I suppose I'm somewhere between a coder and a hacker. Programmer sounds a bit too formal to cover what I do. I haven't had the formal CIS training, so my whole approach to programming is just kludged together anyway.

What I need is more money. And more time.

I want interesting problems that can be solved with computer programming, processes that need fixing, questions that need answers. I need a large room full of books and resources for study and research. And then I need the time--long stretches of time so I can work without interruption. I want reasonable deadlines to keep me on task, but not stringent enough to force me into taking slippery short-cuts instead of doing things the right way.

And it would be nice to have a roomful of real-life Monks down the hall from me that I could visit when I need to brainstorm something or when I need to have my code reviewed. In the meantime, perlmonks-the-website is the next best thing.