[cpressey]

Since I've been trying to deconstruct "programmer" into "systems analyst" and "coder" in other comments, I might as well continue in that vein here, but with a slightly different tack:

Farming is a lot more like "software engineering" than "programming". You can't pause a farm. It's an "engine" that you have to keep running, no matter what calamity occurs (weather, breakdowns, etc.)

[nnq]

indeed, but if your goal is not running it for profit but just producing tasty organic veggies from a hobby garden, then things mostly just work if you're in a temperate area with predictable climate. Just keep watering it and it will grow to the point of producing stuff, even if you totally mess up everything else. Software, on the other hand, rarely "just works"... nature and the "experience of evolution" are not on your side in the programming field...