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As a young programmer, the most important thing you need is someone to learn from. Someone to show you what obvious stupid mistakes you are making, and how you
by mrtron 19y ago
As a young programmer, the most important thing you need is someone to learn from.
Someone to show you what obvious stupid mistakes you are making, and how you can reach the next level in writing good code.
The first place looks like it will be a bit of a hassle because it is so strict, but it will be meaningful to get that under your belt.
The second place sounds sloppy, like you mentioned.
- nostrademons 19y agoA startup or small company is actually the wrong place to go if you want someone to learn from, because any master programmers you meet will be so busy with work that they don't really have time for mentoring. I was fortunate enough to have a series of pretty accomplished mentors, and I picked up some very valuable tidbits from them. However, tidbits (and the privilege of looking at their code) was all I got, because we had to ship product. Ironically, the only time a skilled programmer in a startup will have time for mentoring is if they're being marginalized by clueless management and can't get any of their own work done. Unfortunately, top-notch talent under bottom-rung management doesn't tend to stay very long...
- brianr 19y agoBased on my experience this summer as the third programmer at a small startup, I have to disagree. If you already have something of a background (i.e., you know enough to at least hack together something that works) and are willing to work hard, a startup can be an incredible place to learn. It provided 1) good example code I could conform to, 2) the knowledge that other people would be reading and working with my code, and 3) an environment where everything I did mattered to the product. For me, this was an unbeatable learning-by-doing environment.
- run4yourlives 19y agoNobody has time for mentoring. Even larger companies don't have people sitting around helping the young buck become better programmers. What I would argue the startup gives you though, is a chance to grow in an environment where someone will be there to bail you out in the worst of cases. At a startup, it's highly possible that you'll need to learn as you code, but you'll at least get a chance to work on something new. At a big shop, I can guarantee you'll be working on feature x forever because nobody will trust you to touch the other pars of the system, and BA's will tell you what new features are needed.