4 ms·

My first suggestion is to forget what you see on HN; it's totally not representative of most of the world's IT work. Excel VBA and legacy business systems and

by mattdw 12y ago

My first suggestion is to forget what you see on HN; it's totally not representative of most of the world's IT work. Excel VBA and legacy business systems and nasty abandoned PHP and shitty Java monoliths are way more common out there than Angular and Node and the like. "…solved many business problems with languages I didn't previously know, such as Excel VBA" sounds like it would make you a fantastic employee for any number of small businesses out there, the trick will be finding them. I lucked into my first gig via a short-term contract (through a friend) that turned into full-time employment. The job was a mix of Filemaker (which I'd never touched before) and PHP and weird CSV import/export formats (so, basically the most awful combination of technologies in existence), but I solved real problems and was of real value to my employer. Sounds like you could pretty easily do the same, you just need to look for the opportunities. The stuff that gets talked about on HN seems to be a weird microcosm of cutting edge tech, too much money, and "we have to convince investors we're worth buying so we have to keep up with all the buzzword tech". Meanwhile the other 99% are just tucked away in small businesses solving boring business problems with boring legacy tech and keeping the world turning.

wishiknew 12y ago
This is a great reminder, thank you so much. I am definitely guilty of considering HN-level programming a standard that it is not.
seanwoods 12y ago
I just want to second this comment. Focus on solving problems no matter what the technology is. Also, HN talks a lot about web apps, as if they are the only apps out there. Don't get me wrong, I prefer writing software for the web, but there is a surprisingly high number of people who don't feel the same way and would rather use Excel or FileMaker or whatever to get the job done. Bon chance!
Discere 12y ago
I would definitely agree with this comment too. I work at a large law firm, now managing a team of developers. I've been in the industry for ~6 years. HN is not what the majority of programmers do. I started off in IT procurement and worked my way up by showing how I can add value to doing things like you said with the tools around me (Excel, VBA). If you can demonstrate that you want to solve their problems that's far more important than being a language\framework specialist. Stability, reduced risk, maintainability, solid track record are more valuable to companies than just using new technologies - these come in and out of fashion - good developers solve problems not just use technologies

by mattdw 12y ago

wishiknew 12y ago

This is a great reminder, thank you so much. I am definitely guilty of considering HN-level programming a standard that it is not.

seanwoods 12y ago

I just want to second this comment. Focus on solving problems no matter what the technology is. Also, HN talks a lot about web apps, as if they are the only apps out there. Don't get me wrong, I prefer writing software for the web, but there is a surprisingly high number of people who don't feel the same way and would rather use Excel or FileMaker or whatever to get the job done. Bon chance!

Discere 12y ago

I would definitely agree with this comment too. I work at a large law firm, now managing a team of developers. I've been in the industry for ~6 years. HN is not what the majority of programmers do. I started off in IT procurement and worked my way up by showing how I can add value to doing things like you said with the tools around me (Excel, VBA). If you can demonstrate that you want to solve their problems that's far more important than being a language\framework specialist. Stability, reduced risk, maintainability, solid track record are more valuable to companies than just using new technologies - these come in and out of fashion - good developers solve problems not just use technologies