Code Soloist #17: Beware the Gentleman Coder

There are some in our world whose work is truly inspired. When they launch a new project nonchalantly from their pixel-perfect blog, communities form up around the intellectual scraps.

This is the domain of the Gentleman Coder, a term I stole from a colleague, while I was trying to convince him that it’s not a great idea to take a few days off a project that’s meant to provide him a living, to pursue a smaller, impressive, but wholly unprofitable idea he had in tandem, no doubt during a period of mental exhaustion. These ideas are the kind that usually appear when we’re spending our time in the details of an idea already explored, already mined for excitement, going through the motions until it is manifest. The fact that you still have these ideas is healthy.

A Gentleman Coder is anyone who creates software for enjoyment, simply because they can. They have already secured enough revenue to live well, and are now curiously, happily exploring the love of their craft without financial or time constraints. 

It’s good to have heroes to look into, but following along is problematic if you look up to them. It’s healthy to have role models, but by following heroes who have already taken their chips off the table, it’s easy to mentally skip over the part that defined them. It’s the same part that stares you in the face now, when time is at a premium, and your idea has made the transition from excitement to work. As a builder, you will gravitate many multiples of times to interesting problems that you can solve elegantly while moving towards your goals. The trick is to avoid them.

The point is that all success looks effortless after the fact. Taking time away from your hard work to pursue an intellectually exciting side project can seem cathartic, almost as if you are walking in the footsteps of giants, creating useful, beautiful open source software for the masses, but it’s really stealing from your own future; the future where you’ve put the time in, and can now emulate the folks who have reached the rare position that they can code purely for enjoyment and intellectual pursuit.

At least know the difference. If you would rather keep your side projects for mental stimulation and relaxation, without attaching commercial aspirations and the resulting stress, then you are setting yourself up for achieving the kind of happiness that can live with a day job, and seeks to avoid gambling free time for a potential future where there’s more of it. Kudos.

If you’re seeking freedom from a corporate lifestyle, changing the world in your own small way with software, or acquiring islands, understand that when you see thoughtful, unrushed work, it is the culmination of either a career-sized helping of perseverance that preceded it, or a mindframe that runs perpendicular to your own. When you can recognize The Gentleman Coder in both of its forms, and your desire to pretend now what you may earn later, you may not be tempted to live in your future, choosing instead to do the thing in front of you.

Code Soloist is for single-person software development companies that are trying to start something big with their bare hands. In it, I try to impart whatever I’ve learned, for better or worse, doing the same thing badly.


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