I'd go as far as to say that people that say that they had to sacrifice their social life for being a programmer are just retroactively justifying their decisions by thinking "Hey, now I'm a good programmer, this is obviously what I earned for being a social outcast all these years!". Just to justify their decision of being a social outcast.

Of course you need to sacrifice something (be it your social life or something else) to become a better programmer. Time is a finite resource. It's up to you to draw the line where you want it. This is a characteristic of any skill, not just programming. Trust me when I say this though:

Outside of games, which are supposedly hyper-competitive, software companies will be clamoring for you in general if you so much as have a degree. There's a huge scarcity of competent (notice I don't say "expert") programmers in my area despite all the pressure for people to enter into education for it, and I've reason to think that's the case in most places.

I think this is up to the person.

Someone who doesn't like the field (or who is acting the part) might say "I'm terribly sorry, and this is a horrible sacrifice, but I desperately need to spend my evenings and weekends learning."

Those who love the field might say "What? How can it be 2:00 AM already? I just started reading about this awesome new technique and now I have to go to bed. Stupid clocks."

It is not a sacrifice for me to learn about the things I love doing. Often it is harder for me to tear myself away for family events.

One thing I can guarantee a programmer sacrifices is good eyesight. Have glasses and wear them proudly.

I know this is a joke but i've programmed for 10 years on a 17/19 inch monitor and i still have good vision and i don't need glasses.

Having said that, i now have a 32 inch monitor and i don't have problem reading anything anymore on my screen .

I wouldn't go back for anything less.

One thing I can guarantee a programmer sacrifices is good eyesight. Have glasses and wear them proudly.

Or just focus on something far away every few minutes.

A programmer ought to work 40 hrs/week like everyone else, but its not uncommon from where I sit to see some, not all, programmers working ~50 hrs/week during normal operations, and even more during crunch time.

What everyone else are you talking about? I work in hospitality, and in the job I'm doing now, I do 50-55 hours a week, and it's the least hours I've worked for a job in over a decade. For most of my time in the industry, I've done 60-65 hours a week.

And what's a social life? I work night times when everybody else is socializing, and if theres a time when I can guarantee I'll be at work, it's Friday and Saturday night. This past new year, I took a week off between jobs, and it was the first New Year's Eve I haven't worked since 2001.

Thanks for the replies. So there are sacrifices, but it ultimately depends on the person doing it. The only thing I have that I refuse to sacrifice is time with my wife and son. Outside of that I honestly have no friends, only talk to my mom (don't even bother talking to my siblings) on the phone from time to time, and I've been wearing glasses since I was 9 years old so my sight is already sacrificed.

You have to make the exact same sacrifices as someone who becomes a trapeze artist.

Which is to say, it's entirely up to you what you give up, and what you don't.

Being a trapeze artist (unless you want to be a world class one) is IMO significantly less of a sacrifice than becoming a programmer. Trapeze artists in general work less hours than programmers and spend less time overall to get their skill up to standard (of course there are exceptions; you don't get into an excellent show if you don't do the work).

*sigh*

Everyone wants to think that THEY have the hardest job in the world.

Get over yourselves.

Everyone makes sacrifices of some kind. And everyone has the opportunity to choose which sacrifices to make. Sometimes that's a no-brainer, and sometimes it's a very difficult decision; but stop acting like some subset of humanity has some abnormal degree of difficulty because of their chosen occupation.

Certain sections of old, arcane code may require the occasional goat to continue working. Two chickens will do in a pinch. Other than that, no, I haven't had to make any sacrifices. If anything, my social activities have greatly increased.