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

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

#201

Post by dnautics »

thatcodingdude wrote: post #24
qzw wrote: post #22

Learn C. Then maybe one of the newer systems languages like rust, zig, D, nim, etc. If you’re bored with CRUD, there’s a whole other (bigger) world to explore when you get a little closer to the metal. It’s tremendously empowering and fun as hell to get you’re hands dirty a bit, so to speak. You’ll also become a better and more employable programmer as a nice side effect.

C or C++ ? Thought about it, at the very least it would make me a bit more well-rounded.

zig is a fantastic alternative to C. The community is mostly C programmers who are sick and tired of undefined behaviour and #includes in C, but if you let them know you're a webdev looking to learn zig as a first low-level language I think you will find a relatively welcoming community.

Undefined Behaviour: Stuff like this - https://twitter.com/jfbastien/status/1280709082626666498

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

#202

Post by KorfmannArno »

brian_herman wrote: post #6

You could learn python/machine learning. https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning There are a bunch of guides like the coursera course I mentioned and on youtube there is the official tensorflow channel also! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0rqucBdTuFTjJiefW5t-IQ

https://d2l.ai

And

https://247reading.group

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

#203

Post by thatcodingdude »

joshribakoff wrote: post #89
thatcodingdude wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm far from being good enough to contribute to open-source projects unfortunately. I can make lots of things work but I don't know enough advanced patterns and low-level stuff to contribute in a meaningful and maintainable way.

What better way to learn then?

That's a good point.

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

#204

Post by kamban »

You can consider building SaaS product around your expertise , for eg you can sell APIs. But ofcourse doing market research is another domain. But if you start with an audience, and their problem, you might hit it off. ROI is exponential with a successful SaaS product.

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

#205

Post by chronal »

eatmygodetia wrote: post #180
thatcodingdude wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. Rust has been recommended a bit in this thread so I'll check it out. Out of curiosity, what's the appeal of learning Rust ? What kind of projects do you use it for ? I find that I can solve mostly everything with a blend of PHP/JS, but I also never escaped web CRUDy stuff, and PHP is very well suited for these.

It's a general-purpose programming language, so it can be used for most projects. Most problems can be solved with most languages, sure, but rust is fast and "safe", so people flock to it. It has some nice features. Personally I never found myself besotted with it, in fact I rather dislike it and suggest ada instead. But rust is much more likely to get you a job.

Would you mind sharing your thoughts on why you'd suggest Ada? What features of Ada make it an interesting/useful language?

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

#207

Post by beaner »

You could take some time to familiarize yourself with Docker and how to deploy a full-stack application as a set of "microservices" that talk to each other. It's really helpful for getting closer to understanding infrastructure, scaling, and deployment.

You could familiarize yourself with some crypto things like running a Bitcoin node and maybe Lightning (Bitcoin's layer 2), and then figuring out how to deploy it or build a website that uses your node to accept payments for you or on behalf of others.

You could start a side project that uses both, such as a blogging platform that lets users publish articles that can be unlocked with a crypto payment rather than a subscription or credit cards. You could use both containers and Lightning to do it and learn both at the same time.

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

#208

Post by thatcodingdude »

fortran77 wrote: post #199
nicoburns wrote: post #153

Honestly, in terms of employment you don't need to learn anything at all. Your skillset (which is quite similar to mine) is highly in demand. What you'll probably find is that you can specialise in any of the areas you already have skills in simply by advertising yourself differently. However, it's always good to learn more. I have a couple of suggestions: 1. Rust. The Rust book is an excellent introduction to lower-…

> 1. Rust. Here they come! Right on cue.

What do you mean ?

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

#209

Post by thatcodingdude »

gitgud wrote: post #150
thatcodingdude wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm far from being good enough to contribute to open-source projects unfortunately. I can make lots of things work but I don't know enough advanced patterns and low-level stuff to contribute in a meaningful and maintainable way.

The barrier to entry of open-source is far lower than you think (I'm proof of that!) Most great projects that have advanced patterns evolved from simple toy projects. They only became advanced with the collaboration and help from internet strangers ;)

Just sent my first pull request. Here goes nothing !
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