30+ years ago I was programming for companies doing business software - ERP etc, and there were very few 'hackers' in the ranks. These guys and gals must have enjoyed programming at some point but I guess the software was so boring it just leached the joy out of it.
Certainly by the mid-late 80s there were far more day job programmers around than hackers.
In one company I managed to find a few fellow hackers, but the next one I worked at - nothing. It was awful.
Luckily after that I managed to get more interesting work for a while, but then I spent too long in the wrong part of Oracle and again, I just couldn't find fun in the coding we were doing and no-one else could either.
I think true hackers or enthusiasts have always been in the minority, at least since the late 70s I'd guess.
Certainly by the mid-late 80s there were far more day job programmers around than hackers.
In one company I managed to find a few fellow hackers, but the next one I worked at - nothing. It was awful.
Luckily after that I managed to get more interesting work for a while, but then I spent too long in the wrong part of Oracle and again, I just couldn't find fun in the coding we were doing and no-one else could either.
I think true hackers or enthusiasts have always been in the minority, at least since the late 70s I'd guess.