I was pointing out that your statement "programming seems so easy compared to some other jobs" is incorrect. Programming (really, the whole pipeline of formal modeling, followed by algorithm and system devlepment) can get immensely difficult, and attracts some of the brightest minds on some of the most difficult problems that can be conceived. I couldn't let that statement go unchallenged.
If you have said something like "developing CRUD web apps is so easy compared to some other jobs", I would have had nothing to say to you, because you're probably right.
Maybe if you had gone to work at IBM on Watson, or for a NASA research center on spaceflight communication networks, or work for something like Certicom producing the next public key cryptosystem over elliptic curves, you'd really be flexing your math muscle and programming. I can imaging there are a small subset of startups as well that would extremely value your math capabilities. So you feel your degree was wasted modulo the way your career panned out.
And a final note about code being crap: Many dental and medical tourists come back to the US with extremely poor workmanship on their knee replacements, fillings, or root canals, and have to have much of it re-done here. Also, due to the nature of medicine and software development, the comparison isn't really apples-to-apples. An oral surgeon might do 10 wisdom-tooth removals a week, granted everyone's mouth is different and there are a huge number of complications, but many software developers are working on something entirely novel on each project. In my experience, crap code is a function of changing requirements + iterated attempts at refactoring.
True, I guess I am just floored by the fact that if I would fancy to start working on the next IBM Watson, I would actually now where to start. Whereas if I fancied trying to develop a new vaccine or other medical cure, I would probably have to study for several years first.
If you have said something like "developing CRUD web apps is so easy compared to some other jobs", I would have had nothing to say to you, because you're probably right.
Maybe if you had gone to work at IBM on Watson, or for a NASA research center on spaceflight communication networks, or work for something like Certicom producing the next public key cryptosystem over elliptic curves, you'd really be flexing your math muscle and programming. I can imaging there are a small subset of startups as well that would extremely value your math capabilities. So you feel your degree was wasted modulo the way your career panned out.
And a final note about code being crap: Many dental and medical tourists come back to the US with extremely poor workmanship on their knee replacements, fillings, or root canals, and have to have much of it re-done here. Also, due to the nature of medicine and software development, the comparison isn't really apples-to-apples. An oral surgeon might do 10 wisdom-tooth removals a week, granted everyone's mouth is different and there are a huge number of complications, but many software developers are working on something entirely novel on each project. In my experience, crap code is a function of changing requirements + iterated attempts at refactoring.