4 ms·

I find these 'Learn to code in [any time period]' things tiring. You can learn to code in one day if you want, but that doesn't make you a good or knowledgeable

by bashzor 14y ago

I find these 'Learn to code in [any time period]' things tiring. You can learn to code in one day if you want, but that doesn't make you a good or knowledgeable coder. And some people will never be able to code in a logic manner, even after 3 years. The time period is hardly related to this, as is confirmed by lots of research.

rhizome31 14y ago
Obligatory link to http://norvig.com/21-days.html http://norvig.com/21-days.html
chriszf 14y ago
Fair enough, but it's interesting to note that a person with little-to-no CS background can be made to resemble, in all respects, a junior-to-mid level engineer in such a short time. It suggests that the industry notion that a CS degree is needed to be a good engineer needs to be challenged. Why it exists at all baffles me, when some of the best software engineers around are mostly home-grown: John Carmack, Shawn Fanning, Ken Silverman, Bram Cohen, etc.
- babarock 14y ago
  Because the industry is so much more than throwing preformated auto-generated web forms at a database. There are things far more serious than your average "Facebook meets Fitocracy for lumberjacks" ideas... If Carmack and others managed to do great without a formal degree good for them. But they're outstanding people and are more the exception than the rule. If you're as talented as these guys, fine let your skills speak for themselves. But assuming every person following this 3 month "program" will now call themselves a programmer is something completely different.
- plinkplonk 14y ago
  "the industry notion that a CS degree is needed to be a good engineer needs to be challenged." true enough. but whether CS knowledge is required is a more interesting question. John Carmack (picking a name from your 'homegrown' list) is extremely knowledgable about algorithms, computer architecture, graphics etc. of course, it also depends on the definition of 'good engineer'. If you define it as "someone who can build a simple CRUD app in Ruby on Rails", then probably very little CS knowledge is required.
- emmapersky 14y ago
  I think mid level engineer needs to be contextualized. Mid level at top CS companies is a huge achievement and not something that '[anyone] can be made to resemble ... in a short space of time"

by bashzor 14y ago

rhizome31 14y ago

Obligatory link to http://norvig.com/21-days.html http://norvig.com/21-days.html

chriszf 14y ago

Fair enough, but it's interesting to note that a person with little-to-no CS background can be made to resemble, in all respects, a junior-to-mid level engineer in such a short time. It suggests that the industry notion that a CS degree is needed to be a good engineer needs to be challenged. Why it exists at all baffles me, when some of the best software engineers around are mostly home-grown: John Carmack, Shawn Fanning, Ken Silverman, Bram Cohen, etc.

babarock 14y ago
Because the industry is so much more than throwing preformated auto-generated web forms at a database. There are things far more serious than your average "Facebook meets Fitocracy for lumberjacks" ideas... If Carmack and others managed to do great without a formal degree good for them. But they're outstanding people and are more the exception than the rule. If you're as talented as these guys, fine let your skills speak for themselves. But assuming every person following this 3 month "program" will now call themselves a programmer is something completely different.
plinkplonk 14y ago
"the industry notion that a CS degree is needed to be a good engineer needs to be challenged." true enough. but whether CS knowledge is required is a more interesting question. John Carmack (picking a name from your 'homegrown' list) is extremely knowledgable about algorithms, computer architecture, graphics etc. of course, it also depends on the definition of 'good engineer'. If you define it as "someone who can build a simple CRUD app in Ruby on Rails", then probably very little CS knowledge is required.
emmapersky 14y ago
I think mid level engineer needs to be contextualized. Mid level at top CS companies is a huge achievement and not something that '[anyone] can be made to resemble ... in a short space of time"