to get out of it. Just minimize expenses, earn enough money so you can leave your current job and start doing something you like, something more useful and meaningful. Do what you love, be free and be happy. I hope more people will be happy and more people will help each other. We can create true paradise here on Earth. Together.

May the love be with you.

EDIT: Doing something that I love does not mean that I can’t earn a living as many of you may think.


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  • Valentin Georgiev

    Hi Man!
    Great article! Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I’m Valentin and I work as system administrator for around 10 years. My last couple of months were quite dynamic. I lot of things happened to me that got me out of my comfort zone. I started to visit seminars about life change, mind control etc…, also I started to meditate for about 1 hour a day. Also decided to visit 10 days Vipassana meditation course here in Bulgaria. I’m just writing this comment to you because I also started to generate such thoughts in my mind … to leave the tech field. To find something more … meaningful. That’s how I found your article :)

    Wish you all the best in your great adventure!
    —
    Cheers,

    Valentin

    • http://hromnik.com Tomáš Hromník

      Great. I’m glad to read such words. Thank you.

      I had so strong desire to live more natural and calm life that I have become a monk in a Hare Krishna temple (farm). Simple living, high thinking.

      I wish you to find your life purpose.

      • Valentin Georgiev

        Wow, that sounds interesting. Could you share more info about your day to day living now? What kind of food you eat, your regime, your obligation in the temple, etc. I hope I wouldn’t disturb you with these questions. Thank you in advance!

  • Stephen Crowley

    lol. 3 years is not a career. yes meditation is good but how does making videos not count is just more of the Matrix?

    • feeji

      So many questions…

      Meditating is great. It’s…there is so much peace in silence. And silencing the mind. It’s like the mind thinks outward when thoughts aren’t in motion, and the body truly relaxes. It’s even better when you can think about the “meditation” feeling with your body, after doing it so often. That feeling when your muscles start to relax on cue just because you willed it. Kind of like a light switch, and your body is the bulb.

      But I love programming, and feel the same about the world, in that it is just super complex, and hard to manage. Are countries more than all businesses that don’t expect to become boundary-less organizations anyways? Aren’t we feeling no safer than 10 years ago despite globalization attempts and better-future endeavors? Can it be possible (and I am asking, not wondering) to live luxurious lives without the need for money or class-based hierarchical societal structures?

      I wouldn’t weigh so much thought on what is or isn’t, though. You’re living it, so you are. Now what? That, and your perspective will always be different from someone else’s because they are not you. What then?

      Too many questions.

      • Stephen Crowley

        Deep stuff, dude. Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.

  • TheFeydakin

    I’ve been a developer for 5+ years now. I was recently laid off from my job after several years at one firm and I’m having a crisis of faith.
    I was unhappy at that job and I had been following self help about how ‘if you can work through being unhappy, then you will be successful no matter what’ advice. I was working through the difficulties and did well most of the time at my last company. However my pursuit of bettering myself at my last job left me feeling like a sloth by the time that I come home and no outlet for socialization or interactions due to the insular culture of the place. I’m going to 30 in half a year and I am no where near close to being good enough to be a programming instructor or mentor as of yet. I don’t know all of the design patterns, I barely know any CIS like binary trees or quick sort algorithms. What most employers want to see in an interview is if you can write out a 2 sum problem or some other algorithm in 10 minutes or less. If you can’t solve it in that time, then you’re pretty much out of the conversation. Then, in the market where I live I can apply for a job where I know all of the technologies that they’re working with, pass a white board exam, have 5+ years experience, and only be offered 65k a year! What’s the point of learning all of this very specific crap if you’re not even going to be rewarded for it? I looked at the older members of my team (in their 40s and late 50s) at my last job and saw how they struggled despite being able to put out very good code. It gives me pause and makes me wonder what the fucking point is of it all.

    • Aslan Naurzbai

      hey there, fellow developer here, and i agree with u..

      in our industry tech stack changes all the time..

  • Aslan Naurzbai

    really 100% my thoughts in here. same attitude to meditation. + the matrix is my favorite movie… i recall the cubicle from the matrix everytime i get to work..