no i would join online university or go for self study
Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
51–59 of 59 posts
Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
#52I think development is one of the coolest jobs out there. With dev skills, you can do everything from building websites to physics models to game development to data science... I'm not saying all you need is coding, but you can't do most of these things without code! I'm not 100% sure I would be a software engineer, but I can't imagine myself on a career path that didn't involve writing tons of code.
Interesting perspective. I don't see much difference between building websites, physics models, game dev, and data science. Computers certainly have wide ranging applications but at the end of the day, programming all of those tasks is pretty similar.
I have a similar but different viewpoint. Software products can be distributed to a old rural minority in africa and to a rich man in the heart of a city atthe same time. For many applications they can be catered as well, mobile/desktop, zoom in for bad eyesight, etc. You just can't do that with, AFAIK, anything else.
Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
#53I think development is one of the coolest jobs out there. With dev skills, you can do everything from building websites to physics models to game development to data science... I'm not saying all you need is coding, but you can't do most of these things without code! I'm not 100% sure I would be a software engineer, but I can't imagine myself on a career path that didn't involve writing tons of code.
I personally support your point 100%.
If you asked my wife she would reply: “Meh, in the end you are sitting in front of a screen all day and just typing on your keyboard for 40 years“
Perspectives... :)
Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
What loans? Grad school in CS is free, and undegrad is easily financed by internships in software developer.
> Grad school in CS is free In the US it's not free unless you are a thesis student.
A non-thesis degrees defeats the purpose of grad school and is only used by departments to subsidize those who do research.
Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
#55Absolutely! I love it so much, and I have more and more fun every year.
Well, to be fair, I didn't just "fall into" this profession since I was a kid, I started coding at around 20, when I knew that was what I wanted to do.
Although, if I could start over, I'd love to start much earlier(when I was 10-15 years old), and I'd learn fundamentals of math and CS properly, and I'd spend a lot more time on AI/ML, so I'd be much better at this than I am now.
Now I'm 27, and I really want to catch up on proper math/science of it all.
Also I need to mention that I don't consider myself a "programmer", I'm a startup founder and my goal is to build successful SaaS tools. That's way more interesting and exciting, I get to think of ideas, design products, do full-stack dev, marketing, make all decisions on my own, etc. If I'd just be working as a programmer for someone else, it would probably feel less exciting.
Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
#56No. I would be a poet. But this would only be a different mistake.
Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
#57Probably not. I've been doing it since I was a kid, but never meant for it to be my career. That happened out of necessity. There are definitely aspects of it that I enjoy, but my days are way too sedentary and I'm basically just expected to be a coding machine. Project requirements go in, finished product comes out, and apart from that managers and other departments don't want to hear anything from you. At least, that's been my experience.
Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
#58Nope. Would have studied history and then worked as a labourer on construction. Did that for a year before going to uni - still the best job I ever had.
Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did math, graduated at the dotcom bust where all the jobs were actuarial (not my interest). Went back to school for EE, and I've found there are more jobs, more interesting jobs, and better pay writing software than being an EE.
I think this is extremely common. Problem is that CS101 coding interviews are common now, and EEs are just not prepared to speak that language.
That's not true at all. I've rarely been turned down after an interview.