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> This comment and many others in this thread seem to be missing something. I think they're also shoehorning their experiences. Some coders are cogs in giant t

> This comment and many others in this thread seem to be missing something. I think they're also shoehorning their experiences. Some coders are cogs in giant tech companies that emphasize code quality, others are on teams in large business in an unrelated field, others are solo hobbyists, and still others are the only tech guys at their medium or small business. Some write code to run a business, others write code to probe the mysteries of the universe. Some write life or death firmware that'll survive for decades, others create landing or promo pages that will be deleted next month and are subject to the whims of the marketing department. Those are all vastly different contexts for a programmer and each requires its own set of trade offs vis a vis typing. For example, I couldn't care less about strong vs weak or static vs dynamic typing at my current frontend job because the stakeholders don't know what they want, stuff changes rapidly, and there's little I can reuse from one request to the other but I was a full blown static typing crusader at my last job where I worked on a payment system that had to deal with schizophrenic regulations.

kelnos 6y ago
> I think they're also shoehorning their experiences. Yup, agreed. I first learned to program in the late 80s (when I was around 7 or 8 years old) using BASIC, and my first part-time programming job in college was a mix of C and Java. All of my EE and CS programming coursework was done in C, C++, or (pre-generics!) Java. It is really hard for me to put my feet in the shoes of someone who switched careers in their 20s or 30s by joining a bootcamp that teaches node, HTML, and CSS, and helps them find web dev jobs. Their journey is so different from mine that I have very little ability to guess as to what should be easy or hard for them to do as they grow in their career. Having said that, I still do believe that everyone who wants to write code should learn about static typing eventually, and the sooner they're introduced to the concept, the easier it will be for them to integrate it into their mental model of how software works.
- codeOnMaster 6y ago
  I switched careers at 33 (currently 35) from structural engineering to a full stack JS career after attending a bootcamp. Reading your comment, I wish I was in the former group of learning to code early on, taking CS and SE courses in university, etc... I work feverishly to learn as much as I possibly can about networking, Linux, hardware, SQL, etc.. along with all the JS related topics I need to learn for my job. I just wanted to add to the conversation by saying that there are people in the later group who really want to become well rounded and not just be JS developers.

kelnos 6y ago

> I think they're also shoehorning their experiences. Yup, agreed. I first learned to program in the late 80s (when I was around 7 or 8 years old) using BASIC, and my first part-time programming job in college was a mix of C and Java. All of my EE and CS programming coursework was done in C, C++, or (pre-generics!) Java. It is really hard for me to put my feet in the shoes of someone who switched careers in their 20s or 30s by joining a bootcamp that teaches node, HTML, and CSS, and helps them find web dev jobs. Their journey is so different from mine that I have very little ability to guess as to what should be easy or hard for them to do as they grow in their career. Having said that, I still do believe that everyone who wants to write code should learn about static typing eventually, and the sooner they're introduced to the concept, the easier it will be for them to integrate it into their mental model of how software works.

codeOnMaster 6y ago
I switched careers at 33 (currently 35) from structural engineering to a full stack JS career after attending a bootcamp. Reading your comment, I wish I was in the former group of learning to code early on, taking CS and SE courses in university, etc... I work feverishly to learn as much as I possibly can about networking, Linux, hardware, SQL, etc.. along with all the JS related topics I need to learn for my job. I just wanted to add to the conversation by saying that there are people in the later group who really want to become well rounded and not just be JS developers.