5 ms·

Can agree with all of this. I'm only 19 and have been programming professionally for 2 years now (and as a hobby for 4-5 more). I know that without free softwar

Can agree with all of this. I'm only 19 and have been programming professionally for 2 years now (and as a hobby for 4-5 more). I know that without free software, I wouldn't be where I am right now as I simply wouldn't have had the tools available that I did as I was growing up and as I was learning to program.

pestaa 15y ago
Just out of curiosity, what was your turnaround at age 17? (When you started professionally, I mean.)
- kaolinite 15y ago
  I started out at quite a small firm, turning PSDs into HTML then adding functionality with PHP. A website there would take roughly 3-5 days. Now I'm at a big firm where projects can take 6 months or so. I've gotten faster, as I'm sure everyone does, but when I started professionally I already had quite a bit of experience developing little projects, some open-source stuff, etc.
rollypolly 15y ago
I'd love to know which type of company is willing to hire someone so young. I know someone around your age that's competent (for his age) but is finding it difficult to find anyone to take him seriously. I've suggested to him to build up his portfolio and github profile, but that takes time.
- kaolinite 15y ago
  The firm I started at was tiny, just me and 2 other guys. I found a list of website development companies in my local area and sent emails to all of them, asking if they were taking anyone on. Only got a reply back from one of them, went to the interview and completed their little test quickly so they took me on. I was paid very little for my efforts, mind, but without that job I don't think I would have gotten my current one (where I'm working alongside university graduates for a decent salary). I think something that definitely worked in my favour is that I brought along my laptop and showed them a design of a website I had been working on.

5 ms·

Can agree with all of this. I'm only 19 and have been programming professionally for 2 years now (and as a hobby for 4-5 more). I know that without free softwar

by kaolinite 15y ago

pestaa 15y ago
Just out of curiosity, what was your turnaround at age 17? (When you started professionally, I mean.)
- kaolinite 15y ago
  I started out at quite a small firm, turning PSDs into HTML then adding functionality with PHP. A website there would take roughly 3-5 days. Now I'm at a big firm where projects can take 6 months or so. I've gotten faster, as I'm sure everyone does, but when I started professionally I already had quite a bit of experience developing little projects, some open-source stuff, etc.
rollypolly 15y ago
I'd love to know which type of company is willing to hire someone so young. I know someone around your age that's competent (for his age) but is finding it difficult to find anyone to take him seriously. I've suggested to him to build up his portfolio and github profile, but that takes time.
- kaolinite 15y ago
  The firm I started at was tiny, just me and 2 other guys. I found a list of website development companies in my local area and sent emails to all of them, asking if they were taking anyone on. Only got a reply back from one of them, went to the interview and completed their little test quickly so they took me on. I was paid very little for my efforts, mind, but without that job I don't think I would have gotten my current one (where I'm working alongside university graduates for a decent salary). I think something that definitely worked in my favour is that I brought along my laptop and showed them a design of a website I had been working on.