How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks • Hacker News Board

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#41

Post by count » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:02 AM UTC

gwern wrote: post #34

salem wrote: post #10

I'm sure the work ethic gained from 10 years in the USMC helped

Let's not confuse correlation with causation; I once looked around for studies showing experimental interventions which actually increased work ethic (specifically, I was looking for studies on the Big Five construct 'Conscientiousness') and didn't find any. So, I'm sure the work ethic that let him join and last 10 years in the USMC helped.

Lets not confuse an absence of evidence as an evidence of absence - just because there's no study yet that shows that 10 years in the USMC helps with work ethic, doesn't mean that 10 year in the USMC does NOT help with work ethic (unless you mean to say in your survey of the lit. you found something claiming the opposite of the op's claim).

That said, I'm inclined to agree with your last statement...

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#42

Post by oflannabhra » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:03 AM UTC

kunley wrote: post #11

Then he didn't become a programmer. He became Django programmer.

What load of bull. What separates a 'programmer' from a 'Django programmer'? I can't think of any way to make that distinction that isn't logically self-defeating.

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#43

Post by meanJim » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:05 AM UTC

mattdeboard wrote: post #33

rorrr wrote: post #25

Algorithms are not even mentioned. Data structures are not there either. Sorry, you're a django coder, not a programmer.

I answered the questions people asked. Are you for real?

I applaud you for all the things you've achieved, it's pretty commendable ( always like to hear stories about people working hard and getting stuff done ). But the truth is, it wouldn't hurt to go and take the time to re-visit the topics he mentioned and tie up loose ends. It would help your career regardless of what was said here. 2 cents.

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#44

Post by meanJim » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:07 AM UTC

tryitnow wrote: post #40

rorrr wrote: post #25

Algorithms are not even mentioned. Data structures are not there either. Sorry, you're a django coder, not a programmer.

Those are valid points, but I think they miss the purpose he was driving at. Maybe the title of the article could be different, but that's a minor issue. Bottomon line: He wanted a job as a developer. He got that job. Success. You're right though, people do have to learn these other concepts, but first they have to have some money to pay the bills, then they can just knock themselves out learning all about algorithms…

agreed.

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#45

Post by hmottestad » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:08 AM UTC

rorrr wrote: post #25

Algorithms are not even mentioned. Data structures are not there either. Sorry, you're a django coder, not a programmer.

Coder vs. programmer vs. developer vs. system architect

It's not a protected title. However I doubt the guy in the article could write his own OS. Which I can.

Also keep in mind the phases of learning and understanding:

1. I know nothing...this is so hard.

2. I know everything...this is so easy.

3. I know nothing (again), but this time for real since I realized there is so much more to learn.

4. I really, really, really know nothing.

5. Hmm...maybe I might be getting the hang of this.

And in phase 5 other people start calling you a guru. However you'll have no problem finding a job in phase 2.

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#46

Post by wattjustin » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:10 AM UTC

oz wrote: post #39

My mantra for the past 2 weeks has been that there's never been a better time to learn to code, simply because the resources are so abundant and available. I'm self-learning web development right now. Between HTML Dog, W3 Schools and Google, I have more than enough information. I wanted to play around with WordPress-fired up a VirtualBox VM with Fedora, and an hour later had completed the 'famous 5-minute install.' W…

Awesome attitude! If it's something you want to do, you'll make time to learn.

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#47

Post by oz » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:12 AM UTC

wallflower wrote: post #12

Quoting a self-help talking head here: "It's not important to get things right/perfect. It's important to get things going" Congratulations and realize that the nth step in learning is realizing that you can always learn more.

"It's not important to get things right/perfect. It's important to get things going"

Not realizing that fact held me back for years.

When I wanted to learn / do something, I would obsess over finding absolutely the best tutorial / process. Then I would obsess over the right learning environment. Always worrying about the incidentals, and ignoring the essentials.

HN has helped me a lot in this regard. Reading about big companies and how 'imperfectly' they started out, as well as the whole 'Lean Startup' concept has done much to change my mindset. What is important is starting.

Thanks for sharing.

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#48

Post by gradstudent » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:14 AM UTC

oflannabhra wrote: post #42

kunley wrote: post #11

Then he didn't become a programmer. He became Django programmer.

What load of bull. What separates a 'programmer' from a 'Django programmer'? I can't think of any way to make that distinction that isn't logically self-defeating.

A programmer is language agnostic and has a deep understanding of both algorithms and computation. I find the term para-programmer to be an apt description of anyone else.

Why is this on the front page btw? Aren't we all hackers here? What makes this news?

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#49

Post by ricardobeat » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:17 AM UTC

> I was a computer geek from way back, had a few BBSes in the late 80s (yes, I'm a child of the 80s & 90s), learned QBasic & VisualBasic back in the day, and tinkered with Python for a few years off and on...

In every single one of the "how I learned to program in X days" stories, the author had some previous experience. I wouldn't count running a BBS and learning 3 programming languages as "no previous experience".

Re: How I Became a Programmer in ~12 Weeks

#50

Post by kreek » Thu, Nov 24, 2011, 12:17 AM UTC

marquis wrote: post #35

kreek wrote: post #20

I envy that the author learnt programming and web development now as opposed to even a few years ago. Without devolving into "in my day I walked ten miles in the snow just to compile"; it's just so much more pleasant now. Stack Overflow, Heroku (and similar), GitHub, PDF Books. Obviously it takes time and effort to get better everyday but the learning curve is a bit flatter now.

There's also a lot more to learn and possibly more confusing. In 'my day' it was just CGI with MySQL, Apache and perl, then comes Java, then along came PHP then Python, Ruby, now there is JQuery and Redis and Hadoop and.. and on HN now you see a hundred new frameworks each saying 'we're great, use us!'. While I welcome that there are easier ways to actually learn all these things and the amazing communities, I'm not…

Very true that there are so many choices now. Easy to suffer from analysis paralysis before you even get started.

I answered a questionnaire for Manning in exchange for a free book recently. I wanted to learn something new so that cut out a few topics. However, I still sat staring at their catalog for an eternity before deciding on one that was interesting/potentially useful (Lift in Action).