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Ask HN: How much are programming contests / hackathons critical for my career?
tl;dr
Can I stay employable till I'm 60 without any online coding competitions showing my name / no hackathon wins in my back pocket / and no flags from any CTF contests? Is it enough to just strive to be a good coder + keep a positive "standard" online presence (stackoverflow, github, linkedin)
Long version:
I might be considered an "oldie" enterprise Java guy (the guy you might call the "90's web developer" that did all table layout, and wrote ASP and PHP was it was just invented)
I tried to keep up, and consider myself up to date with most of the stuff "them kids" now might consider as an edge to an old school guy like me (I learned and use React/Angular/Ember, Yeoman, Node, Bootstrap, TypeScript, Rust, Scala, Spark, MongoDB etc.. even ditched my lenovo for a macbook pro, which I really like, and learned to replace notepad with VIM)
I even got a github account, and contributed to some projects (and created my own). Got a nice 5 digit reputation on stackoverflow, and I get nice recruiter spam stream coming in from cool silicon valley companies.
My question is, I never, ever did a programing contest or joined a hackathon. Is that one of those things that eventually will differentiate me, the old Java guy from the cool new kids that get that job at the YC startup / Google / Facebook? Am I missing out big time?
I mean, at first they tell you, learn to code, be good at it, and you'll get a job, then they tell you, you need to adapt, learn new paradigms (e.g. I learned FP and quite like it, also learned Rails and learned to appreciate why ya'll hate Java and enterprises), I realized that github is my resume, and that I have to keep up with this crazy pace of fast moving "Oh, you still use Angular? meh, we all moved to React, wake up". Do I also need to start worrying I never joined a coding contest? never did any CTF? only got to level 10 at euler project and stopped because I got addicted?
- phantom_oracle 12y agotl;dr: "Hey, your CV says you've been doing all kinds of interesting stuff with Java..." "Oh you also use some of these modern tech tools to stay in touch with the community broadly, that's cool" "Can we hire you as a Senior Dev or Project Lead for our enterprise app used internally by our 10,000 staff?" "Great, hired". Are you trolling here mate? (it's just such a strange question that I had to ask) Most Java guys from the 90s shouldn't (or at minimum, I hope they don't) give a damn about the new paradigms enough to keep following the trends over stability. You've lived through the Java, PHP, Ruby and now JS explosion. You should probably know by now that the tools don't matter as much as how well you use the tools in the given situation. Don't waste your time with web stuff professionally(if you enjoy learning it, then keep doing so and do web things part-time). You have Java, which automatically tells someone like me that I could easily place you in an Android app developer role and you'll be building stuff more robust (experience) and just as quick (familiarity) as the young app guys. Forget the consumer side as well. Big enterprises seem convinced that they need apps for their employees and you've dealt with the bullshit of enterprises, so either become an enterprise Android consultant (nobody gives a damn how old you are when running your consulting business and enterprise will value your age in some cases) or find a job at some company that either builds these apps or a company that has a few of them internally for their +50,000 staff contingent. It's weird trying to give someone that is clearly in their late 30s/early 40s advice, when you probably have a ton more technical advice to give to young guys.
- eranation 12y agoNot trolling, just a little paranoid that I'm being left behind... :) but thanks for the complements!
- sokoloff 12y agoEnter a coding contest iff you'd find participating interesting. The "badge" won't help your recruiting prospects in any significant way. You don't need it. You're already way ahead of the game, IMO.
- juanuys 12y agoFor me, hackathons served these purposes: * learning how to get an app (MVP, if you will) up quickly * challenging myself to implement an app in a language/framework I've never used before * wider exposure to incubators The end result: I'm a more fluent prototyper. Winning a Startup Weekend exposed us to an incubator which gave us seed money. I'm now also very comfortable picking up new tech, as patterns emerge in language constructs and APIs. (to keep the lights on, though, I stick with the 2 or 3 skills that I'm very experienced in) It needn't just be a CV filler.