Or let me rephrase:
What's an occupation that's involves very similar skills/abilities to programming, but that isn't IT-related at all?
What kind of jobs would someone with the "programmer" mindset be likely to do well in?
I've had many different responses to the question, ranging from "architect", to "engineer", to "nothing is the same as programming".
Your thoughts?
Car mechanic.
It's all about debugging and incredibly vague client requests.
Composing music. You program other's people brain by means of sound, which gets compiled as emotions. There's also a lot of math involved, and knowledge of patterns. The mindset is the same.
Of course, if you refer to "recycling yourself" in terms of career, eg. if you are a programmer and want to become a composer, that's a different story altogether, and you will probably not be able to, unless passionate or extremely skilled by nature.
The way to approach a problem and solve it at the end is extremely similar to how engineers think.
Since programmers are not only "problem solvers" but more "solution finders" I believe engineering is as close as it gets to develop in any given language.
Anything that requires:
I think that is the requirement for any college graduate level jobs.
Architect. An architect draws a building from their own knowledge of how someone else will build it, and figures out all of the ins and outs of how the building is put together.
Ultimately, a compiler builds what a programmer writes into binary, we as programmers just write up the plans for how it will work when its built.
Just a guess, never tried the job myself: Air traffic controller.
Edit: I know this horse is dead, but I can't resist. Check out the fourth item in the list :-)
Job Activities for: Air Traffic Controller
Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
Getting Information
Analyzing Data or Information
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
Making Decisions and Solving Problems
Processing Information
Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
Believe it or not, Lawyer. The job involves very carefully explaining your position (requirements) to another entity (the computer), within an incredibly complex framework of rules and regulations (language + compiler).
Writing.
To write a book ( I guess, because I have never written one ) you have to first set your objetives, what do you want to achieve, even if it's not crystal clear. Just like in software.
To write a book, you have to organize and think abstract, lets say you have to analyze the characters, and think how to solve the relationship among them, keep a central line. Add details etc. Just like in software.
Good writers read a lot and learn from what they learn. To be a good writer you have to be a good reader first. ( Not necessarily the same for developers, but it would definitely help read world class level code to learn from them ) Poor writers as poor programmers can write without reading others works of course.
For good writers and for good programmers sometime all that is needed is inspiration. There are sometimes when both just don't know who to get out of a situation where they're stuck. They just go home and probably at midnight the solution comes.
Both require discipline.
Of course, I'm not saying they're equivalent at all. Just pointing out some similarities from may very "subjective and argumentative" point of view.
mmmmhhh Is this a real question anyway?
Regards.
I'd say Doctors/Medical Practitioner, consider:
In the case of one Dr Gregory House, MD.. "Out of the box thinking"/diagnosis :)
Even career progression can be similar.. some doctors move into management, or change fields etc. They almost invariably need to document their findings, treatment and so forth.
I like Zed Shaw's presentation ACL is dead because he found out that the policies that companies make about secure access to documents are actually programming. So perhaps even a HR manager is doing something akin to software development.
I say Carpenter, with a focus on fine woodworking. Though building an entire house fits well too. It requires many of the same skills. You have to be decent at math, be able to see the big picture while focusing on a smaller task at hand, think critically, be very detail oriented and it has a nice artistic side to it as well. It is something I like to do in my free time and what I'd probably be doing if I weren't programming.
So apparently according to stackoverflow, programmers are similiar to the following: Lawyers/Mechanics/Writers and Composers.
What a shock! We think we can do everything!
In some workplaces, being a computer programmer could be likened to being a prostitute.
You can screw around all day and get paid for it.
Poetry, or music composing. It takes all the structural and creative abilities you need (and should have) for programming and uses them in a different artistic manner. And personally both programming and composing are fun.