> Tools and equipment: It seems that the roommate did not use a lot of them. You can buy the best electronic screwdriver but you can also very often achieve the same result with a cheap screwdriver or even a kitchen knife.
But the point is only that he only had one door. No room for trying it, breaking the door, and then trying again (your door is broken). Coding is the opposite: you get infinite retries.
> For me digging deep into some code base, grepping the docs, reading some code in language I am not familiar with or that I dislike is exhausting, mentally and physically. I actually sweat a lot doing that, and it is the kind of sweat that stinks. Doing some woodwork is often less tiring, and the sweat it produces does not smell that bad.
I envy you. I love everything on a computer (and never exhausting). Doing anything physical makes me completely miserable (possibly because I'm in terrible shape).
One door: sure that's a difference but not that significant. You can measure it and try in mentally in different positions. You have to think twice before sawing but actually in code you also have steps where thinking twice I'd required, eg choosing a framework, a data structure.
Shape: not sure it can be helpful but you could try to convince yourself that it's only in your head. I have seen very fat people doing physical work and enjoying it, maybe needed more frequent pauses, and but quite able to do anything except crawling under the table.
But the point is only that he only had one door. No room for trying it, breaking the door, and then trying again (your door is broken). Coding is the opposite: you get infinite retries.
> For me digging deep into some code base, grepping the docs, reading some code in language I am not familiar with or that I dislike is exhausting, mentally and physically. I actually sweat a lot doing that, and it is the kind of sweat that stinks. Doing some woodwork is often less tiring, and the sweat it produces does not smell that bad.
I envy you. I love everything on a computer (and never exhausting). Doing anything physical makes me completely miserable (possibly because I'm in terrible shape).