The musical programmer phenomenon
Occasionally people ask me if I miss being in the Music Industry and sometimes the answer surprises people. Software development and music production share many things in common, therefore I don’t miss the music job too much because Software development can be such a creative business and I find that side of my personality is being fulfilled.
What I do miss about music is the musicians (sometimes) and the whole bunker warfare of recording studio. Everyone huddled inside a dark space with LED lights flashing constantly and the constant musical debate.
Unsurprisingly many musicians (not sure on the percentage per`se, but lets call it ‘many’), find themselves career swapping into IT. I tend to think that because music can be such a hard place to earn a reasonable living, that many artsy types opt for software development because it is creative and offers better remuneration prospects (comparatively speaking).
To back this assertion up, I remember being asked to attend a focus group of sorts (back when I was studying in a private institution) and answering some marketer questions about product choices with respect to training providers. I did note that one of the marketing group remarked that a high number of musicians are in the development business and that they (the marketers) target that group specifically in the advertising and marketing materials. I wonder how many of the good developers are the musos? Nah maybe not! How many good developers are now musos, maybe that would be a more interesting question?
