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Hi, When I started I followed this: - Find something that you want to build, something real with a purpose This is important because having a goal: a real on

by DAddYE 12y ago

Hi, When I started I followed this: - Find something that you want to build, something real with a purpose This is important because having a goal: a real one, will make you more enthusiast and less likely to give up. My first real projects were two: a rapidshare and a web radio. Consider that it was around 90's and I'm 31yo. I succeeded in both but the most important thing was that in order to build these "products" I had to learn a lot: html, css, js, flash (yep at the time was a thing), php and c. - Find someone or resources that will help you to go through your learning process. Having a mentor or more than one is important. Is not easy to find one, I know, but probably when you start over the time you'll find someone that you admire and want to be as good as him/her. A mentor will save you a lot of time because can point you in the right learning resources. I wasted ton of my time simply because I wasn't good at picking the right resource/tutorial/guide/book. Now there are plenty of resources i.e. Github. You can find a project that you might like and try to "reproduce" it yourself. If you have questions you can ask the author or post on http://stackoverflow.com http://stackoverflow.com or IRC channels. Then there are online course (never took one) or good books i.e.: https://pragprog.com https://pragprog.com or http://www.oreilly.com http://www.oreilly.com - Be updated and engaged This helps to keep your enthusiasm up, following someone on twitter, github or whatever can keep you updated on "cool things" but you have to be smart enough (here a mentor can help) to filter what is going to disappear and what's not. - Ask, ask, ask. Never be afraid to ask even the things that you might think are dumb or stupid. You'll be surprised in how many people will try to help you or how many are have the same question. -- I can't speak for you, but one cool thing about internet and opensource is that you might choose to be "mz" and not have a "face" and so a gender. I can't speak for others but me and all people I know (male) are not sexist and I guess there are many more around, I'm pretty sure that you might be surprised about that.

Mz 12y ago
I actually have a Github account. I have just not been active on it. I don't understand Github. I know a programmer who is willing to take me seriously. He is writing a project in Python and he would like me to be a developer on it. I have begun putting together a list of resources to learn Python. But I haven't gotten anywhere yet, in part because life has gotten in the way, in part because I don't really know where to begin. I do have a personal project I want to work on and I have started a paper to outline it. (There is a term for that, but it escapes me currently.) The project that my programmer friend is writing is potentially useful for my eventual goals (re my own project). I have developed a short list of people who might be willing to beta test my thing, if I can ever get it written. I'm just having a really hard time with figuring out where to start in a way that gets me meaningful traction on writing it. For me, hiding my gender seems to be a non-starter. In spite of my lack of success, people sometimes recognize me from elsewhere. Further, I was a full-time mom for a lot of years. It's hard to open my mouth and not inadvertently identify my gender. Plus, I don't think that serves me well in the long run. I don't care to try to invest a lot of time in building connections only to find those connections fail me should they finally learn who I "really" am. Further, I don't think it helps women in general for me to try to hide my gender. Comments on HN in the past have indicated that some women here actively hide or downplay their gender. I think that makes the appearance that it is almost entirely men worse than the actual reality. I don't think that helps the situation. Thank you for replying.
- A_COMPUTER 12y ago
  >I'm just having a really hard time with figuring out where to start in a way that gets me meaningful traction on writing it. You just need to start. You need to plow through and make something. You will make mistakes and your code will suck, you will throw that thing away. But the next thing you make will be better. Repeat. You sound like me when I started. I would get paralyzed from choices on how to architect or implement something. It wasn't until I just finally picked one did I learn what the tradeoffs were, what was just plain a bad idea, etc. I absorbed the experience and the next thing was easier. Another thing. I can tell you like to talk. You can talk about a project, think about the project, muse about what it would feel like to be done with the project, as a substitute for doing work on the project. Don't let yourself fall into that trap.
  - Mz 12y ago
    Thanks.
- DAddYE 12y ago
  > I actually have a Github account. I have just not been active on it. I don't understand Github. If you truly want to dive into the open source you have to master the tools. Start from here: https://guides.github.com https://guides.github.com > I know a programmer who is willing to take me seriously. He is writing a project in Python and he would like me to be a developer on it. I have begun putting together a list of resources to learn Python. But I haven't gotten anywhere yet, in part because life has gotten in the way, in part because I don't really know where to begin. That's must be a suggestion of the mentor. I would say that if you're aiming to the web before the language you have to master the basics: html, css, js. > I do have a personal project I want to work on and I have started a paper to outline it. (There is a term for that, but it escapes me currently.) The project that my programmer friend is writing is potentially useful for my eventual goals (re my own project). I have developed a short list of people who might be willing to beta test my thing, if I can ever get it written. I'm just having a really hard time with figuring out where to start in a way that gets me meaningful traction on writing it. Don't think too much, just do it. Lot of my friends spend months if not an entire year to write, brainstorm etc... you have to learn how to do things first. Probably 80% of what you're thinking now will be totally different once you'll be a programmer. You'll see solutions, problems and better ways to do things. > For me, hiding my gender seems to be a non-starter. In spite of my lack of success, people sometimes recognize me from elsewhere. Further, I was a full-time mom for a lot of years. It's hard to open my mouth and not inadvertently identify my gender. Plus, I don't think that serves me well in the long run. I don't care to try to invest a lot of time in building connections only to find those connections fail me should they finally learn who I "really" am. Further, I don't think it helps women in general for me to try to hide my gender. Comments on HN in the past have indicated that some women here actively hide or downplay their gender. I think that makes the appearance that it is almost entirely men worse than the actual reality. I don't think that helps the situation. That's your choice and I admire it. Just be aware of one thing. In the opensource or generally in coding is like "art" so you might be face things like: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/57643/focus=57918 http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/57643... Don't take it personal, we are humans and so imperfect. Anyway, if you need more advices/help google my nickname and drop me an email. Glad to help where I can.

by DAddYE 12y ago

Mz 12y ago

I actually have a Github account. I have just not been active on it. I don't understand Github. I know a programmer who is willing to take me seriously. He is writing a project in Python and he would like me to be a developer on it. I have begun putting together a list of resources to learn Python. But I haven't gotten anywhere yet, in part because life has gotten in the way, in part because I don't really know where to begin. I do have a personal project I want to work on and I have started a paper to outline it. (There is a term for that, but it escapes me currently.) The project that my programmer friend is writing is potentially useful for my eventual goals (re my own project). I have developed a short list of people who might be willing to beta test my thing, if I can ever get it written. I'm just having a really hard time with figuring out where to start in a way that gets me meaningful traction on writing it. For me, hiding my gender seems to be a non-starter. In spite of my lack of success, people sometimes recognize me from elsewhere. Further, I was a full-time mom for a lot of years. It's hard to open my mouth and not inadvertently identify my gender. Plus, I don't think that serves me well in the long run. I don't care to try to invest a lot of time in building connections only to find those connections fail me should they finally learn who I "really" am. Further, I don't think it helps women in general for me to try to hide my gender. Comments on HN in the past have indicated that some women here actively hide or downplay their gender. I think that makes the appearance that it is almost entirely men worse than the actual reality. I don't think that helps the situation. Thank you for replying.

A_COMPUTER 12y ago
>I'm just having a really hard time with figuring out where to start in a way that gets me meaningful traction on writing it. You just need to start. You need to plow through and make something. You will make mistakes and your code will suck, you will throw that thing away. But the next thing you make will be better. Repeat. You sound like me when I started. I would get paralyzed from choices on how to architect or implement something. It wasn't until I just finally picked one did I learn what the tradeoffs were, what was just plain a bad idea, etc. I absorbed the experience and the next thing was easier. Another thing. I can tell you like to talk. You can talk about a project, think about the project, muse about what it would feel like to be done with the project, as a substitute for doing work on the project. Don't let yourself fall into that trap.
- Mz 12y ago
  Thanks.
DAddYE 12y ago
> I actually have a Github account. I have just not been active on it. I don't understand Github. If you truly want to dive into the open source you have to master the tools. Start from here: https://guides.github.com https://guides.github.com > I know a programmer who is willing to take me seriously. He is writing a project in Python and he would like me to be a developer on it. I have begun putting together a list of resources to learn Python. But I haven't gotten anywhere yet, in part because life has gotten in the way, in part because I don't really know where to begin. That's must be a suggestion of the mentor. I would say that if you're aiming to the web before the language you have to master the basics: html, css, js. > I do have a personal project I want to work on and I have started a paper to outline it. (There is a term for that, but it escapes me currently.) The project that my programmer friend is writing is potentially useful for my eventual goals (re my own project). I have developed a short list of people who might be willing to beta test my thing, if I can ever get it written. I'm just having a really hard time with figuring out where to start in a way that gets me meaningful traction on writing it. Don't think too much, just do it. Lot of my friends spend months if not an entire year to write, brainstorm etc... you have to learn how to do things first. Probably 80% of what you're thinking now will be totally different once you'll be a programmer. You'll see solutions, problems and better ways to do things. > For me, hiding my gender seems to be a non-starter. In spite of my lack of success, people sometimes recognize me from elsewhere. Further, I was a full-time mom for a lot of years. It's hard to open my mouth and not inadvertently identify my gender. Plus, I don't think that serves me well in the long run. I don't care to try to invest a lot of time in building connections only to find those connections fail me should they finally learn who I "really" am. Further, I don't think it helps women in general for me to try to hide my gender. Comments on HN in the past have indicated that some women here actively hide or downplay their gender. I think that makes the appearance that it is almost entirely men worse than the actual reality. I don't think that helps the situation. That's your choice and I admire it. Just be aware of one thing. In the opensource or generally in coding is like "art" so you might be face things like: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/57643/focus=57918 http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/57643... Don't take it personal, we are humans and so imperfect. Anyway, if you need more advices/help google my nickname and drop me an email. Glad to help where I can.