Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#41

Post by onre » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 8:00 AM UTC

mkorfmann wrote: post #29

Do you check the stove 3,4 times when leaving the house? Are you sometimes anxious, that you didn't properly shut the door after haveng left the house? I have this theory where people who do these things are good programmers, since they will check their commit a lot of times until it is perfect to push. But maybe this is more about mastery than having an aptitude for it. :)

On the other hand, if you're too much of a perfectionist, you might never get larger tasks done because of obsession to detail.

Neurosis don't have much to do with mastery of programming IMO.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#42

Post by lexandstuff » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 8:03 AM UTC

venomsnake wrote: post #5

If you can grasp pointers, recursion, asynchronous programming/callbacks in less than a week (as a concepts, not apply-able skills) you have it.

If you can grasp all those things in less than a week, than congratulations: you're a once-in-a-lifetime genius.

If it takes you years to grasp all those things like the majority of us, then that's fine too.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#43

Post by mazeway » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 8:07 AM UTC

If you believe you have it, you'll be much likely to have it.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#44

Post by nulagrithom » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 8:10 AM UTC

Go build a simple web app. Right now. Pick a programming language out of a hat, set up a database, wire up a few buttons, add some logic, and shove it all up in some cloud.

If you haven't given up in a month, you're cut out for it. Persistence and a willingness to constantly learn are more important than your ability to do mental gymnastics.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#45

Post by veddox » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 8:13 AM UTC

dmichulke wrote: post #16

venomsnake wrote: post #5

If you can grasp pointers, recursion, asynchronous programming/callbacks in less than a week (as a concepts, not apply-able skills) you have it.

Pro tip: In order to understand recursion, you have to either just know it or know someone who understands it.

Understanding recursion:

If you understand it, you're fine.

Otherwise, go back to the beginning.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#46

Post by jrapdx3 » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 8:19 AM UTC

I agree with all the comments saying there's no short cut to finding out if you have "aptitude" for programming (or anything else). The only way to know is to try it, assessing its suitability is very much an internal matter, really a judgement call.

To cut through the noise, here's a suggestion: pick up a copy of "The Little Schemer", perhaps you'll find it at a library, or possibly on-line. It's a very easy and fun book to get into. Start answering the questions, if you're still at it past page 60 or so, you just might be a programmer. Get all the way through the book, then you definitely have the interest and ability.

As a bonus, if you do pursue programming you will have learned some very useful things, and if you decide to do something else, you saved yourself a fair bit of anguish.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#47

Post by teekert » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 8:21 AM UTC

hauget wrote: post #22

teekert wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, this is THE question! Even if you were somehow very good at programming but you hatted it, would you choose it as a job? I'd drop it immediately, don't waste your precious time on it. This leaves one other option: If you loved it more than any other job but you sucked at it, what would you do? I'd say: Do yourself a favor and find a job where you do what you love. If you prove my advice to be bad, you'd be t…

"Even if you were somehow very good at programming but you hated it, would you choose it as a job? I'd drop it immediately, don't waste your precious time on it." Not everyone has that choice, as making a living and doing what you love are sometimes mutually exclusive. Casey Neistat washed dishes before he got into making viral videos. Einstein worked as a patent clerk. Dreamtheater's Mike Mangini worked in IT to pay…

Perhaps when you have finished you education and are choosing a job, but certainly not for picking your education. The job market may be radically different by the time you enter it.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#48

Post by jrapdx3 » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 8:51 AM UTC

weland wrote: post #37

Here's a little story that I tell to anyone who asks me this question. It's how I got it answered for me a long time ago. > How can I tell if I have programming aptitude? I have a friend who's a painter. She's a visual artist with a fair deal of success; she can actually live out of her art (and by that I mean she actually sells her paintings for a living, she doesn't just design logos to buy her a little time for he…

> ...I'm a little envious on anyone who has a talent for drawing.

Among the artists I know, some have taught drawing at art schools. They've all said drawing and art talent are altogether separate matters. Drawing is about reproducing measurements, a skill anyone able to hold a pencil can learn. Geometry class might be a good start.

> ... the ones whojust practiced a lot. have a talent for this are the likes of Picasso ... Everyone else ... just practiced a lot.

Actually even the geniuses had to practice. For example, Van Gogh started painting when he was ~23, and the first couple of years he was quite bad at drawing. With practice he improved, and went on to produce 900 paintings in his short lifetime. Manet, the first French impressionist, was so bad starting off he had to cut out the good portions of paintings and sell those separately.

Your a. and b. programmers aren't really distinct, many of the geniuses of the field speak about dismal "failures" from which they learned. It probably requires genius to see the truly important mistakes and how to do things better.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#49

Post by TeMPOraL » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 9:15 AM UTC

hauget wrote: post #22

teekert wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, this is THE question! Even if you were somehow very good at programming but you hatted it, would you choose it as a job? I'd drop it immediately, don't waste your precious time on it. This leaves one other option: If you loved it more than any other job but you sucked at it, what would you do? I'd say: Do yourself a favor and find a job where you do what you love. If you prove my advice to be bad, you'd be t…

"Even if you were somehow very good at programming but you hated it, would you choose it as a job? I'd drop it immediately, don't waste your precious time on it." Not everyone has that choice, as making a living and doing what you love are sometimes mutually exclusive. Casey Neistat washed dishes before he got into making viral videos. Einstein worked as a patent clerk. Dreamtheater's Mike Mangini worked in IT to pay…

For some it's even worse; for me, "doing what I love" is not "programming", but "programming as long as it isn't my job". Weird and not 100% capturing the complexity (I increasingly believe I may have an attention deficit disorder on top of diagnosed depression I'm dealing with), but in my case it's: I program for money, often hating it, because I'm relatively competent at it, and then I program for fun because I love it. I would consider getting a job that doesn't trigger my mental weak spots but the value proposition for most things not related to software is pretty bad these days.

TL;DR: It may be worth programming even if you don't like it, because it pays well. Also, life sometimes deals shitty cards.

Re: Ask HN: How can I tell if I have programming aptitude?

#50

Post by weland » Fri, Oct 23, 2015, 9:25 AM UTC

jrapdx3 wrote: post #48

weland wrote: post #37

Here's a little story that I tell to anyone who asks me this question. It's how I got it answered for me a long time ago. > How can I tell if I have programming aptitude? I have a friend who's a painter. She's a visual artist with a fair deal of success; she can actually live out of her art (and by that I mean she actually sells her paintings for a living, she doesn't just design logos to buy her a little time for he…

> ...I'm a little envious on anyone who has a talent for drawing. Among the artists I know, some have taught drawing at art schools. They've all said drawing and art talent are altogether separate matters. Drawing is about reproducing measurements , a skill anyone able to hold a pencil can learn. Geometry class might be a good start. > ... the ones whojust practiced a lot. have a talent for this are the likes of Pica…

The point I was trying to make is that there is no widespread innate aptitude that makes you magically produce amazing programs when you touch a keyboard for the first time, and anyone who does not have that innate aptitude is bound to write shitty web apps for the rest of his life. You look at people doing something that they're very good at and it seems easy, it looks almost like they have an instinct for it. It seems like they're born with it, but most of them aren't.