3 ms·

Thanks for the thought-out response. I think it's typical among developers to think that their work stands for itself, so they don't have to sell themselves. I

by bsima 11y ago

Thanks for the thought-out response. I think it's typical among developers to think that their work stands for itself, so they don't have to sell themselves. I agree with your statement that selling yourself is important. I recently beefed-up my resume[1] because I kinda saw this coming. Interesting point on specialization. I'm not quite sure where I want to specialize, though. I love functional programming (Clojure et al) but Ruby and Python are fun too. I started in front-end years ago (high school?), so I'm extremely fluent in HTML, JS, CSS, but I've been getting more interested in algorithms, machine learning, and related stuff in recent months/years. I've got a few books from the library on programming that I plan to read, I think this will help me decide which direction to specialize in. Next I'll decide on a project to establish my specialization. The books are: The Joy of Clojure, Functional Programming Patterns in Scala and Clojure, Seven Languages in Seven Weeks, and Web Development with Clojure. I also want to read The Rails Way (or something similar, since I don't have formal training in Rails) and a book on algorithms. [1]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OrBr3KPDjeJBcXdKFJ2vE3tgAKQxThciGMsIX1icVx8/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OrBr3KPDjeJBcXdKFJ2vE3tg...

davismwfl 11y ago
Your welcome. I get not knowing where you want to specialize yet, but just because you say choose Ruby or Python today, doesn't mean you won't then after 2-3 years move to something else. Specialization in this case teaches you more than the language, it teaches constructs, data structures, loops, algorithms, debugging techniques, error conditions, testing theory etc. Then once you have a handle on those it is easier to apply them in a new language and you start learning how to architect solutions more efficiently regardless of the language chosen. The coolest part to me about being in Software is we are almost never locked into one language or framework, but you have to get rooted somewhere. And as fapjacks points out, if you advertise yourself as full-stack with 1 year professional experience it looks funny to most employers because you just can't start out there. It takes time.

by bsima 11y ago

davismwfl 11y ago

Your welcome. I get not knowing where you want to specialize yet, but just because you say choose Ruby or Python today, doesn't mean you won't then after 2-3 years move to something else. Specialization in this case teaches you more than the language, it teaches constructs, data structures, loops, algorithms, debugging techniques, error conditions, testing theory etc. Then once you have a handle on those it is easier to apply them in a new language and you start learning how to architect solutions more efficiently regardless of the language chosen. The coolest part to me about being in Software is we are almost never locked into one language or framework, but you have to get rooted somewhere. And as fapjacks points out, if you advertise yourself as full-stack with 1 year professional experience it looks funny to most employers because you just can't start out there. It takes time.