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Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

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Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#211

Post by biggc »

dcolkitt wrote: post #67

> I've been able to always have work on my desk because I'm always moving and talking with people in the industry There were a lot of good suggestions from others. But just from this, it sounds like your true skill is sales. Just put two and two together, taking the facts in your post as a given. You're a (supposedly) bad coder, but always had customers as a freelancer. In other words, you were doing a great job sell…

> a mediocre product

We don't know if the product is mediocre. Good, useful software can have messy underlying code without the user being aware.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#212

Post by sokoloff »

tppiotrowski wrote: post #208
sokoloff wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which will break other code where someone wrote: // Ensure all outgoing URLs are https: URL = URL.Replace(HTTP, HTTPS);

Technically it would still work though? Replace(HTTPS, HTTPS)

It depends on what you mean by "still work", but in general I'd say "No, it won't work."

If URL starts as "http://www.google.com/", and I expect that will get re-written to an https URL here, the code will compile and run without throwing any errors, but won't accomplish the intent of why that line of code was written and was doing previously. (URL will still contain "http://www.google.com/")

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#213

Post by macando »

q845712 wrote: post #32

It sounds to me like you haven't internalized a lot of the advice in the first half of "Clean Code" and/or the entirety of "The Pragmatic Programmer". Either of those books takes a few weeks to read slowly and a few months-to-years of deliberate practice to internalize and synthesize as your own. The good news is that admitting you have a problem is the first step. Personally I find I still frequently write pretty at…

Reading the first ten chapters of Clean Code takes no more than 3 days yet so many programmers fail to do so. There is literary no other way to improve your coding skills and habits that fast.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#214

Post by LaserToy »

I had a similar feelings, even though the circumstances were different. I worked in medium sized companies for 7 years before getting into FAAMG. I thought I’m a decent SWE who knows patterns, processes and can deliver high quality code.

First couple months there were hard. My PRs were teared apart with tons of nits, I had troubles communicating as I was embarrassed.

Dev process was also very slow with a lot of back and forth. I felt I was doing something boring + doing it so slowly I stopped caring.

It was miserable and I quit after a year. Looking back, I glad I did. The company did teach me something, but I also wasn’t compatible with their slow moving culture. Did some very interesting work after I moved on and my carrier skyrocketed.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#215

Post by sjg007 »

If your company hasn't outsourced coding to eastern Europe or Russia yet, just wait. You'll become a de-facto PM that way.

Beyond that pair program and read the books suggested here. Practice and review some open source projects. Maybe refactor some code. That's really all it is. Basically keep writing software and practice.

Junior devs get assigned bugs to learn the code base. So do the same thing with open source.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#216

Post by mattfrommars »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #41
epm7384 wrote: post #22

I'd argue differently. Congrats for having the courage to recognize your problem. The analogy that comes to mind is I've been playing basketball in my local town, and now I've gotten promoted to play in the big city. I now feel like a small fish in a big pond. If you enjoy software engineering, I'd say, double down. Now that you're at the medium software company, seek mentorship and coaching from others. In addition,…

> Now that you're at the medium software company, seek mentorship and coaching from others. Agreed. My abilities as a developer increased tremendously at one of my jobs, and I can attribute 90% of that to a single person at that company who mentored me and helped me grow. (Hi, René, you probably don't read this.) You can read all the articles and books you want, but actively pairing with someone on tasks and getting…

Do you have tips or things you did to get more effective mentor ship? My company has assigned me a mentor but I always thing I am not using it to the fullest extent.

The `only` time I speak with my mentor is when I get stuck with a bug and need help getting started. I have asked frequently on how to do better code reviews or how did she get so good at programming - she always said it takes time. To get better with the code base - it takes time.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#218

Post by irchans »

5350-uiop-1130 wrote: post #154

Stop (if you are) using trial and error, hacky approaches to solving your problems. I can't comment on your domain complexity but this in itself helped me improve a lot. Just try to understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. The idea that a problem should be 90% analysis and 10% execution has a lot of merit.

Wow. I kind of like that idea. I'm not sure it's true, but I like the idea.

Re: Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

#220

Post by marton78 »

yowlingcat wrote: post #147
mxmpawn wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really appreciate your (and everyone) help. I've always knew I was behind some things but this real world experience slapped me in the face and now I'm trying to readjust. My manager has already been aware of my lack of knowledge but I'll talk to him to know if they still want me there. If I keep my job I for sure will be asking for more help at the start of a new project.

> I'll talk to him to know if they still want me there. Why would you think they don't want you there? This is not a helpful mindset to have. Here are the facts: 1) You passed the interview process. 2) They made you an offer. 3) They've continued to invest in you as an engineer by giving you feedback on your weak spots and where you can improve. If you were really that far behind, they would have realized that in the…

This is excellent advice. Take this to the heart, OP!
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