I'm a programmer, I have no life

Working programmers, after work they start on their personal side project and don’t quit until it’s time to go to bed.

Self-employed programmers are constantly juggling client work, business development, and staying competitive — basically working around the clock. These guys probably have it even harder in some ways — no guaranteed income but still need to work those crazy hours.

The ones who don’t have a job yet mostly spend their time learning new technologies or frameworks intensively. Some might also juggle it with some personal side projects or building a startup/SaaS.

And then you have the college programmers — we face multiple pressures that can completely consume our existence. We deal with demanding pressures simultaneously, like academic grind, skill race, job market anxiety, and social sacrifice, among others.

The brutal part is that unlike working programmers who at least get paid for their long hours, we’re paying tuition for the privilege of being overwhelmed. We often survive on caffeine/energy drinks, minimal sleep, and whatever food we can grab while watching our friends have what looks like a normal college experience.

There are similarities between these programmers. Most of us spend extremely long hours coding, working weekends, or being so mentally absorbed in solving technical problems that we neglect everything else, like:

• Skipping meals or eating poorly while glued to their computer
• Zero social life or dating.
• No hobbies, exercise, or relaxation
• Losing touch with family
• Sleep schedule completely destroyed by coding marathons
• Thinking about code problems 24/7

“I have no life” has become our badge of honor in programmer culture —it’s a mix of dark humor and genuine complaint about how intense this gets.

Let me walk you through my life as a college programmer schooling in Nigeria.

It’s 2:37 AM, and I’m sitting in engineering’s faculty building with my laptop, two empty Fearless bottles next to me, and my Digital Assessment Platform still giving me headaches. This is my life now.

If you know anything about Nigerian federal universities, you’ll know we programmers aren’t welcome in the campus library. You want to code? You either do it in your room when NEPA (they are responsible for the electricity generation and transmission in Nigeria) decides to bless you with light or pay for some workspace with stable power and WiFi — which some might not afford. So what do we do? After lectures, by 10pm we’re sneaking into faculty buildings hunting for any socket that works, coding till 4AM.

This is my reality as an undergraduate programmer in Nigeria. The phrase “I’m a programmer, I have no life” isn’t just some joke anymore — it’s literally what my existence looks like right now.

How I Even Got Into This Mess

I Didn’t Start Early Like Everyone Else

Let me be honest — I wasn’t one of those kids who started coding at 8 years old. I didn’t even know what programming was when I was young. But I was always curious about tech stuff. Like, how do websites actually work? How can I make my own app? Could I create another Subway Surfers like the one I used to play on my mom’s phone?

That curiosity led me to join tech communities online, and they all kept saying the same thing: “It’s not about your credentials but your potential.” Build a portfolio. Do personal projects. Contribute to open source. Build what matters.

So that’s what I did.

My Typical Day (Or Should I Say Night?)

Here’s what my life actually looks like:

• 6:00 AM: Wake up, go jogging, hit the gym (gotta stay healthy somehow)
• 8:00 AM: First lecture — Software Engineering, Data Structures, Operating Systems, whatever
• 10:00 AM—2:00 PM: More lectures I actually have to attend
• 3:00 PM—6:00 PM: If there’s coursework due, I’ll do it. If not, I rest up for the all-nighter ahead
• 7:00 PM—10:00 PM: Try to work on personal projects (if there’s light in my room; else i head to school )
• 10:00 PM—3:00 AM: Still coding with/without my energy drinks

Why I Don’t Like School

Let me be straight with you — I hate school. Not learning, but school specifically. Our curriculum is stuck in the past. Most of what they’re teaching me, I already learned from ALX SE way back. It’s frustrating sitting in classes hearing outdated stuff when I could be building something that actually matters.

That’s why I only attend lectures where attendance is compulsory. The rest of the time? I’m working on my Digital Assessment Platform — a project I started because I saw how messed up our test-taking and assessment systems are. I knew I could fix it with code.

The Real Struggle

You guys in other countries probably can’t imagine this, but here’s our daily reality: power outages aren’t occasional —they’re guaranteed. Internet isn’t a given — it’s a luxury. When you’re trying to debug some code and NEPA takes the light for 12 hours straight, you’ll understand why we get creative.

I’ve mastered the art of downloading documentation when there’s internet, keeping everything offline-ready, and somehow predicting when power will go off so I can plan around it.

During the day, I’m submitting assignments using whatever outdated programming languages my lecturers want, just to get grades. At night, I’m building real stuff with modern tech stacks that actually matter in the industry.

My Digital Assessment Platform isn’t some school project — it’s my solution to a problem I see every semester. Bad testing systems, inefficient assessments. I decided to do something about it instead of just complaining.

How I Survive This

I’ve figured out which lectures I can skip and which ones I can’t. It’s not about being lazy — it’s about recognizing that some classes won’t teach me anything I don’t already know, and I’d rather use that time building my portfolio.

Those late-night coding sessions in faculty buildings have become my routine. It’s quiet, no distractions, and somehow I get my best work done between midnight and 4AM. Fearless and Predator energy drinks have become my best friends.

Community Support

We Nigerian student programmers stick together. We share intel about which buildings have the most reliable power, which online resources work offline, and what skills are actually getting people jobs. We help each other survive this system.

The Truth About This Life

Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it — this life is hard. “I’m a programmer, I have no life” sounds dramatic, but it’s pretty accurate for where I am right now.

But here’s the thing —I’m not sacrificing my life for nothing. I’m building toward something bigger. Every late night in those faculty buildings, every energy drink, every skipped social event — it’s all investment in being able to solve real problems with code.

My Digital Assessment Platform might not impress my lecturers, but it’s solving actual problems I see around me. And that matters more to me than any grade.

The 2:37 AM coding sessions will continue. The energy drinks will probably keep piling up. But I’m not just surviving this —I’m building something that matters, whether the system recognizes it or not.

That’s what being a Nigerian undergraduate programmer really looks like.

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