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Family reaction story to me being a dev?

- My dad still refers to my profession as 'something in computers'.
- My older sister goes to her weirdo friends for technical advice because she thinks all I do is fill paper in printers (that's a long TL;DR story about a phone upgrade)
- My brother, a car mechanical genius thinks what I do is near God-like. He also races cars and can blabber on about the physics, aero-dynamics, weight ratios, etc and says "Oh, no way. I'm too stupid to do what you do." Then I'm like, "Dude, shut up, I can barely change my oil and you could replace an engine blindfolded", then he just laughs "Yea, probably."
- Baby sister just wants me to fix her phone. "Can you make <insert some random app> do <insert a random behavior the app was never designed to do>?". I'm like "Uh no, I didn't write Instagram", then she's like "I thought you went to school for computers?".
- My mom passed way (long battle with cancer). I'm sure she'd be proud, but still asking me to how to switch the channel so she could watch a movie on the VCR.
I can clearly see having this conversation with my mom.
Me: "Mom, why are you still using a VCR? I bought you a subscription to Netflix"
Mom: "Net what? Do I turn the dial to channel 2 or 3?"
Me: "No, its the Netflix button on the remote."
Mom: "Can't you come over and do this? I just want to watch my shows. Didn't you go to school to learn these things?"
Me: "No mom, that's not...um...never mind. I'll be right over."

Comments
  • 23
    This was a very wholesome rant. Thank you! I really enjoyed this.
  • 18
    Sounds like a fun family!
  • 2
    Wholesome af. Good read!
  • 1
    Hehe.

    My top 3 :

    * Hey can you please help me select a PC / lap[top,. I have XX$.

    * Hi, why my "insert app" doesn't do <insert thing>

    And the best :

    * Hey how do I activate the automatic confirmation that my email was recived ? When I send email to my bankl, I got confirmation ! I want the same with my other emails.

    Well, plenty more, these 3 are just fresh in memory.

    On the bright side :
    * My mother knows now how to use netflix
    * she can connect to a new WiFi by her self !
    * She can (finaly) scan documents and send them nby email

    She still have no idea what 'Folder" and "File" are
  • 3
    Am I the only one curious about the sister-printer situation?
  • 0
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  • 0
    Love your brother’s energy!
  • 1
    Since my first high salary dev job in 2018 and until 2021, despite all my attempts to explain, my mom thought that I’m not actually a programmer but rather a scammer that just makes companies pay me salary for nothing. The argument that being a legit programmer is way easier than being a scammer mastermind fell on deaf ears.

    Do you know why I said she thought so until 2021? Because I stopped talking to her in 2021 when she said that “being bisexual is a sin” and “I want to stop treating my cancer to die as soon as possible just to not see you anymore” after my coming out.
  • 1
    @kiki, what the…
  • 1
    I’m envious.

    I never had good relationships with my parents, and didn’t have any siblings. Friends, too, vanished either from us moving every few years or from life.

    I can at least make sure my children have a better life and people who care about them.
  • 1
    @kiki Wow. That’s harsh.

    Though honestly it sounds similar to when my parents disowned me, though temporarily, because I was an embarrassment to the family (wrong career, not a pushover, got a D in school, not straight). They said some pretty harsh things.

    Years later when it was clear they would never stop being toxic, even behind my back, I disowned them. It wasn’t temporary.
  • 1
    @Root may I congratulate you for being able to persevere against all possible cultural ramifications, like you know, “tHeYrE aRe yOuR pAeReNtS”

    You did the right thing and never let anyone including your own anxieties tell you otherwise.
  • 1
    @kiki Thanks! 💙
  • 2
    @kiki > " I want to stop treating my cancer to die as soon as possible just to not see you anymore after my coming out."

    Oh good Lord.

    I'm sorry you are having to go thru that. It sucks the people who are supposed to love you no matter what, decide to be holes.
  • 0
    bro is the mvp.
    just at the right level to realize how complicated what you do is, yet still humble enough to be able to appreciate how conplicated what you do is.

    say hello to your awesome bro for me :)
  • 1
    @kiki that's religion for you. It's poisonous.
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