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I actually think in general, if somebody is so into coding they can't help doing it in their spare time as a hobby, they probably will reach a higher level than
by skohan 6y ago
I actually think in general, if somebody is so into coding they can't help doing it in their spare time as a hobby, they probably will reach a higher level than people who aren't driven in the same way. Programming is very much a skill which is sensitive to practice, so I think more hours on the keyboard is a pretty good way to get better at programming.
However I think programming "as a hobby" is a poor metric for judging who is going to be the best programmer, in terms of a hiring process, for two reasons:
1. It's already well-known that many companies will favor people who program outside of work during a hiring process, so many people will try to appear as if they are the kind of person who lives and breathes coding, and cultivating that image is much different than actually getting practice.
2. Raw programming skill is not always the best indicator of how good a contributor to a project someone will be. Sure you have to be competent at coding, but beyond a certain level, assuming the project is not particularly technically challenging like HPC or computer graphics or something, things like communication skills, being able to write good documentation, and being able to produce in a consistent and predictable way play as much a part in the team's success as being a wizard on the keyboard.
And I say that as someone who does spend a lot of my free time coding.
- mordechai9000 6y agoIt was like pulling my own teeth yesterday to make myself work on the Angular app at my job. After work I couldn't wait to work on Advent of Code, so I did some problems from previous years until the new problem was available. Then, when I couldn't sleep, I installed an IDE on my phone and did some more in bed. I can think of a lot of reasons why. The AoC problems have a bite-sized satisfaction that a messy real world app may lack, for one thing. But mostly I think it's yet another symptom of procrastination.
- redisman 6y agoI used to have programming as a hobby but now it's been my job for over a decade and I don't really spend any of my free time on it. Maybe I'm lucky with the positions I pick but I still feel like I'm learning plenty at the job. If I don't I usually get bored and start looking for something else.
- mumblemumble 6y agoAbsolutely. Also, to your 2nd point: in most business projects, soft skills are what you use to figure out what to build. If you're weak on that side, then being a blazingly efficient programmer means you're likely to just be really good at moving very quickly in the wrong direction. I've found that the rockstar coders I work with often produce a very high volume of output that is technically excellent but doesn't actually contribute much to the company's profits. I suspect that that kind of work output is currently overvalued by the prevailing business climate. FAANG companies can afford a "throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks" approach, and venture capitalism pulls that up to a meta level. My own bias is that I've never worked under either regime, so I'm used to seeing a different mix of strengths be more valuable.