Where was this "University of Applied Sciences" and how do i get in.
It is in Austria, Carinthia: http://www.fh-kaernten.at/en/startpage/
From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
51–60 of 148 posts
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#52Another good example of someone learning to program on their own because they wanted to and then leveraging that experience to get a job doing it professionally. The big secret to learning to program is that there is no big secret. It's basically a glorified trade job and everyone already has the tools in front of them.
This. As a guy who went "From Carpenter/Electrician to Software Developer: The Hard Way", there are numerous parallels with the trades.
In the trades, there are the general contractors who submitted the lowest bids and hire nothing but the lowest bidders. Everything is rushed, and the poorly crafted McMansions are the result.
Then there are the true craftsman. The dudes who stop every few minutes on the way to their job site to point out the sloppy, incorrect work to the younger guys. And you want to talk about "code review"? These dudes would relentlessly hammer the methods you used for any task, to ensure you did it efficiently and cleanly. Most people, for instance, have no idea how to efficiently use a shovel to dig a deep hole. There is a technique to it that makes it much easier, faster, and less tiring. Abstract that up to every single task on a construction site and you can begin to understand what these folks knew.
Of course, the majority of construction jobs nowadays will have you working for one of the "quick and dirty" companies. Even if you are a true craftsman, you will be at least somewhat surrounded by sloppy workers who never learn proper technique.
It's kind of like looking at code written by the really bad outsourcing companies who hire overly specialized people who only know recipes.
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#53Another good example of someone learning to program on their own because they wanted to and then leveraging that experience to get a job doing it professionally. The big secret to learning to program is that there is no big secret. It's basically a glorified trade job and everyone already has the tools in front of them.
It's basically a glorified trade job and everyone already has the tools in front of them. That attitude certainly explains a fair few 'legacy' systems I've seen.
I actually like seeing my job as a craftsmanship, because (at least in my native language) there is a certain "honour of doing good work" connected to it.
Also, no shame to work a trade job at all. Not sure where people get that idea?!
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#54A bit of background: in Austria, many people do an "Apprenticeship" ("Lehre") instead of going to high school. You work at a company and visit a vocational school (about 20% of time). This is great for practical people -- less theory, more real world experience. But there is a major downside: If you didn't go to high school, you are not allowed to go to university without first completing preparatory courses that can…
> (you don't have to pay this back, and there also is no tuition) You likely pay taxes.... No qualitative judgment here, except against a view that conflates "no explicit costs" with "no costs".
Of course, maybe the economy as a whole does better if workers can easily retrain, which would be a net gain for the tax base, so it's not really as clear as that. Explicit tax costs aren't the same as actual costs. ;)
For instance, if a worker loses their job and wants to retrain, one policy (that of the united states) forces them at the worst possible time to take on additional debt, and one (that of austria) socializes the cost so they can more easily find work in the future. I'm not an economist, so I don't know the actual effects, but I wouldn't be surprised if the austrian approach would help US rural manufacturing communities a lot to our collective benefit.
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's only true for the first year, and only if you fail badly (ie. stop doing any work at all) -- unless they changed it very recently.
> Daraus ergeben sich auch die zwei wesentlichen Anspruchsvoraussetzungen, die „soziale Förderungswürdigkeit“ und das Vorliegen eines „günstigen Studienerfolges“. That's from their page, for me this looks like you have to pay it back if you, for example got bad grades, in fact I can ensure you, that the limit is 50%, if you screw up in more than 50% of your courses, you are done.
As far as I can remember I had to finish my studies in a certain time frame, I think plus max 1-2 semesters (günstiger Studienerfolg). Not finishing on time would have ended the scholarship. And in terms of "soziale Förderungswürdigkeit" I think a was only allowed to earn a certain amount of money on top of that scholarship. If I had earned too much I think I would have had to pay it back (or parts of out) for the current year. But long time ago, I had an appointment with the "Studienberatung" in Klagenfurt who answered all my questions, fantastic service!
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's only true for the first year, and only if you fail badly (ie. stop doing any work at all) -- unless they changed it very recently.
> Daraus ergeben sich auch die zwei wesentlichen Anspruchsvoraussetzungen, die „soziale Förderungswürdigkeit“ und das Vorliegen eines „günstigen Studienerfolges“. That's from their page, for me this looks like you have to pay it back if you, for example got bad grades, in fact I can ensure you, that the limit is 50%, if you screw up in more than 50% of your courses, you are done.
There is a difference between paying back and continue receiving the stipend.
In general, you need to complete around 50% of your courses to continue receiving the stipend next year, but you only need to pay it back if you drop out in the first year and have completed less than 25% of the courses. (Exact numbers depend on the type of program you attend)
Details are here: https://www.stipendium.at/studienfoerderung/studienbeihilfe/... https://www.stipendium.at/studienfoerderung/studienbeihilfe/...
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
It might be some kind of weird older generation disdain for computers. Graduated high school in 2005 in Estonia, some of my language teachers and relatives pretty much looked down on anything computer-related and saw it as only 'playing around with widgets'. Of course, come 2009, that attitude had changed a lot after seeing that the IT-sector was the only one still hiring.
An instructor told me around 1977 that there was not going to be much need for programmers in the future, because every piece of software that was needed had already been written.
I like to rephrase statements like that in the form of: "Every possible problem and need already has an automated solution that has been mechanized and made aware by everyone on the planet."
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
It might be some kind of weird older generation disdain for computers. Graduated high school in 2005 in Estonia, some of my language teachers and relatives pretty much looked down on anything computer-related and saw it as only 'playing around with widgets'. Of course, come 2009, that attitude had changed a lot after seeing that the IT-sector was the only one still hiring.
An instructor told me around 1977 that there was not going to be much need for programmers in the future, because every piece of software that was needed had already been written.
OMG unbelievable. Like there will be a market for only 5 computers...
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Daraus ergeben sich auch die zwei wesentlichen Anspruchsvoraussetzungen, die „soziale Förderungswürdigkeit“ und das Vorliegen eines „günstigen Studienerfolges“. That's from their page, for me this looks like you have to pay it back if you, for example got bad grades, in fact I can ensure you, that the limit is 50%, if you screw up in more than 50% of your courses, you are done.
There is a difference between paying back and continue receiving the stipend. In general, you need to complete around 50% of your courses to continue receiving the stipend next year, but you only need to pay it back if you drop out in the first year and have completed less than 25% of the courses. (Exact numbers depend on the type of program you attend) Details are here: https://www.stipendium.at/studienfoerderung/st…
Oh alright thanks for the info !
Re: From Secretary to Software Developer: The Hard Way
#60Another good example of someone learning to program on their own because they wanted to and then leveraging that experience to get a job doing it professionally. The big secret to learning to program is that there is no big secret. It's basically a glorified trade job and everyone already has the tools in front of them.
This. As a guy who went "From Carpenter/Electrician to Software Developer: The Hard Way", there are numerous parallels with the trades. In the trades, there are the general contractors who submitted the lowest bids and hire nothing but the lowest bidders. Everything is rushed, and the poorly crafted McMansions are the result. Then there are the true craftsman. The dudes who stop every few minutes on the way to their…
Oh wow, a lot of parallels. Pair programming and code reviews taught me a lot. When pair programming you also learn a couple of new short cuts, new command line tricks, new ways of debugging,... Without the experienced coders our code base would have been a mess. And congratulations to your career switch!