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Software development gets marketed as an easy desk job that pays well. Reality is you either need a certain mindset (sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a d

Software development gets marketed as an easy desk job that pays well. Reality is you either need a certain mindset (sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day and trying to figure out how to get it to do something is not something most people find fulfilling) or need to be prepared for a really boring mentally taxing grind that's going to take years. I've seen people trying to get into development from bootcamps and just break under the requirements just to contribute to a modern project. Not to mention that the bare-minimum approach to problem solving is going to slow down your learning process (you can only get so far with copy pasting and Google).

Zababa 5y ago
> need to be prepared for a really boring mentally taxing grind that's going to take years. Isn't this most jobs these days?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- moonchrome 5y ago
  It can be, that's why aptitude/affinity are important and why I don't think software is the right choice for a large % of people I see getting into it recently.
  - Zababa 5y ago
    Very true.
datameta 5y ago
> Not to mention that the bare-minimum approach to problem solving is going to slow down your learning process This is a very useful reminder for myself
throwingtt 5y ago
I'd add that there are now so many bootcamp candidates that want a J-O-B and have a passing interest in computers that just filtering them out gets old. The only realistic option for a small team is to reject bootcamp candidates from the get go. You will of course have a few exceptions, but good luck finding them. A comp sci degree really is a much better filter for junior devs.
- officialchicken 5y ago
  I hire bootcamp grads because I don't see too many comp sci grads with github repos that include working code - and in the rare case it almost never includes comments in the code nor passing tests. It's just a job - I'm measuring ability not passion. A github is really a much better filter for any dev.
  - quantified 5y ago
    Most of the time I’ve seen one, it’s been full of code that is irrelevant, poor or both. Or someone has touted that they’re a committer to a significant OSS project and a git blame shows they’ve done virtually nothing except a readme. So I strongly agree with your filter claim.
  - chakkepolja 5y ago
    You'd be sad to here this but I have seen lot of people cheat in this, by copying projects and changing small things, thus I don't think it's a good filter in practice. (Unless everyone in your company can spot bullshit while hiring). And this is not specific to bootcamps. Any measure popular enough will be gamed, Leetcode or GitHub.
  - ecf 5y ago
    In my experience after applying to a few dozen jobs in my quest to switch from IT to SWE, not a single one has taken a serious look at my GitHub projects.

Zababa 5y ago

> need to be prepared for a really boring mentally taxing grind that's going to take years. Isn't this most jobs these days?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
moonchrome 5y ago
It can be, that's why aptitude/affinity are important and why I don't think software is the right choice for a large % of people I see getting into it recently.
- Zababa 5y ago
  Very true.

datameta 5y ago

> Not to mention that the bare-minimum approach to problem solving is going to slow down your learning process This is a very useful reminder for myself

throwingtt 5y ago

I'd add that there are now so many bootcamp candidates that want a J-O-B and have a passing interest in computers that just filtering them out gets old. The only realistic option for a small team is to reject bootcamp candidates from the get go. You will of course have a few exceptions, but good luck finding them. A comp sci degree really is a much better filter for junior devs.

officialchicken 5y ago
I hire bootcamp grads because I don't see too many comp sci grads with github repos that include working code - and in the rare case it almost never includes comments in the code nor passing tests. It's just a job - I'm measuring ability not passion. A github is really a much better filter for any dev.
- quantified 5y ago
  Most of the time I’ve seen one, it’s been full of code that is irrelevant, poor or both. Or someone has touted that they’re a committer to a significant OSS project and a git blame shows they’ve done virtually nothing except a readme. So I strongly agree with your filter claim.
- chakkepolja 5y ago
  You'd be sad to here this but I have seen lot of people cheat in this, by copying projects and changing small things, thus I don't think it's a good filter in practice. (Unless everyone in your company can spot bullshit while hiring). And this is not specific to bootcamps. Any measure popular enough will be gamed, Leetcode or GitHub.
- ecf 5y ago
  In my experience after applying to a few dozen jobs in my quest to switch from IT to SWE, not a single one has taken a serious look at my GitHub projects.