Top 8 Programmer Hobbies
Check out the top 8 programmer hobbies according to a recent survey, along with some great resources on how to get started with each hobby yourself! By Felipe Laso-Marsetti.
How to Get Started
Can’t even draw a stick figure? Don’t worry, there are some great ways to get started even if you’re a complete beginner:
- Drawspace: Learn to draw online
- Proko: Video tutorials to help you sketch life studies
- Draw a Box: Regularly updated drawing tutorials
Practical First Steps
If you want to pursue art, don’t try to start off by drawing a character from The Avengers. Start with something simple, like an apple or a little cartoon. Carry a drawing pad, your iPad and Apple Pencil, or a little notepad so you can doodle during those precious spare minutes of your day.
5) Cooking
28.1% of survey respondents had this as a hobby. Wait, does making Top Ramen count as cooking?
Why Do it?
Here is a story from Janie Clayton on how and why cooking is such an important part of her life:
“I went through a divorce a year and a half ago. I live in the middle of nowhere and I work from home, so I decided to learn how to cook almost as self defense against starvation. I got a subscription food service called Plated that sends me recipes and ingredients, which is really convenient because I have had so many recipes I want to do but find out I am missing one vital, important ingredient and I would need to drive half an hour to pick it up.
It also made it easier to try new recipes that I found intimidating, like thai curry and homemade pizza. It’s also really nice to get away from the computer sometimes. I feel like what I am doing is existential. I type words into the computer and stuff happens, but none of it is real.
Getting to touch carrots and onions while I chop them up and smell them cooking and plating them and tasting something I made is rewarding and fulfilling. It helps me get through sometimes feeling like what I do isn’t important.” —Janie Clayton
Janie with her home-cooked meal and precious pug.
Cooking awakens many sense and can be a great release of endorphins. You are feeling things with your hands, touching different textures. You smell delicious spices and food as you prepare it, and finally you taste all of these flavors and combinations.
Like art or many other hobbies on this list, you are creating something from a separate group of items or ingredients. You are putting together something that pleases you (or others if you cook for friends and relatives) while getting to keep a nutritious, healthy diet.
How to Get Started
Here are some cooking resources survey respondents found helpful:
- The Healthy Programmer: Cooking, exercise and nutrition for coders
- Blue Apron: Fresh ingredients and healthy recipes on your doorstep
- Plated: Cook like a gourmet chef in the comfort of your home
- Cooking For Geeks: Where the art and science of cooking meet
- Food Network Easy Recipes: Learn to cook, even if Top Ramen is your current speed
Practical First Steps
Find something you’d like to eat that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare, buy ingredients for it and get cooking! Start simple and use ingredients you’re already familiar with.
4) Reading
47.4% of survey respondents had this as a hobby. Curl up in your favorite chair and read on to find out whodunit.
Why Do it?
I’m sure several of you have read a book series which was then turned into a movie and thought: “The books were SO much better. The movie left out a lot of details and changed too many things.”
Yup, I’m with you on that one. This happened to me with the Harry Potter series. While the movies are fantastic, they do the books no justice. There’s also something indescribable about how your brain imagines things while you read a book.
Reading a book is an intensely personal experience; you can imagine a character and world in any way, giving things as little or as much detail as you wish. They are also easy to carry around (even more so if you have an e-reader or a mobile device) relatively inexpensive, and fantastic to fill those spaces in time when you’re waiting for your doctor or riding the bus to work.
If you’re like me and not terribly interested in fantasy or fiction, there are biographies you can read to learn more about historical characters, books about computer history or cryptography, or even books about programming itself! :] While I would recommend you also have non-programming books in your list, reading is also a GREAT way to learn about your career and profession.
Trust me, even if you don’t like reading, it’s the best way to learn pretty much anything.
How to Get Started
Check out the following reading list that is probably as far away from programming as you’re likely to get:
Practical First Steps
Find a book you like, whether it’s science fiction, a biography or a novel, and and start by reading a chapter a day.
3) Video Games
52.6% of survey respondents had this as a favorite activity. Experience relaxation through fragging your friends. :]
Why Do it?
Heroes of the Storm, a popular game by Blizzard.
Ah, video games. My undisputed favorite hobby and activity apart from programming. Video games are such a fantastic way to relax and immerse yourself in virtual worlds that let you make your dreams come true. Regardless of the day’s weather or how close your friends live, you can enjoy video games whenever, often wherever, you want!
Video games can also be a great learning tool. I count some puzzle games including TIS100 or Human Resource Machine among my favorite on iOS at the moment, as they help exercise the mind of a programmer.
Human Resource Machine video game.
Video games are such an important aspect of my life that I even had a Zelda-themed wedding, with a painted cake, souvenirs, cookies, and in-game music as my wife walked down the aisle.
Zelda-themed wedding cake for our Zelda-themed wedding.
People often think you need to be super-skilled to play video games, and truthfully, you need a bit of dexterity to play Counter Strike or Overwatch. But what about Sudoku 3D, a retro Mario game, online chess, or Angry Birds?
There is a video game out there to suit almost everyone on the planet. If you like cars in real life, chances are you will enjoy racing games. Into football? Yup, there’s a few games about that. Many video games have fantastic storylines and character arcs that span multiple releases, and even have spin-off books and comics. It’s like opening Pandora’s box!
What are you waiting for? If you’re a developer, it’s almost guaranteed you have a mobile device or computer you can play video games on. All that’s left to do is figure out what games you like and find what platforms they’re available on.