Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#271

Post by pnt12 » Fri, Apr 02, 2021, 7:16 PM UTC

I don't have much experience in years or with complex tasks, but consider my code quite clean, as I worry about legibility a lot, and my colleagues often understand it clearly.

For code legibility, I suggest this course, which I found very insightful (1). I think this is a good first approach that solves immediate legibility problems: what to these lines of code do? .

For "medium level" understanding, I would look into design patterns. These can frequently cause ugly code when you use too many, but expose you to nice principles about composition, interfaces, inversion of control, etc. This provides answers to: what is these files/modules/classes do? I read this book for university and it was decent: (2)

I would define high level understanding as architecture. A clean architecture provides an answer to "what does this project do?" . I don't have a good resource for you, but would research about architectures such as client-server, consumer-subscriber, REST APIs, pipelines.

These are a lot of topics and you should definitely take your time in each one. Bear in mind mind these" levels" are just something I came up with, but I think they make sense.

1: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.pluralsight.com/cou...

2: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#272

Post by pnt12 » Fri, Apr 02, 2021, 7:24 PM UTC

macando wrote: post #213

q845712 wrote: post #32

It sounds to me like you haven't internalized a lot of the advice in the first half of "Clean Code" and/or the entirety of "The Pragmatic Programmer". Either of those books takes a few weeks to read slowly and a few months-to-years of deliberate practice to internalize and synthesize as your own. The good news is that admitting you have a problem is the first step. Personally I find I still frequently write pretty at…

Reading the first ten chapters of Clean Code takes no more than 3 days yet so many programmers fail to do so. There is literary no other way to improve your coding skills and habits that fast.

Just a side note: reading fast doesn't make you learn fast. Be sure to take notes, to apply the knowledge in practical problems (project or small script), and make sure to revisit the topics, because you will forget things of you only do them once.

These are some of the principles of meta-learning that have been helping me greatly for the last year.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#273

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

Emotional maturity has way more value, thanks for being honest with yourself and the others. I wish more people did that.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#274

Post by SebastianFrelle » Sun, Apr 04, 2021, 6:57 PM UTC

I think the level of transparency on display here is really inspiring. I'd apply that same level of candor in a meeting with a peer or a higher-up and basically tell them that you are dissatisfied with the quality of the work that you deliver.

A good manager or colleague will be really receptive towards that kind of openness. They'll be able to help you cut through the "bs" so to speak and help you separate impostor syndrome noise from actionable facts.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#275

Post by silicon2401 » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 1:31 PM UTC

aarongray wrote: post #128

There is no shame in being an average or below average software engineer. I would know, I am one myself. The key is to remember that we have one of the best jobs in human history. You get paid an incredible amount of money, you can work from just about any place you want - from the most modern cities to a remote cabin in the countryside - and you have great job security. You can work for yourself as a freelancer and…

This is a really helpful piece of advice, thank you. It's always helpful to remember that the return on investment we get in software for time and effort invested is astronomical compared to other fields.