3 ms·

I'm self-taught, starting with C on MS-DOS at age 9 (I'm now 32). I moved onto Visual Basic (ugh) at 12 because my C compiler wouldn't do windows programs, and

I'm self-taught, starting with C on MS-DOS at age 9 (I'm now 32). I moved onto Visual Basic (ugh) at 12 because my C compiler wouldn't do windows programs, and later moved to Borland C++ on Windows. I did later do a BTEC course in computer studies, but that was just to hedge my bets. I Switched to Linux in 1995/96, and have spent the last 15 years alternating between systems administration and development roles. I've worked for large online retailers, government departments, multinational manufacturers as well as smaller content portal websites, and I'm currently at a search startup in Cambridge, UK. I can program in C, Perl, and PHP, but the language I love most is Python. I also love relational databases (PostGreSQL in particular), and have quite a strong DBA-streak. I've never really noticed much tension between the CS-taught and self-taught programmers that I've known. I've often considered that a team is stronger for having both types represented. The self-taught programmers, if they started early, often have an additional 5-6 years commercial experience over the degree-holders (for their age), but it all balances out in the end. In terms of success, I'm gainfully employed, I'm well regarded by my peers (it's one of the things that motivates me), I can still learn things, I can still teach things and I'm not in management. Win. I hope that's a useful response for someone!

mindfulbee 15y ago
I'm in college, 20 years old. I've just started teaching myself ruby and python. Do you think I would be able to develop crude prototypes of apps by the time I graduate college? (in about 2 years?) I've been dedicating around 6-10 hours ever week so far and plan to dedicate more once summer starts.
- dantheta 15y ago
  I would certainly think so (the two languages you've mentioned are both regarded as being quite easy to get started with), but everyone is different and is interested in different things. If the demo app you're writing (and the framework you're using, if any) allows you to try something and see the results quite quickly, that's a good way to avoid getting discouraged. Although frameworks (Rails, Django etc) are a good way to avoid writing boring or non-unique stuff, they do add to the amount of up-front learning you have to do before you can write _your_ programs (since you have to learn the language _and_ the framework at the same time). Trying out some noddy programs that just use stdin/stdout is a good way to learn the language features first and then the framework can follow afterwards. Early code in any language is always horrible when you look back at it a few months later, don't beat yourself up :)

mindfulbee 15y ago

I'm in college, 20 years old. I've just started teaching myself ruby and python. Do you think I would be able to develop crude prototypes of apps by the time I graduate college? (in about 2 years?) I've been dedicating around 6-10 hours ever week so far and plan to dedicate more once summer starts.

dantheta 15y ago
I would certainly think so (the two languages you've mentioned are both regarded as being quite easy to get started with), but everyone is different and is interested in different things. If the demo app you're writing (and the framework you're using, if any) allows you to try something and see the results quite quickly, that's a good way to avoid getting discouraged. Although frameworks (Rails, Django etc) are a good way to avoid writing boring or non-unique stuff, they do add to the amount of up-front learning you have to do before you can write _your_ programs (since you have to learn the language _and_ the framework at the same time). Trying out some noddy programs that just use stdin/stdout is a good way to learn the language features first and then the framework can follow afterwards. Early code in any language is always horrible when you look back at it a few months later, don't beat yourself up :)