Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#201

Post by austincheney » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:26 AM UTC

aryamaan wrote: post #191

austincheney wrote: post #188

I was hired by Travelocity (many years ago) to be a designer. A few months in they had plenty of designers but couldn't hire front-end developers, so they made me a developer. It wasn't a choice. If I wanted to stay employed I had to figure it out. After several military deployments and treating programming like a hobby for some open source projects I developed a talent for it. A talent a CS degree could never provid…

How will you develop that skill again now considering you have already gone through the journey?

Start writing code on your personal time outside of work. How do musicians get started? They just do it.

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#202

Post by sputknick » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:28 AM UTC

I got a CS degree 15 years ago and I have never been a salaried developer, never written a line of production code. There are plenty of things that need to be done in this world where you need to understand the fundamentals behind coding, but don't actually write any. I suggest looking into Consulting and Software Project Management.

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#203

Post by donquichotte » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:44 AM UTC

abledon wrote: post #103

mikeomoto wrote: post #55

You don't have a job yet, so you don't actually know what being a programmer is like. You're stressing out about what you think being a programmer is like, and worse, you're stressing out about what you think how a programmer is hired . Sit back, relax, go talk to someone who actually does the job, and re-evaluate once you're better contextualized.

Yeah like I said in another thread, CTCI is for more of a software __engineering__ role. There are lots of really easy software developement jobs where you ain’t doing algorithmic/dataatructures, just chilling with other code monkeys , humming Katy perry tunes and stackoverflow searching 4 hrs a day, the rest is breaks and hn reading

> the rest is breaks and hn reading

and, of course, writing HN comments.

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#204

Post by mikeru » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 10:54 AM UTC

Did you NOT enjoy programming before graduating and interview prepping?

Then I suggest you look at interviewing for positions tangential to 'software engineer'. Look for entry-level positions in software quality assurance (QA), systems engineer, etc. Read the job descriptions and see if anything appeals to you. Often these jobs will pay less than a position as a software engineer, but they don't require programming but will value your CS degree.

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#205

Post by germs12 » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 11:06 AM UTC

mvp wrote: post #195

godelmachine wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been planning to join Toastmasters for the past 2 years but for procrastination!

If you tell yourself (and actually do, if required) that you'll only participate as an audience and not to actually do public speaking, you may get yourself over the 'thing' that may be behind the 'procrastination'.

I had a bunch of friends recommend Calm to me. I started using this morning - here's to paying it forward: https://www.calm.com/

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#206

Post by creative1thr » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 11:15 AM UTC

codeisawesome wrote: post #161

abledon wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah like I said in another thread, CTCI is for more of a software __engineering__ role. There are lots of really easy software developement jobs where you ain’t doing algorithmic/dataatructures, just chilling with other code monkeys , humming Katy perry tunes and stackoverflow searching 4 hrs a day, the rest is breaks and hn reading

A candidate displaying the attitude shown in this post would not pass the culture fit round if the company needs team players.

you're not going to tell them you're gonna fuck around, first you get the job, THEN you fuck around.

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#207

Post by JudasGoat » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 11:18 AM UTC

I don't have much personal insight but CBD is appearing in the news lately and other people have said it lowers their ability to ""give a shit" about stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#208

Post by empath75 » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 11:23 AM UTC

Dude. Relax. Programming isn’t that hard. You don’t need to get a job with Netflix or google. The job market is absolutely desperate to hire anybody who knows how to write a for loop.

I’m making a six figure salary writing chef cookbooks and cloudformation templates and I don’t even have a degree.

Just slow your roll, dial back your expectations and apply for less high pressure jobs, man.

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#209

Post by sankyc » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 11:25 AM UTC

godot wrote: post #119

I don't know if this helps, but I personally find coding interview practice sites/problems to be extremely boring, difficult, not fun, and frustrating to work on. I'm saying this as a 13-years-of-experience software engineer; I've been called a rock star or ninja or something similar in almost every company and team I've worked in (big and small), and throughout my entire career and the numerous times I've job-hunted…

This is relatable and makes a lot of sense! Can you direct us to the link or any list of companies which don't have whiteboard tests or competitive coding tests? It would be really useful for OP and most of us.

Re: Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

#210

Post by AndyMcConachie » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 11:26 AM UTC

> Are there any career paths I can pivot to that are less cognitively demanding than software engineering where this degree would be an asset?

Yes. If you understand basically how computers work and what they are capable of the corporate world will find a use for you. Can you communicate well? Like giving presentations? Try going into sales, project management or documentation. Are you a real people-person? Try going into people management.

These are just general categories. The reality is that the world we've created for ourselves has a tremendous need for people who can be at the edges of complicated technology and act as an interface to some other world. Don't despair.