Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 326 posts

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#121

Post by qorrect »

jgwil2 wrote: post #84
qorrect wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and if you are self-taught, I can guarantee you that you have massive holes in your knowledge Just curious, why is being self taught a guarantee for having massive holes ? Can you give some likely examples ?

Not OP, but I think there are two main reasons for this. Firstly if you are a professional you probably only had time to teach yourself what you needed for the job at hand. This is a great skill in and of itself but by definition it favors practice over theory. Secondly, if you're self-taught that means you didn't have a mentor and likely you don't know what you don't know. It's impossible to study topics you've neve…

As a self taught person this lines up with my experiences and it depresses me that I 'missed out'. But I try to make up for it by continuing to learn, I'm just now really getting into Information Theory though and can't help but think how this intuitive understanding would have helped me twenty years ago.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#122

Post by spanhandler »

Mobile or desktop dev (not Electron or React Native). See how the other half lives.

Last I checked Apple TV recommends a markup+JavaScript development process for standard TV streaming applications. It's not a web environment, but it should feel pretty familiar. Easy transition, knock out a demo app and you could start pulling contracts for that, maybe. Dunno how hot that market is.

I'd second others with leveling up with SQL. Maybe also dig into esoteric or advanced uses of HTTP daemon software, Redis, et c.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#123

Post by AlexCoventry »

qorrect wrote: post #67
haspok wrote: post #35

How about getting back to the basics? You know, taking some maths classes, CS fundamentals, algorithms, data structures, that kind of stuff. It is timeless, and if you are self-taught, I can guarantee you that you have massive holes in your knowledge. Also, might sound off topic, but learning a new language (not programming, human) could be an amazing step forward, in ways you cannot even imagine now.

> and if you are self-taught, I can guarantee you that you have massive holes in your knowledge Just curious, why is being self taught a guarantee for having massive holes ? Can you give some likely examples ?

Everyone has massive holes in their knowledge, but holes which formal education tries to address tend to stand out more.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#124

Post by ta17711771 »

thatcodingdude wrote: post #23
bashwizard wrote: post #20

Get into security, specifically web app security pentesting. You'll thank me later.

This and the servers/linux stuff is the most interesting part of my job. I do have my doubts about being able to get into it since I suppose you really have to master low level dev (which I don't) and I don't think I can get a job as self-taught in this field.

> I don't think I can get a job as self-taught in this field.

Good security firms are the last ones to gatekeep over a degree or other paper.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#126

Post by qorrect »

tonyarkles wrote: post #118
qorrect wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and if you are self-taught, I can guarantee you that you have massive holes in your knowledge Just curious, why is being self taught a guarantee for having massive holes ? Can you give some likely examples ?

I don’t know if it’s guaranteed, but here’s my perspective (as someone with 2 BScs and an MSc, who also self teaches a ton of stuff): My personal drive for self-teaching generally stems from either a specific problem I’m trying to solve on a project or a desire to dig deep into something “cool” I’ve come across. In the first case, I’m tugging on the strings that seem most likely to get me to the solution to the probl…

You had me at 'a depth first traversal'.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#127

Post by webreac »

It seems you are good at building web CRUDs, but complains it is boring. It is boring because it is repetitive. Create a web CRUD builder. Computers are there to cope with repetitive tasks. You can put your expertise in the builder. You will continue to earn money by selling web CRUDs, but you should take your art to a higher level. Repetitive tasks are an opportunity to increase abstraction (like in SICP) and write smart programs. Try to find your ikigai.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#128

Post by AlexCoventry »

lenkite wrote: post #61
speedgoose wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should learn C. Life is too short to struggle with C++ now that we have better alternatives such as Rust. You can also ignore the people who ignore the complexity of web apps. Classic C programs are very often much simpler than full web apps IMHO.

Modern C++ is fairly easy to learn. At-least easier than either Rust or C.

I've written 5-line C++ programs which have stumped experts for hours. There's a trilogy of books about all its edge cases and best practices for working around them... C++ still has a place, but not as a beginning systems language.

Re: Ask HN: Self-taught webdev with lots of free time. What should I learn?

#129

Post by dominotw »

I'll suggest something different,

leetcode.com

seriously. it will give you a lot of confidence with algorithms and DS. You'll be able to look under the hood of many webdev/data frameworks.

hey it might even give a higher paying gig ;) , but don't worry about that.

Post reply on HN