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.”

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.”

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.

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. 

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.”

“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.

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.”

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.

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.”