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Turning into a hacker aged 27

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Re: Turning into a hacker aged 27

#11

Post by naithemilkman »

sayemm wrote: post #9

I'm 25 years old and I'm pretty much doing the same thing. Taking time off to work on my programming chops instead of jumping into another idea again as the "business guy". It sure beats spending six-figures getting an MBA or going to grad school these days... and I'm learning a ton. I'm absolutely loving it. I learned Python first, then learned how to use linux and emacs, played with firefox add-ons to learn Javascr…

Thanks for the tips.

Question: why are you hopping around different languages?

Re: Turning into a hacker aged 27

#12

Post by keeptrying »

guynamedloren wrote: post #6

I have huge respect for your drive and ambition, but there's something I just don't get (and it applies to many aspiring hackers/entrepreneurs, not just you). Why do you need a mentor? Why "cold emailing startups"? Why do you need somebody to "take you in"? Why not just hit the books and start hacking away? This isn't meant to be a personal attack on you by any means. I've noticed a huge movement toward "mentorship"…

It really helps to have someone show you the proper way to do things.

I've been hacking on rails for a while but only after I joined a company where they had guys with 4 years of professional rails experience did I come to know of all my bad habits and also learned how to do things in a neater faster way.

Basically being around people who are good at what they do will make you good at that skill.

The book "The Talent Code" explains this in detail. Read this book - it'll significantly help you understand what you need to do get good at a skill fast.

Venkatesh Rao wrote a blog post on this as well which is a very worthy read. He called it "The Crucible Effect". http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/07/21/the-crucible-effect-and...

And this goes for any skill from windsurfing, soccer to coding to running a startup.

Re: Turning into a hacker aged 27

#13

Post by dasil003 »

guynamedloren wrote: post #6

I have huge respect for your drive and ambition, but there's something I just don't get (and it applies to many aspiring hackers/entrepreneurs, not just you). Why do you need a mentor? Why "cold emailing startups"? Why do you need somebody to "take you in"? Why not just hit the books and start hacking away? This isn't meant to be a personal attack on you by any means. I've noticed a huge movement toward "mentorship"…

Yeah I think when you're just starting, the most mentorship you need is the teacher of a programming class you're taking. The reason being that to find a good mentor, one who can really teach you a lot about hacking, you will need to have some baseline skills, otherwise you're just wasting that person's time with beginner questions that can be answered in 5 seconds on Google, or 30 seconds on irc if you don't even know where to start.

Re: Turning into a hacker aged 27

#15

Post by dgallagher »

I started learning how to code at 27 and am 29 now, still going strong. Frankly I wanted to do a web-startup, but realized that unless you can code, you're nerfed. Learning how to code completely free's you from being permanently stuck in "idea mode".

The exception to that is if you have a lot of cash, and are willing to hire someone to build something for you. That's very expensive of course, since you're competing with companies offering them $80k - $150k+ /yr. jobs plus benefits. You can find cheaper labor, but you'll get what you pay for.

Have lots of fun learning! Programming can be extremely rewarding! :)

Re: Turning into a hacker aged 27

#16

Post by naithemilkman »

guynamedloren wrote: post #6

I have huge respect for your drive and ambition, but there's something I just don't get (and it applies to many aspiring hackers/entrepreneurs, not just you). Why do you need a mentor? Why "cold emailing startups"? Why do you need somebody to "take you in"? Why not just hit the books and start hacking away? This isn't meant to be a personal attack on you by any means. I've noticed a huge movement toward "mentorship"…

I think its a good question actually.. Here is my opinion:

1) Environment. Having the right people and drive around you striving for the same goal has a positive impact on your own actions. Makes you more motivated to do stuff (at least for me)

2) Make less mistakes. I made a ton of mistakes the last couple of years and I am now VERY receptive to not learning things the hard way.

In the event that I did not, the plan was to get a regular 9-5 job and devote nights and weekends to improve my technical chops.

There are many ways to do this but having a mentor or a right environment to do it certainly helps an already difficult journey.

Re: Turning into a hacker aged 27

#17

Post by sayemm »

naithemilkman wrote: post #11
sayemm wrote: post #9

I'm 25 years old and I'm pretty much doing the same thing. Taking time off to work on my programming chops instead of jumping into another idea again as the "business guy". It sure beats spending six-figures getting an MBA or going to grad school these days... and I'm learning a ton. I'm absolutely loving it. I learned Python first, then learned how to use linux and emacs, played with firefox add-ons to learn Javascr…

Thanks for the tips. Question: why are you hopping around different languages?

Initially I started with Python because everyone told me it was the best intro to coding, which it was and I'm glad I did. But I want to be focused on the web, so I think it's important to know PHP (despite some people knocking it, it's still used on 75% of the world's web servers).

The two languages I'm really focusing on now is Ruby and PHP. I want to get good with both. And if you want to do anything on the web, you gotta throw Javascript in there as well.

Re: Turning into a hacker aged 27

#18

Post by trafficlight »

dgallagher wrote: post #15

I started learning how to code at 27 and am 29 now, still going strong. Frankly I wanted to do a web-startup, but realized that unless you can code, you're nerfed. Learning how to code completely free's you from being permanently stuck in "idea mode". The exception to that is if you have a lot of cash, and are willing to hire someone to build something for you. That's very expensive of course, since you're competing…

Even if you are hiring a programmer, it's still helpful to know how to code. You will be able explain your ideas and discuss the project intelligently.

Re: Turning into a hacker aged 27

#20

Post by naithemilkman »

sayemm wrote: post #17
naithemilkman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the tips. Question: why are you hopping around different languages?

Initially I started with Python because everyone told me it was the best intro to coding, which it was and I'm glad I did. But I want to be focused on the web, so I think it's important to know PHP (despite some people knocking it, it's still used on 75% of the world's web servers). The two languages I'm really focusing on now is Ruby and PHP. I want to get good with both. And if you want to do anything on the web, y…

What happened to Python?
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