Earlier quoted context omitted.
Atlanta
I am in Atlanta, I would love to connect with a decent recruiter. I have a low tolerance for fools. Msg me please.
How?
Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
221–230 of 538 posts
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Work somewhere where software is the main product and not just a cost center. This is THE big difference between S/W dev and IT. For 20 years I worked in the former, and for the past 10 in the latter. No question about it: IT is hell. Theirs is a never-ending mission to reduce the cost of moving data and being "compliant" with often-meaningless ever-excessive corporate standards (and forever meaningless MBA/CIO fad…
Having regrettably started from the IT side, it's seemingly impossible to make the jump to a software company proper. Nothing I do day-to-day is flexing any mental muscles an interviewer would find sexy. We're like a permanent underclass of undesirables. Without spending time outside work to focus on sharpening basic undergraduate CS knowledge, I know I'm getting objectively rusty at the types of problems I actually…
Honestly, the amount of empathy here is encouraging. I'm not in the best position to take all the advice given just yet, but knowing I'm not completely surrounded by sharks is reassuring.
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#223I wish I knew I could save aggressively and achieve financial independence in a relatively short time frame. Even medium salary programmers in the US can save the bulk of their income and retire early (if they so choose). I'm on track to retire in about 4 yrs but wish I had done so quicker. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim...
By retire early, do you mean retire like Mr. Money Mustache suggests, -- i.e., extremely low cost of living, don't use AC, don't drive anywhere, probably live on less than 20K a year? Or are you making a large enough salary in the PNW/San Jose or something where you can put back 1-3 mil in 10 years? I ran that calculator and while it says I can retire soon, I've always heard 25x income to be a much more reliable numb…
No I'm not a lean FIRE guy like MMM more of a FatFIRE https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/ Our family spends like a drunken sailor on shore leave. I'm lucky to come from a dual income family and save 100% of my salary. I'm targeting saving 25x yearly spending.
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#224I was kind of shocked at the discrepancy between the reality of working as a programmer at a small company and what one learns about how to "do things right the right way" - version control system? What is that? Automated testing? Or even systematic testing? No time, we have to ship the next release! Using global variables sparingly? - Hysterical laughter The important lesson for me was not to despair and not to get…
Do you use source control just for yourself? How do you keep sane?
When coding on my own, I use:
- TDD
- Version control systems (GIT)
- Issues to describe new features & bugs
- git branches
- Pull requests with code reviews (I create something based on an issue I created and review the code later, pref. a day or 2 later)
It seems tedious and slow at first, but it really isn't in the long run. It results in clean, organised flow of code & projects.
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#225Everything should be done in moderation. Eventually you learn how to only put forth the amount of energy required of a task. While it is fun to do things in new and interesting ways, the name of the game is least time spent.
This also applies to how much energy you put into your work. I started out trying to meet crazy timelines and for the most part I did it. But eventually it became the norm and I couldn't keep up. It took a lot longer to get managers to understand that nights and weekends are not sustainable.
Lastly I would have jumped ship sooner. I've been working for the same company for 11 years and now that I'm in the market for a new job, no matter how much I tried to diversify myself within the company, I don't always have specific skill sets these new positions are looking for.
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#226That shipping stable software that works and meets requirements is what people really want. In other words, what the non-tech business people want, or your customers want, is software that fixes their problems, makes their lives easier or makes them more money. It's easy for us programmers to become fixated on using a newer JS framework, a slightly tighter Java loop or the latest cool language. Took me a few years to…
What application server do you use for the backend? Tomcat?
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, though I'd modify "software company as opposed to working in an IT department" to "work on something profitable". :-) I don't work at a software company, or even a traditional "tech" company, but I write the software that powers our most profitable product. Since I'm the odd-man-out, and the higher-ups love org charts, they stuck me in the IT department. Net effect: IT just became a profit center and everybod…
> something profitable Would that be the primary product of your company, or something that empowers other employees to work faster, and push _their_ products more easily?
Personal preference. In my situation, it's a retail product at a company that has a lot of other retail products. The one I work on just happens to be very profitable, so it gets a lot of attention. But I'd be very happy working on the empowering problem you mentioned too.
I've been blessed by having experience in several, very different kinds of applications (web apps to avionics). Over time, I've realized the specifics of the problem at hand are more-or-less irrelevant to my happiness. I'm looking for something that's sufficiently technically challenging, where I can be surrounded by honest, friendly people, and make decent money.
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#228one of most important: - get a mentor. Some chilled senior guy with lots of experience. Speak to him regularly to fish for knowledge. But don't get hung up on everything s/he says. Programming is huge field with lots of parts. others: - there is no silver bullet - simple is not easy (search Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey) - always be pragmatic - there are indeed better approaches than OOP, which differ greatly in lo…
Probably the best concise list of dev to dev advice I've ever seen.
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you really need to make software (like I do), make your own company and license/sell your work instead for >500% more than what would be your salary. The hardest part about this (for me) is finding a project/product to begin working on. I'm assuming you came to that sort of idea while working for others (which seems like the best way to learn).
For me, I can't do the front-end stuff, so I am stuck with not able to do anything with my ideas. This is where the networking part would help.
> For me, I can't do the front-end stuff
Why not? What's stopping you from learning?
Re: Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish you knew 4 years in?
#230There is no future in software development as a job. Move to a management position quickly, network, make friends with decision makers, don't spend too much time on crafting your skills, your reward for perfection will be more insane work and crazy interviews where one part not 100% done kicks you out. Work on your appearance, kiss up, lift, dress properly, use anti-aging cosmetics, make cool looking hairstyle, wear…
This is some of the worst advice I've ever seen. Do this if you want to die sad and alone with nothing but your money beside you I guess.
The last sentence is actually not bad advice though.