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When people think about programmers, the image that pops into their head is probably a person who is hunched over a computer in a dark corner, relentlessly tapping away on the keyboard with no contact with the outside world. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, just like in any other industry, developers come from various backgrounds and have different personalities, making them a diverse group.  

To learn more about the day-to-day lives of programmers, we are once again visiting the Programmer Humor subreddit, which is full of jokes and memes perfectly capturing the chaos and struggles of this profession. Scroll down to find them, and don’t forget to check out a conversation with software engineers Evgeny Klimenchenko and Ben Grimwade from the UK, who kindly agreed to tell us more about programming humor.

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Totalbloatwaredeath

Totalbloatwaredeath

OminoSentenzioso Report

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Thestruggleisreal

Thestruggleisreal

Green____cat Report

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Programmercooks

Programmercooks

rkoutnik Report

Software engineer Evgeny Klimenchenko from the UK believes that the stereotype of programmers being antisocial and dull is quite misleading. 

“Programmers often have a rich sense of humour that's often related to their line of work. Their jokes might be technical, but they're definitely there and can be quite witty. Because programmers' humour is quite technical and full of industry jargon, a lot of people don't understand it, and that leads to them believing that we don't have a sense of humour.”

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Breakingnews

Breakingnews

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Fastfollow

Fastfollow

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Guyswehaveanenemy

Guyswehaveanenemy

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Meanwhile, software engineer Ben Grimwade says, “As with any other group or industry, there are those that joke more and those that joke less. I personally feel that if you aren’t having fun and making jokes at work, you are missing out on life. We spend more time at work than with our families, so have fun doing it.”

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Variablenames

Variablenames

gottapatchemall Report

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Everyprojectmanagerever

Everyprojectmanagerever

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Whichoneofyoudidthis

Whichoneofyoudidthis

Far_Calligrapher_215 Report

As Klimenchenko already mentioned, programming humor is quite niche, overflowing with industry jargon. “It often revolves around different programming languages, algorithms, and software quirks. Programmers love to poke fun at their own challenges and the absurdities they are faced with on a day-to-day basis. We also love our puns,” he fondly shares.

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Grimwade adds that programming humor is generally quite dry and leans toward being more sarcastic than what you would find in other areas of life or even professions. 

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Thenorweiganlanguageislit

Thenorweiganlanguageislit

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Wellmomisalwaysrightyouneedtotryharder

Wellmomisalwaysrightyouneedtotryharder

Nutritious-Pepper Report

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Justincase

Justincase

Green____cat Report

Klimenchenko shares that the most popular ongoing inside joke among developers that reflects their struggles perfectly is “It works on my machine." He explains that it’s a good way to deflect a code that doesn’t run elsewhere. “Everyone understands that this is just a joke, and if it works on one machine, it should work on most.”

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Stillbetterthanlibreoffice

Stillbetterthanlibreoffice

ellewasamistake Report

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Googling

Googling

SufficientMark3344 Report

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Oddlyspecific

Oddlyspecific

general_452 Report

“Another one is we love our "Infinite Loops" jokes—jokes about code that never stops running. Or similarly jokes about "recursions," that one might be hard to explain, haha,” adds Klimenchenko.

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Icanseewhereistheissue

Icanseewhereistheissue

vinceflibustier Report

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Chadrecursioncode

Chadrecursioncode

Asleep-Television-24 Report

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Dayswithoutanaccident

Dayswithoutanaccident

gnomeplanet Report

Grimwade additionally tells us that programmers love a good pun and often joke about the plethora of misunderstandings that happen with other departments. “Like the sales teams that sell software to clients telling the clients that we already have it (when we don’t), and then tell us to write it by the next day, or the product team who tell customers how the system should work and then tell us something different.”

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Leadershipmindset

Leadershipmindset

CuriousNewbie101 Report

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Thoughtyouwereinvisiblehuhthinkagain

Thoughtyouwereinvisiblehuhthinkagain

JhinMoriarty Report

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Wardeclaration

Wardeclaration

Medmaksi Report

If you’re interested in knowing even more about the tech world or are a beginner looking for guidance, both engineers have written various articles helping others navigate the industry more easily. For instance, Grimwade has published a post on how to ace a software engineering interview where he shares various tips and tricks. On Klimenchenko’s blog, you can find how to build an app only using Copilot and an article explaining that front-end testing is for everyone.

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Humorprogrammingadvancethisis

Humorprogrammingadvancethisis

ashevat Report

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Betyourlifeonmycode

Betyourlifeonmycode

FelchingLegend Report

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Techstartupsbelike

Techstartupsbelike

bmacabeus Report

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BeesEelsAndPups
Community Member
4 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is the valuation if the startup is in San Fransisco. The exact same company with the exact same product and same developers started in New York is worth $200 million. Started in Chicago it's worth $100 million. Started in Philadelphia it's worth $500 thousand. Company valuations are purely based on perception, and not on reality. It's why Tesla is worth more than every other car manufacturer on Earth put together.

JoinMeZoe
Community Member
4 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love how the guy on the left is holding his laptop and chillin

Savahax
Community Member
4 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are companies like Microsoft, Apple and PayPal that had even less. Just look at that floor

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Klimenchenko signed off by saying, “It's wonderful to see programming humour getting the spotlight! It's a great way to bring the community together and make the field more approachable to others.”

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Whatversionareyouusing

Whatversionareyouusing

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Itsmostlybussinesspeopleoverthere

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Makelifeturingcomplete

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Arelationalproblem

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Stilljunior

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Note: this post originally had 90 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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