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How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

learnwithjeff.com

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Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#61

Post by wyclif »

jeffreybaird wrote: post #23
meritt wrote: post #20

While I absolutely applaud the effort and tenacity of this individual, at the same time, I feel a substantial amount of trepidation regarding the current state of the tech / start-up industry. Virtually every hot new startup I see on blogs, it just takes a few minutes of basic penetration testing to find gaping security holes. Everything from simple XSS or CSRF to blatant leaking of sensitive user data. Obviously he…

When I was hired it was with the very clear understanding that I was to be taught a lot and I was being hired for my desire to learn. Sometimes if you can't find a qualified candidate you have to train them.

Yes, and that "have to train them" is the truth that's missing from a lot of these conversations: all these startups want "rock star" devs but they don't want to invest anything in training. But no matter what the skill level of your devs, companies should be investing in lots of training anyway to stay competitive.

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#62

Post by duked »

psylence519 wrote: post #47
duked wrote: post #10

I don't mean to be a mood killer but that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Ruby/Python/Perl are awesome language for beginner because it abstract so much that they think they know how to code after a day, and when they have to learn a new language like C they are completely lost and produce spaghetti code. That might be ok for web development where you can hack here and there (with JS/CSS/HTML) but I really chal…

Why must all software developers be able to operate in all domains? What other industry has a requirement such as this? There's more than enough work out there, why must a web dev know or care how to twiddle bits, or vice versa?

Did you ever worked ? In all companies I worked for (I'm a researcher) I had to use different languages: java, c, c#, asm 86, perl, python, ruby ...

Honestly it's almost a requirement to be able to adapt to other languages or at least read and understand what it does.

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#63

Post by usea »

Jeff, not to criticize but your site is near-unreadable to me (Windows 7, both in Chrome and Opera). Here is an image: http://i.imgur.com/4wXrQ.png

The text is too light at #666 on a white background, which is pretty light on windows (although chrome renders it a bit thicker, it's still pretty light). Also it would look much better if I didn't have Adobe Caslon Pro, as Cambria is pretty normal.

I loved the content.

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#64

Post by duked »

Domenic_S wrote: post #37
duked wrote: post #10

I don't mean to be a mood killer but that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Ruby/Python/Perl are awesome language for beginner because it abstract so much that they think they know how to code after a day, and when they have to learn a new language like C they are completely lost and produce spaghetti code. That might be ok for web development where you can hack here and there (with JS/CSS/HTML) but I really chal…

Right, because you never see bad code in java applications... StringReflectionFactoryInterfaceBean() If you follow a couple of the OP's points (read a ton, write a ton, talk with people more experienced than you) you can write in basically any language for almost any application. Read/Do/Talk, isn't that basically what school is, anyway?

I'm not saying that you can't get it wrong if you do Java, please don't make a caricature ;)

I agree with you the Read/Do/Talk is the same for any language my point is it requires much more read (theory/understanding of computers internal) if you do something else than ruby.

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#65

Post by duked »

wtracy wrote: post #44
duked wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're looking at how ruby implemented Array.sort you are definitely on the right track ! I'm not sure that's how all people who started with Ruby/Python are evolving but that's good. However I'm not too comfortable trying to lure people to believe that you can write a web client in 2 lines :/ PS: Got downvoted for making a usefull comment ? Seriously guys you can't give a different opinion than the crowd...

I upvoted you. :-) OT: Up until maybe two months ago, the moderation on my posts might not have always been what I wanted, but it at least consistently made sense. Since then, moderation has gotten increasingly erratic. Yay Eternal September?

Thanks !

I just want to feel free to express an opinion that is not mean but is a change from: "great post, that's the way to go !"

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#66

Post by orangethirty »

In six months you did more than other hackers I know do in a year. In code, time is relative to effort/motivation. You have both, work will gravitate to you. Now, wait until you start contracting, and find your inbox full of work after posting a for hire ad in HN. Crazy.

To give you some perspective of the relativity of effort/motivation, I know people who have been "learning" for years who just don't sit down and push through. Sure, like others say, your code will have security holes the size of the titanic, but you are still learning. And learning is about finding out what doesnt work. Good luck, and keep hacking.

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#67

Post by lightcatcher »

tgrass wrote: post #35
meritt wrote: post #20

While I absolutely applaud the effort and tenacity of this individual, at the same time, I feel a substantial amount of trepidation regarding the current state of the tech / start-up industry. Virtually every hot new startup I see on blogs, it just takes a few minutes of basic penetration testing to find gaping security holes. Everything from simple XSS or CSRF to blatant leaking of sensitive user data. Obviously he…

Next time you cross a bridge, realize civil engineering has the same issue.

Is this a metaphorical point, or do you actually have knowledge of the civil engineering job market? I wouldn't think that civil engineering would find itself in a similar place as the software industry, because civil engineering work seems like it would be more constant over time and less susceptible to bubbles. This would mean the demand for new civil engineers would be relatively time constant.

However, I know nothing about the job market for civil engineers, so if you do, could you please horrify me and tell me that civil engineering standards have actually fallen in recent times?

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#68

Post by TheCowboy »

I should probably do a write-up about how a year later I still do not have a job doing development. Jeff touches on a few things I am pretty sure I would do differently.

I think the most important thing is working on visible projects and seeing them through to completion, as opposed to acquiring more depth through study.

Additionally, I would have went with Ruby instead of Python. Python jobs and internships seem to fall more within an area where people demand a CS degree background, at least in this region. With RoR the demand tilts heavily toward webdev, which doesn't require 4 years of CS to be productive.

I definitely still think it's possible for motivated and tech-savvy people to do what Jeff has done.

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#69

Post by hackerbob »

TheCowboy wrote: post #68

I should probably do a write-up about how a year later I still do not have a job doing development. Jeff touches on a few things I am pretty sure I would do differently. I think the most important thing is working on visible projects and seeing them through to completion, as opposed to acquiring more depth through study. Additionally, I would have went with Ruby instead of Python. Python jobs and internships seem to…

I'm debating whether to learn Python or Ruby. And the initial post as well as this one has me leaning towards Ruby despite all the good things that have been said about Python.

Are there non CS majors out there that picked up Python as a first language and had doors opened for them?

Re: How to Get a Job as a Developer in Less Than Six Months

#70

Post by xiaoma »

It's really too bad that there isn't more newbie-friendly friendly stuff going on in the SF ruby meet-ups. One of the first things I did upon moving here a few months ago was to join the group and look for anything aimed at learners. Unfortunately in 3 months and dozens of emails from the meetup group, I haven't seen a single event where men welcome (without a woman bringing them).

In this city, at least, it's probably a better idea to spend more time on your own learning. Some of the resources on the OP's list are great. Learn to Program was something I went through before moving out at it was a good intro. Also, Code School is good if you can spare the cash. Coursera has been fantastic-- it's completely free and has full videos, graded tests and forums.

Once you do have somewhat more of a foundation, then the normal meetups start getting more useful-- hack nights, pair programming nights, lightning talks, etc. One thing I have to say though, is that I met some extremely friendly and welcoming people early on when I went to meetups and had no idea what the heck everyone else was talking about.

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