Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#41

Post by denton-scratch » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 1:23 PM UTC

s1k3s wrote: post #32

Do you have any previous experience with programming? Because if you don’t, leaping from HTML + CSS to JavaScript is a huge task. JS is programming, the others aren’t. I know people tend to put them together because that’s the regular FE stack, but the learning curve and skills required to do JS are way different than the other two. So I think you should just keep at it, but also keep in mind that JS is a programming…

> keep in mind that JS is a programming language

It's more than a programming language; it's a really big programming language, with quite a lot of backward-compatibility cruft. There are many ways you can use Javascript, but should not. I've been writing Javascript for years, but my JS code isn't fluent, stylish or even modern.

Before I retired I was a senior; but the fact is, it was the youngest guy on the team that was the best at sizing-up Javascript problems - so I would in the end rely on him. But I would first hit the problem with my head until I had a headache, not wanting to waste my teammate's time.

My teammate was actually interested in Javascript; he would go to classes and conferences. I wasn't - I never liked it. My strengths lay elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#42

Post by moomin » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 1:25 PM UTC

I’m going to say exactly the same thing as others here: getting into situations like this is part of the job. It’s not a very fun part of the job, but it always happens and it happens a LOT in WebDev.

In particular, it still happens to me after 25 years and yeah, I ask someone for help. Being a fairly experienced dev, people are often asking me for help, but the road never stops running both ways.

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#43

Post by m0xai » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 1:26 PM UTC

eveningtree wrote: post #38

Allow me to give you an internal perspective: Web development is hard. The individual parts are manageable, but bringing them together is a mess. We web developers are aware of this. It's like an open secret. And it takes time getting comfortable with the mess, and letting the brain develop its own map of how things work. And you will do stupid mistakes along the way. Those are funny actually. I'll give you my curren…

I did laughed also so hard, that the problem with the mail template was the missing end tags of inner table. And at the end I can say that I was very happy, even if I spent too much time to figure out the docker thing.

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#44

Post by vjust » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 1:28 PM UTC

moomin wrote: post #42

I’m going to say exactly the same thing as others here: getting into situations like this is part of the job. It’s not a very fun part of the job, but it always happens and it happens a LOT in WebDev. In particular, it still happens to me after 25 years and yeah, I ask someone for help. Being a fairly experienced dev, people are often asking me for help, but the road never stops running both ways.

Agree wholeheartedly , especially in Web development and JavaScript.

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#45

Post by eurasiantiger » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 1:28 PM UTC

s1k3s wrote: post #32

Do you have any previous experience with programming? Because if you don’t, leaping from HTML + CSS to JavaScript is a huge task. JS is programming, the others aren’t. I know people tend to put them together because that’s the regular FE stack, but the learning curve and skills required to do JS are way different than the other two. So I think you should just keep at it, but also keep in mind that JS is a programming…

HTML and CSS are programming languages too—documents in those languages are declarative programs for the browser’s layout engine.

The way one writes their CSS selectors against their HTML structure has huge real-world performance implications, but people rarely care to think about what actually happens under the hood as a browser parses their documents and generates an image on the screen.

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#46

Post by 3np » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 1:31 PM UTC

> My colleagues said but nothing negative about my work.

I can read this either as "my colleagues said nothing but negative about my work" (what most others seem to be reading) or "but my colleagues said nothing negative about my work" - are we right in assuming the first?

> Edit:

Keep at it :)

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#47

Post by b20000 » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 1:33 PM UTC

calebkaiser wrote: post #13

I'm sorry you're experiencing this level of stress. The situation you're in is one that many (I might even say most) junior, and even senior, engineers find themselves in. If I can give you one piece of advice that was critical for me, which I share with every new engineer, it is this: Be radically transparent with your team when you struggle. Tell people when you're stuck, when something is new to you, when you're u…

so leetcode grinding doesn’t work and maybe experience is more important then, after all?

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#48

Post by eddieroger » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 1:43 PM UTC

I've been paid to be a software engineer for 15 years, and played with computers for years before that, basically from the day my parents brought one home when I was a kid. Everything I've ever learned has come from failing. Really, everything everyone has ever learned came from failing. Don't feel bad when you're struggling, just remember that on the other end of it is something new to learn.

Loving a theme is absolutely enough to do it as a job, but you may have to work at it - and that's ok, great even! Just remember that your colleagues were new once, too, and someone probably said negative things about their work as well. Sure this comes easier to some than others, but that doesn't mean that only those people should be allowed to do it. Some days are productive, some aren't. Just try to make your average score more towards productive, and you'll be alright.

Tomorrow is a new day. Get some rest, take a breath, and get back at it.

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#49

Post by whtrbt » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 2:17 PM UTC

s1k3s wrote: post #32

Do you have any previous experience with programming? Because if you don’t, leaping from HTML + CSS to JavaScript is a huge task. JS is programming, the others aren’t. I know people tend to put them together because that’s the regular FE stack, but the learning curve and skills required to do JS are way different than the other two. So I think you should just keep at it, but also keep in mind that JS is a programming…

I agree that HTML + CSS are very different, but why do you say they aren't programming?

Re: Ask HN: Am I incompotent for web development?

#50

Post by inphovore » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 2:31 PM UTC

YOU’RE DOING IT RIGHT!!!

You’re paid to not stop until you have a competent solution.

Self as an obstruction as very common. Take breaks, EXERCISE, don’t eat junk food (it corrupts your mood).

Keep solving problems!

It is the persevering mind that endures.

The situations you describe are “as-hoc”. You’re thrown into the middle and expected to tread it out.

Judge yourself by your own doings, not your adaptation to the toil with the doings of others.

Don’t forget to intelligently ask for help. All the time a fresh eye reveals something, and to get (small discrete units of) help from others is actually a good way to make friends. Everyone likes to share how they would fix the problem.