Yep. I am writing code professionally for long time, so that pride and sense of accomplishment is hard to come by. But fixing anything, even small, gives me that satisfaction every time I use it.
For me it started because of money, but then it became a hobby. Besides, I can go for an oil change and have everything done for me. However, it's fun researching about different oils, finding a best price online, getting it shipped and then doing the oil change with my young kid. I consider it nice father/son activity. Having my son learn about things is a bonus.
Similarly, when I finished some unfinished part of the basement, I planned it with my kid, went to Menards to buy drywall, picked a color, painted together. He got a sense of accomplishment and so did I.
I took the first nice car I bought three years after I got my first job to the dealer to replace brakes. They charged me $550 for it. After that I taught myself how to fix things, starting with cars, plumbing, drywall, electrical and each and every thing in my daily use. I haven't paid for any repairs or upgrades to my house or my cars in over 10 years. I invested in tools and educating myself rather than pay someone else.
I can now fix anything and everything that I use daily.
I used to enjoy taking/debating/joking around with my co-workers while I worked in the office. We used to spend hours talking about football or politics or stock market.
Now that I am home, I found other things to do. Like staring out of the window, reading reddit/HN, taking a quick nap or cook something to eat.
It's not so bad. I don't miss people, I don't miss co-workers.
I would be surprised if anyone has enough resources or willingness to do that for every open source package they are using. For companies that go through auditing, they can CTA by relying on products like Nexus IQ.
Learning becomes harder as one ages, I think. Concentrating also becomes harder with so many distractions.
I think best way to learn anything computer related is to make something. I started learning docker, I took my projects and containerized them. That way I learned what I needed in the order that I needed. Makes it much easier to learn than just listening to lectures in monotonic voices or reading books.
Could you may be think about how you were able to do the said fruit stand business in peace, take a currency as a payment and not worry about bartering, not worry about your business being stolen outright my guy with biggest muscles or how people are able to come to your fruit stand in the first place etc? Unless you are thinking of your business in a vacuum, then go ahead and fantasize.
I wish I had saved all the comments and downvotes to comments leaning progressive, but I never did.
The most recent interaction I had was a user saying CNN and Fox news are equally bad because one of CNN anchors once said "we" in the context of democratic party.
I was in graduate school and used to live off campus in a highrise. One day I got in elevator with this really nice looking older black woman. We were only people in the elevator. As soon as the elevator door closes she says to me "you people are nice, the problem is you don't go back". The words still ring in my ear 20 years later.
Couple of years later, I am working in a small town in new England. I have no friends and all my coworkers are old, so I go alone to eat lunch out. I would usually wear dress pants, button down dress shirts tucked in with nice polished black leather shoes. One day, I ate lunch and went across the street to buy cigarettes at a gas station. I lit one on the back side of the building. Few mins later, a oldish Toyota Camry pulls up. A white guy a few years older than me gets out, closes the door, locks the car remotely. Then he looks at me and says "Don't steal my car" and starts walking towards the building.
Having said that, I have met extremely nice White/black/Asian people and many of them are my friends. So I like to think about them and not the ugliness that I experienced few times.
I don't know what's causing racism in this country or how to fix it. I treat everyone equally and just want to live in peace.