Ask HN: How do I escape webdev? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#61

Post by adventured » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 3:41 AM UTC

jobseeker990 wrote: post #56

tiborsaas wrote: post #45

Go learn Rust (no pun intended). You can still do web stuff with it, but it will open new paradigms for you. With the stricter rules it enforces on you, your craft will level up. Not sure where to go from there though :) To leave frontend behind, you can maybe check out database focused projects, try devops, learn graphics or the ultimate answer: try management as a team lead or product owner, I'm sure in 13 years yo…

Why rust vs python or golang?

Rust has a few interesting things going for it versus Golang.

It's more difficult to learn, it's more intimidating to get into and keeps more devs away because of that, and it's in high demand. That can be a great combination for job security.

Golang and Python are also both perfectly fine and in demand, however they don't have the complexity / difficulty barrier to entry that Rust does. In terms of candidates in the job market, Python is pretty well flooded at this point (especially for less demanding work).

If you wanted to stand out from a pack, I'd choose Rust over Golang and Golang over Python. However you'll see a lot of lower-mid and mid-tier ability devs in Golang that have come from languages like PHP, because it's fairly easy to dive into. You don't see that nearly so often with Rust.

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#62

Post by iudqnolq » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 4:28 AM UTC

adventured wrote: post #61

jobseeker990 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why rust vs python or golang?

Rust has a few interesting things going for it versus Golang. It's more difficult to learn, it's more intimidating to get into and keeps more devs away because of that, and it's in high demand. That can be a great combination for job security. Golang and Python are also both perfectly fine and in demand, however they don't have the complexity / difficulty barrier to entry that Rust does. In terms of candidates in the…

Where is Rust in demand?

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#63

Post by openlowcode » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 5:46 AM UTC

MetalGuru wrote: post #43

openlowcode wrote: post #38

I know what you mean. While web is unavoidable in some area for the 'instant deployment' benefit it brings (in consumer internet...), it lacks in my opinion a solid architecture fundation (separation of business data and layout...), and we pay a high price for this (costly development, high cost of obsolescence...). So I prefer to avoid web development when I can. Also, many development environments (not only web) ar…

Instant deployment and obsolescence is the same sentence. Do you not see the contradiction? Also, how on earth does the web not have a separation of concerns between business logic and UI?

Hi,

I am not sure what your point is. Instant deployment is an advantage of web architecture: you have nothing to do on the user device for them to use the new version of your software (barring some rare issues with browser cache).

On the other hand, so far at least, a web application does not age so well at the timescale of enterprise software (an application will live 10-30 years in a company). So we have an obsolescence problem often, i.e. a 5+ years old application will need to be rebuilt to use more modern technology, often at a high cost.

Originally, web architecture mixed in web pages presentation and business data, a result of an hypertext architecture being used for transactional software it was not aimed at at the beginning. Sure, there have been billion of dollars of investment in web technology since then and a lot of things have improved. However, I have the strong feeling things are still messed-up, especially for developments 'in the wild' for team who do not have strong architecture skills.

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#64

Post by ygggvg » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 6:19 AM UTC

brtkdotse wrote: post #24

ygggvg wrote: post #19

Go to a smaller company. They are much slower on changing technology.

Really? My experience is the exact opposite - large orgs choose a tech stack and invest heavily, staying on it for years, if not decades. A client is still on .Net 4.

If it is not a modern startup my experience was always the other way: software had to work and the stack didn't matter and was not often updated.

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#65

Post by ac29 » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 7:14 AM UTC

I've got a friend who almost exactly met your description a few years ago. He moved into technical sales at a midsized SaaS startup and its been a good fit. If you're technically inclined enough to write even hacky code that works, you can probably wrap your head around a companies software product enough to do technical sales.

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#66

Post by fortran77 » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 5:39 PM UTC

iudqnolq wrote: post #62

adventured wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rust has a few interesting things going for it versus Golang. It's more difficult to learn, it's more intimidating to get into and keeps more devs away because of that, and it's in high demand. That can be a great combination for job security. Golang and Python are also both perfectly fine and in demand, however they don't have the complexity / difficulty barrier to entry that Rust does. In terms of candidates in the…

Where is Rust in demand?

On Hacker News!

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#67

Post by iudqnolq » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 5:44 PM UTC

fortran77 wrote: post #66

iudqnolq wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is Rust in demand?

On Hacker News!

I see excitement, but not jobs.

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#68

Post by fourmyle » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

Practice Leetcode for half a year until you get good at interview questions. Scour your network for referrals to big companies. Do well on the Leetcode interview you will get. Once you get in work for about a year then say you are unhappy and transfer teams. Go to a distributed systems, ml, ai team etc.

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#69

Post by tcbasche » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 9:51 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #61

jobseeker990 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why rust vs python or golang?

Rust has a few interesting things going for it versus Golang. It's more difficult to learn, it's more intimidating to get into and keeps more devs away because of that, and it's in high demand. That can be a great combination for job security. Golang and Python are also both perfectly fine and in demand, however they don't have the complexity / difficulty barrier to entry that Rust does. In terms of candidates in the…

I have literally never seen a Rust job advertised anywhere. I think it's 'high demand' in our minds because it's so esoteric outside of Hackernews

Re: Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

#70

Post by tcbasche » Wed, Mar 04, 2020, 9:54 PM UTC

openlowcode wrote: post #38

I know what you mean. While web is unavoidable in some area for the 'instant deployment' benefit it brings (in consumer internet...), it lacks in my opinion a solid architecture fundation (separation of business data and layout...), and we pay a high price for this (costly development, high cost of obsolescence...). So I prefer to avoid web development when I can. Also, many development environments (not only web) ar…

> requires self discipline and experience to organize your development

Almost like developers with self-discipline is a bad thing...

I feel like you've just had bad experiences and have tarred web dev with the same brush. Either that or tried to conflate enterprise development with web development. Those things are not the same.