
10 Hobbies for Programmers That Don’t Involve Code - happy-go-lucky
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hobbies-programmers-dont-involve-code/
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bbctol
I was a little surprised that simple exercise isn't on this list; besides the
health benefits, I think it has really good psychological benefits to people
who work in conceptual fields. If your workday is spent figuring out how to
solve problems and working through annoying bugs, there's something very
satisfying about doing a task that can only be done one way. If you want to be
able to lift heavier things, all you can do is lift heavy things! I guess this
list tended more towards "other ways to engage problem-solving," but I think
it's healthy to sometimes do things you just have to push through.

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davidjnelson
Access to pristine hiking trails is a huge deal in terms of quality of life.
Not sure how to solve that one in the Bay Area though without being insanely
rich and living in Woodside / Los Gatos / etc. Santa Cruz mountains maybe, but
that's a long drive on a windy road to get to the South Bay, and way too far
from Mountain View/Palo Alto/Menlo Park.

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EliRivers
Sideways related, Hong Kong island is in many ways a miserable place to live
unless you're rich, but for the slightly middle class the footpaths over the
hill are a very pleasant way to get out on your own in some nice scenery. I
was surprised at how few people I ran into up there (although someone is going
up regularly to maintain the tiny little shrines).

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mc42
I very much find myself agreeing with the items on this list. However, I think
it can be expanded to anything that's the "opposite" of programming.

Hands-on projects that are as far away physically and mentally from
programming are amongst the most relaxing in my experience. I enjoy writing
personally, especially on pen and paper. The total cognitive disconnect for me
between writing on a computer and on paper makes it a wholly more enjoyable
experience. Along the same vein is working on bicycles, anything with hand-
tools.

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ideonexus
I would expand on Go, Poker/Blackjack, and Logic Puzzles to taking up board
gaming as a hobby. There is a renaissance in this hobby that started several
years ago and is only growing in strength. I am fascinated with the wild
variety of game mechanics and themes coming out each year. There's a social
element to it that gets you out of your head if you go to your local gaming
shop to play with others and there's also a quiet meditative element to it as
you read rule books and play mock games in private to learn how things work.
As an introvert, I find the structure of board gaming gives me a medium
through which I can more easily interact with others. It's almost like
collaborative puzzle-solving--especially when the other players are also in it
for the fun and less the competition.

Magic the Gathering is still a huge hobby for me along these lines. I find
getting out to Friday Night Magic tournaments leaves my mind ablaze thanks to
the social interactions, constantly evolving game dynamics, and leaving each
tournament with new ideas for decks and strategies. It's been around for
twenty years now, keeps coming up with new mechanics, and is more popular than
ever.

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photojosh
Good suggestion. My wife and I, both engineers, love board games in the Euro
game style as a way to spend time together (when we're not fried from the
day).

A quick list of favourites: Dominion, Babel, Agricola, Settlers of Catan,
Carcassonne, Power Grid, Ticket to Ride, Colt Express.

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randcraw
How about hobbies that don't even require electricity? Like riding a bicycle
or motorcycle on backroads, playing and listening to live music, dining
outdoors, crosswords, and daypacking in the woods.

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ChanningAllen
I'm surprised there aren't any honorable mentions here for chess, which is
impressively strategic and compelling at the higher levels[1].

It doesn't have the complexity of Go, but Go doesn't have the ubiquity or
accessibility of chess. And what good is a dance if you can't find dance
partners?

1\. John Bartholomew:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3naU3axvP6Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3naU3axvP6Y)

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CroCroCro
Woodworking.

It's similar in that you can go from a idea to concept to finished piece in a
weekend while also providing something tangible - unlike code.

There is just nothing more satisfying than touching your project after it's
done.

The best thing is: you even do sports, that is, if you don't use a lot of
power tools. Forget the planing with the jointer and use the hand planer :)

Ask me for details if you'd like yo hear more.

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earenndil
Basically, it says these hobbies are similar to programming. You know what? If
I'm picking up a hobby. I want it to be as _dissimilar_ from programming as
possible.

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geebee
I like to be mentally engaged, but in something that is not the same sort of
mental engagement as programming. Tennis is great. I don't do much ballroom
dancing, but what I've done I really enjoy. I also play a lot of music. These
have a physical component in addition to a mental one. Surfing, I also like,
but it's more solitary, and coding tends to be a somewhat solitary activity
(not nearly as solitary as people often think, though). But the cold ocean and
the mental process of reading and catching waves is a kind of relief or
therapy for a brain exhausted after a day of unweaving and re-knitting code.

I have trouble understanding why people love playing go or chess or other
highly analytical or memory based games. Casual card games, that are heavily
random but involve just enough strategy to require a bit of mental engagement,
those seem for some reason to ease social interaction, so those "strategy"
games, I like.

But hey, some people can't wait to get to chess or go club at the end of a day
of coding, and that's pretty excellent, go for it of course.

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pesfandiar
Regarding Poker and Blackjack: there's something fundamentally different about
the two. In poker you play against other players, but in blackjack it's
against the house.

There are people who, thanks to their skills, have made a career out of poker.
However, blackjack strategy can be boiled down to a simple decision table, and
still without techniques to give you an edge against the house (e.g. card
counting), you're only going to gradually lose all your money.

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davidjnelson
Gardening would be fantastic if the cost of land to do it on wasn't so
prohibitive. A few solutions are porch gardening in pots, which is ok but not
quite as fun. Another is community gardens. I know the peninsula has some, but
there's not much in evergreen. I would not find gardening next to a freeway
particularly relaxing for instance:
[http://veggielution.org](http://veggielution.org)

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metaloha
I would add to #5 (Poker and Blackjack) that there are many collectable and
"living" card games with similar mechanics. NetRunner remains one of my
favourites for that reason - asymmetric play, bluffing, and risk management :)

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SomeHacker44
I would extraordinarily strongly recommend against any "collectible" or
"tradable" card game. Only play card games/deck building games which give you
all the cards with one time purchase and no randomization. So,
Android:Netrunner is a solid example of a good game. Magic the Gathering is an
example of one you should run as far and as fast from as possible.

Those games ("collectible" card games) are literally the physical equivalent
of "Free to Play" games psychologically, without the "Free" part ever.

(Edit: "Android Netrunner" is what I was referring to.)

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sputknick
I've been looking at getting into MTG, is it not possible to just buy a deck,
and be done with it? If I do that, will I just get crushed on a regular basis?

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SomeHacker44
It's possible to buy a "starter deck," but against anyone who has invested
money (and time), there's no hope.

Magic is not really a game so much as a psychological weapon deployed on
people to extract money from them legally (if not really ethically), IMO.

There's no good need for it either. There's no reason that the game couldn't
be made a proper game: Just sell a box with 4 copies of every card ever made
(as the limit per deck of a single card is 4) or in expansions. Then it would
be ethical.

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kyoton
The starter decks are pretty solid actually. I come from a _very_ aggressive
magic community (in terms of play style, the people were super friendly), but
every so often I was able to out do them. These are players who have dedicated
years and plenty of cash to creating their decks and honing their minds for
the game.

Occasionally, careful planning can be beaten by a good hand. ;)

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photojosh
Another missing one is learning a 2nd language (an obvious one, I'd think).

