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It's not. You know how I got started in the restaurant industry? A friend said, "Want to work at my restaurant?" So I did. Another friend, knowing I wanted

by jarcane 10y ago

It's not. You know how I got started in the restaurant industry? A friend said, "Want to work at my restaurant?" So I did. Another friend, knowing I wanted to get into film, said "Wanna come work on sets with me?" Just like that. Foolishly, I blew 3 and a half years in school instead. But I didn't have to do any of that, I could've just gone to Cali and started working so long as I wasn't picky about what I did in the beginning. I, like the author of the piece, have managed, with considerable cajoling, to get into an entry-level position at a software consultancy but even that took me 8 months of government-paid internship and another year of self-training before that, plus hours as a hobbyist programmer when I was a kid. It was basically luck, and persistence, that got me this job at all, most other software firms and recruiters took one look at my resume and passed. Getting this job is one of the hardest things I have ever done. There's no easy route. As a self-trained programmer, I'm hampered heavily by the lack of degree, but a degree means 4 years minimum of schooling, and even some amount of study just to qualify to get into the university that I will do that schooling in. I am, it's true, after all that, making more even with what is a pretty small salary for a coder, making more than I ever did cooking in the states. And I've got a very understanding employer, with a flexible schedule and benefits even as an entry-level grunt that are better than I ever dreamed of as a kid. But it's hardly been an easy or magic road to career success. I had to prove myself over and over, and still fight with anxiety over making sure I can do it again every day just to keep a hold on where I am, let alone move up from there. Coding isn't for everyone, and while yes, I pulled it off so far, I still think the bootcamp/Codecademy/MOOC snake oil of "Buy our course for just €49.99 and become a rockstar coder!" shit is basically a pack of lies.

logfromblammo 10y ago
None of my friends have the whuffie to get anyone else a job like that. So I had to get the paid-for credentials just to get my foot in the door. I could not now get anyone else a job, nor can any of my current or former technical-side co-workers. My career is owned and operated by the good ol'boy network of a completely foreign caste. So you can't "just get a job" in this field. I don't know if you have noticed, but HN regularly features articles and blog posts about how incredibly broken tech hiring is these days. All those people pushing young folks into learning how to code see it as the long-term solution to their perceived problem of not being able to find affordable skilled labor for their businesses. But the supply of skilled labor is not the problem. The problem is that the businesses are not only failing to look for it in the seemingly obvious places, but it is very likely they would not recognize it if they were literally handcuffed to a qualified applicant for a solid fortnight, in a survival challenge designed specifically to favor analytical personalities. Rather than fixing the system to identify and match labor to business, they want to rearrange the entire world such that picking a random person off the street to do the job won't be a complete failure. They want everyone to learn how to code so they won't have to worry so much about their woeful inability to discern if someone is truly well suited for their open position or not.

by jarcane 10y ago

logfromblammo 10y ago

None of my friends have the whuffie to get anyone else a job like that. So I had to get the paid-for credentials just to get my foot in the door. I could not now get anyone else a job, nor can any of my current or former technical-side co-workers. My career is owned and operated by the good ol'boy network of a completely foreign caste. So you can't "just get a job" in this field. I don't know if you have noticed, but HN regularly features articles and blog posts about how incredibly broken tech hiring is these days. All those people pushing young folks into learning how to code see it as the long-term solution to their perceived problem of not being able to find affordable skilled labor for their businesses. But the supply of skilled labor is not the problem. The problem is that the businesses are not only failing to look for it in the seemingly obvious places, but it is very likely they would not recognize it if they were literally handcuffed to a qualified applicant for a solid fortnight, in a survival challenge designed specifically to favor analytical personalities. Rather than fixing the system to identify and match labor to business, they want to rearrange the entire world such that picking a random person off the street to do the job won't be a complete failure. They want everyone to learn how to code so they won't have to worry so much about their woeful inability to discern if someone is truly well suited for their open position or not.