6 ms·

Becoming a programmer in a week; I'm working on it

18 points by grumancik 13y ago

unmarketing 13y ago
Just. Stop. You can no more learn programming in a week then I can learn to play the piano sufficiently in a week. I started programming as a kid. Went to university for 5 years and got a CS degree. Programmed as a day job for 10+ now. Only recently did I have the sack to put "senior developer" on my resume after being one for a few years. The idea that some random can make a resume and just throw "programmer" at the top after doing some idiotic random online courses simply sickens me. I await the downvotes from the self-described "growth hackers", "entrepreneurs", "creators", "makers", "social hackers" and other irreverent people flooding this industry with their stupidity. Remember folks, honesty is trolling, brainless backpatting and "you can do it!" is what hackernews is all about now...
lutusp 13y ago
Quote: "I’m really excited about coding. There are so many cool things happening in tech, and I love the idea of being able to work with smart people no matter where I am. My goal is to learn enough to be able to find a job that would allow me to reunite with my love in Zurich… but the journey there suddenly seems really fun, too." I should tell you that if you actually become a programmer, in the real sense of that expression, your priorities will completely change and your goal will become more programming, not more relationships. For a normal person, programming is a means to an end, which is meaningful relationships. For a programmer, relationships are a means to an end, which is meaningful programming.
- grumancik 13y ago
  ha! I hope there's enough room for dedication to both in the future. He also loves programming, so maybe he'll understand my love affair when I start moving in that direction!
- cjbprime 13y ago
  That doesn't match my experience as a professional programmer; there are many types of programmer out there. :-)
- peteforde 13y ago
  Programming is an intoxicating muse, no doubt. But programming is also directly responsible for a huge percentage of my friendships as well. Luckily there is joy in diversity. The environment for programming gets better with more different types of people in it.
dangerwig 13y ago
Your excitement and story are really compelling! It's wonderful seeing someone adopt a new passion. There are so many benevolent people willing to root for you if you show them who to root for. I wish you luck on your journey! You're off to an amazing start.
cjbprime 13y ago
Good luck with it! Portland's a great place to be learning. I don't want to imply that women have to learn programming in women-centric spaces, but I bet you might enjoy checking out PyLadies and Flux too if you haven't yet: http://www.meetup.com/PyLadies-PDX/events/140264752/ http://www.meetup.com/PyLadies-PDX/events/140264752/ http://fluxlab.io/ http://fluxlab.io/
spongle 13y ago
Good luck. Don't let anyone kick you down. I learned how to program in a week in 1988 (and I'm still learning to program).
brandon_wirtz 13y ago
Your enthusiasm as great. But be aware by saying you think this is something you can do in a week you are telling the world you think programming is a semi-skilled job. I learned to weld when I was 7. I can make art or patch up a broken plow. A real welder can make a boat because all his seams are water tight, and cam patch body work because his seams are so smooth. 27 years of welding as a hobby or for bits of maintenance and I am not a welder.
- cjbprime 13y ago
  I don't think we need to be so inflexible about language -- there are plenty of people in the world who would like to pay someone to make straightforward websites (patching up broken plows?) rather than work on, say, a new in-kernel memory allocator (building a boat?). It would be pretty ridiculous to claim you have to be able to do the latter before you get to call yourself a programmer. I think the truth is that programming is a field with work available for people of disparate skill levels and experience -- http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-somers-web-developer-money/ http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-somers-web... is a good article explaining some of why that is. It describes a friend of the author who went from being a law student to being a programmer with an $85k/year salary in six months; does that make programming semi-skilled? Where's the boundary?
  - Dylan16807 13y ago
    Be careful with that analogy: a lot of simple sites need zero code, or at least zero code that you need to ever see.
- krstck 13y ago
  "Learn to program" doesn't necessarily mean "learn in a week to be a programming rockstar" (one of our favorites). If you're a smart person, you can pick up the basics of syntax, conditionals, simple methods. You can learn enough to bootstrap your way through a simple CRUD app. Hell, that's exactly what I did and now I'm being paid to do it.
krstck 13y ago
I started programming (professionally) this year after transitioning from a completely different career. I lucked into my current gig by basically impressing my future employer with enthusiasm for programming. I also am kind of a rarity, as there are probably less than a handful of professional programmers in my rural Texas town of 15k people, and seemingly no one else was interested in Rails. So I've gone from Michael Hartl's tutorial to an actual job with customers in less than a year, without a CS degree or anything like that. I honestly think the best way to learn programming is to make yourself by having a project. I'd been dabbling in online courses for a year and a half beforehand, but I don't think I learned much until I had a customer that said "I want something that does this, can you do it?", and just having to figure it out.
adamconroy 13y ago
You probably don't have time for blogging.
vonseel 13y ago
I understand your problems with finding jobs in the German-speaking countries without having great language skills. I once naively started a Master in Banking and Finance at the University of St Gallen (20 min by train from Zurich). Came home within a few months as my language skills were nonexistent, at the time hiring banks were looking for native German speakers with English fluency and at least one other European language. That was a few years ago, and soon after I began my adventure learning programming. Best decision I ever made, and I'm shocked I didn't get into programming earlier. I can't imagine returning to corporate finance or accounting type jobs -- and hope my programming skills prevent me from ever needing to. Good luck to you! :D
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

18 points by grumancik 13y ago

Just. Stop. You can no more learn programming in a week then I can learn to play the piano sufficiently in a week. I started programming as a kid. Went to university for 5 years and got a CS degree. Programmed as a day job for 10+ now. Only recently did I have the sack to put "senior developer" on my resume after being one for a few years. The idea that some random can make a resume and just throw "programmer" at the top after doing some idiotic random online courses simply sickens me. I await the downvotes from the self-described "growth hackers", "entrepreneurs", "creators", "makers", "social hackers" and other irreverent people flooding this industry with their stupidity. Remember folks, honesty is trolling, brainless backpatting and "you can do it!" is what hackernews is all about now...

lutusp 13y ago

Quote: "I’m really excited about coding. There are so many cool things happening in tech, and I love the idea of being able to work with smart people no matter where I am. My goal is to learn enough to be able to find a job that would allow me to reunite with my love in Zurich… but the journey there suddenly seems really fun, too." I should tell you that if you actually become a programmer, in the real sense of that expression, your priorities will completely change and your goal will become more programming, not more relationships. For a normal person, programming is a means to an end, which is meaningful relationships. For a programmer, relationships are a means to an end, which is meaningful programming.

grumancik 13y ago
ha! I hope there's enough room for dedication to both in the future. He also loves programming, so maybe he'll understand my love affair when I start moving in that direction!
cjbprime 13y ago
That doesn't match my experience as a professional programmer; there are many types of programmer out there. :-)
peteforde 13y ago
Programming is an intoxicating muse, no doubt. But programming is also directly responsible for a huge percentage of my friendships as well. Luckily there is joy in diversity. The environment for programming gets better with more different types of people in it.

dangerwig 13y ago

Your excitement and story are really compelling! It's wonderful seeing someone adopt a new passion. There are so many benevolent people willing to root for you if you show them who to root for. I wish you luck on your journey! You're off to an amazing start.

cjbprime 13y ago

Good luck with it! Portland's a great place to be learning. I don't want to imply that women have to learn programming in women-centric spaces, but I bet you might enjoy checking out PyLadies and Flux too if you haven't yet: http://www.meetup.com/PyLadies-PDX/events/140264752/ http://www.meetup.com/PyLadies-PDX/events/140264752/ http://fluxlab.io/ http://fluxlab.io/

spongle 13y ago

Good luck. Don't let anyone kick you down. I learned how to program in a week in 1988 (and I'm still learning to program).

brandon_wirtz 13y ago

Your enthusiasm as great. But be aware by saying you think this is something you can do in a week you are telling the world you think programming is a semi-skilled job. I learned to weld when I was 7. I can make art or patch up a broken plow. A real welder can make a boat because all his seams are water tight, and cam patch body work because his seams are so smooth. 27 years of welding as a hobby or for bits of maintenance and I am not a welder.

cjbprime 13y ago
I don't think we need to be so inflexible about language -- there are plenty of people in the world who would like to pay someone to make straightforward websites (patching up broken plows?) rather than work on, say, a new in-kernel memory allocator (building a boat?). It would be pretty ridiculous to claim you have to be able to do the latter before you get to call yourself a programmer. I think the truth is that programming is a field with work available for people of disparate skill levels and experience -- http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-somers-web-developer-money/ http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-somers-web... is a good article explaining some of why that is. It describes a friend of the author who went from being a law student to being a programmer with an $85k/year salary in six months; does that make programming semi-skilled? Where's the boundary?
- Dylan16807 13y ago
  Be careful with that analogy: a lot of simple sites need zero code, or at least zero code that you need to ever see.
krstck 13y ago
"Learn to program" doesn't necessarily mean "learn in a week to be a programming rockstar" (one of our favorites). If you're a smart person, you can pick up the basics of syntax, conditionals, simple methods. You can learn enough to bootstrap your way through a simple CRUD app. Hell, that's exactly what I did and now I'm being paid to do it.

krstck 13y ago

I started programming (professionally) this year after transitioning from a completely different career. I lucked into my current gig by basically impressing my future employer with enthusiasm for programming. I also am kind of a rarity, as there are probably less than a handful of professional programmers in my rural Texas town of 15k people, and seemingly no one else was interested in Rails. So I've gone from Michael Hartl's tutorial to an actual job with customers in less than a year, without a CS degree or anything like that. I honestly think the best way to learn programming is to make yourself by having a project. I'd been dabbling in online courses for a year and a half beforehand, but I don't think I learned much until I had a customer that said "I want something that does this, can you do it?", and just having to figure it out.

adamconroy 13y ago

You probably don't have time for blogging.

vonseel 13y ago

I understand your problems with finding jobs in the German-speaking countries without having great language skills. I once naively started a Master in Banking and Finance at the University of St Gallen (20 min by train from Zurich). Came home within a few months as my language skills were nonexistent, at the time hiring banks were looking for native German speakers with English fluency and at least one other European language. That was a few years ago, and soon after I began my adventure learning programming. Best decision I ever made, and I'm shocked I didn't get into programming earlier. I can't imagine returning to corporate finance or accounting type jobs -- and hope my programming skills prevent me from ever needing to. Good luck to you! :D

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]