Hey man. I'm a programmer who's done a similar thing twice, both times sticking to just Europe. I didn't go the "write a book" route but rather just programmed here and there while CouchSurfing, hosteling, seeing new places, had a couple flings with gorgeous European girls, etc.
I, also, never ran into another programmer doing this. I live in SF now (moved from the midwestern USA) and work for a startup. Let's grab a beer sometime! Or maybe I'll see you at one of the weekly CouchSurfing meetups. They're pretty big here- 50 people a week is not unusual.
I think for me this manifests itself in wasting time on reddit and twitter. Whenever I have a blank chrome tab, my unconscious reaction is to punch in one of these time-wasters.
All these negative comments are a good thing. You've made something that polarizes people. I'd take that any day over something that makes people say "meh".
Another Michigan ex-pat here to completely agree. Grew up in mid-Michigan, went to a big university there for CS, and I wasn't interested in writing .NET or Java for an insurance company. That led to moving to SF to hack on Python and JavaScript with other hipster hackers.
The only thing I really miss is Michigan's summer heat (it's mid 60's and windy here - in July).
Agreed. If I was only facebook friends with the 10 people I really am interested in, I'd hardly notice the difference. I don't want to go through and remove all the loose friends I met in college one-by-one, though.
Twitter is much more relevant to me; I'm only following around 50 people, all of which I deliberately chose.