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After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

blog.jenniferdewalt.com

171–180 of 383 posts

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two type of people in life. The first type graduates from college and their learning stops for the most part. They say to themselves, "well, I studied for four years and got a job, now it's finally time to sit back and relax." So they put in their regular 9-5 and then come home and waste their lives away by watching TV shows and playing video games and going out and getting drunk on weekends. Essentially, t…

I can just imagine how smug you were writing this, it's making me cringe.

Hey hey, let's all play nicely :)

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#172
post #7

This is fantastic. Especially inspiring to me, more than the fact that she learned how to code, is the fact that she dove into something that she had no background in, and after 180 days she came out with a solid understanding of the basics of programming; enough to do stuff on her own (and, combined with her graphic design/illustration skills, probably enough to do freelance webdev or get a junior level position in…

There are two type of people in life. The first type graduates from college and their learning stops for the most part. They say to themselves, "well, I studied for four years and got a job, now it's finally time to sit back and relax." So they put in their regular 9-5 and then come home and waste their lives away by watching TV shows and playing video games and going out and getting drunk on weekends. Essentially, t…

It's funny because over the years I have developed what I think to be a very reliable method for predicting someone's future.

Don't do it.

It's their life. While I hope it's rich, diverse and makes them immensely happy, it's not for me to say whether or not it 'works' for them or not.

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living on your own is making zero effort. "Minimum effort" as a mathematical expression could even be negative (i.e. actively trying to rid yourself of money), but as a colloquialism typically means "appreciable," "reasonable," or "realistic." If you're not a native speaker, I can see how that might have confused you. If you are, then you're just being difficult.

You literally said the exact opposite of the point you were implying throughout the rest of the discussion. We were talking about ways to live cheaply. Then YOU were the one that changed positions and said we were talking about someone making the minimum effort to save money, which as you rightly pointed out could mean someone not saving money at all. What is the point of discussing someone who doesn't save in a thre…

This native English speaker believes there was absolutely nothing wrong with anything he said, and that you have been deliberately obtuse.

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#175
post #7

This is fantastic. Especially inspiring to me, more than the fact that she learned how to code, is the fact that she dove into something that she had no background in, and after 180 days she came out with a solid understanding of the basics of programming; enough to do stuff on her own (and, combined with her graphic design/illustration skills, probably enough to do freelance webdev or get a junior level position in…

There are two type of people in life. The first type graduates from college and their learning stops for the most part. They say to themselves, "well, I studied for four years and got a job, now it's finally time to sit back and relax." So they put in their regular 9-5 and then come home and waste their lives away by watching TV shows and playing video games and going out and getting drunk on weekends. Essentially, t…

The regular 9 to 5 is what some people want. And that's fine. They get their satisfaction in ways we may not -- (stereotypes coming).. a kid to play with, buddies at the bar, plunking a guitar, reading John MacDonald.

This is not necessarily even a lack of ambition -- we're all allowed to aspire to whatever lifestyle we think will suit us best.

You can't say one way is better without describing what better looks like -- and when we have different descriptions of that, the best thing to do is just tink your drinks together and keep your "How can he live like that?!" to yourself.

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#176
post #7

This is fantastic. Especially inspiring to me, more than the fact that she learned how to code, is the fact that she dove into something that she had no background in, and after 180 days she came out with a solid understanding of the basics of programming; enough to do stuff on her own (and, combined with her graphic design/illustration skills, probably enough to do freelance webdev or get a junior level position in…

There are two type of people in life. The first type graduates from college and their learning stops for the most part. They say to themselves, "well, I studied for four years and got a job, now it's finally time to sit back and relax." So they put in their regular 9-5 and then come home and waste their lives away by watching TV shows and playing video games and going out and getting drunk on weekends. Essentially, t…

Hey! I watch tv, play video games, and get drunk on weekends. I also have a girlfriend, friends, a new kitten to look after. Oh and I have multiple side projects I work on while having a full time job.

Just because people do one thing doesn't mean they don't do other things.

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. That's why the no dependents part is essential. If you are single and willing to live with roommates, you will be able to navigate the "high cost of living" pretty successfully. I'm living quite comfortably in San Francisco and spending a fraction of what I was spending in Texas. Why? - No car. No gas. No upkeep. No payments. No insurance. No inspections. No car. - Roommates. I HATE living alone so this was a n…

>They were wrong, and I was a fool for listening to them instead of exploring it for myself. Don't make my mistakes. They were right if you ever want to have a family. You are building no equity in rent so you will essentially have to leave and start over somewhere else to have kids. Your story is fine as long as it ends with you being single and alone without any real assets.

There is no "starting over" when renting, it's just a cost of living. Plus, equity only matters if you sell, in which case you have the same kind of uprooting as a renter, only maybe (maybe) with some profit to show for your time in the previous residence.

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#178
post #111

I would encourage her to try things other than web development. Make a desktop application, or a program in C, or do some performance coding on an embedded system, or write a webserver from scratch, or wrestle with writing a program with multiple threads. You might say this is too much to expect from a beginner, but no one would have said that 20 years ago. It only seems hard because of how easy web development is to…

It's getting difficult to justify coding anything else, though.

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#179
post #7

This is fantastic. Especially inspiring to me, more than the fact that she learned how to code, is the fact that she dove into something that she had no background in, and after 180 days she came out with a solid understanding of the basics of programming; enough to do stuff on her own (and, combined with her graphic design/illustration skills, probably enough to do freelance webdev or get a junior level position in…

There are two type of people in life. The first type graduates from college and their learning stops for the most part. They say to themselves, "well, I studied for four years and got a job, now it's finally time to sit back and relax." So they put in their regular 9-5 and then come home and waste their lives away by watching TV shows and playing video games and going out and getting drunk on weekends. Essentially, t…

Just wanted to add a brief, loose third:

The third type recognizes their passion and self-educates themselves, often finding formal education diabolical.

From the late Jim Rohn, "Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune."[1]

[1] http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jimrohn121282.htm...

Re: After 180 Websites, I’m Ready to Start the Rest of My Life as a Coder

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what gets me. The whole building equity thing by equating it to property. I have equity, but I invested it elsewhere. I still rent. You dont need to own property to have equity and to state otherwise is a disservice. America is not all subdivisions and white picket fences...

You are confusing what the point of building equity in a home is. It's not solely an investment vehicle like stocks, bonds, options, commodities, etc. By building equity in a home, you are also eliminating your cost of rent. >You dont need to own property to have equity and to state otherwise is a disservice. Again, you do if you want your cost of housing to go towards building equity.

You're not eliminating your cost of rent, you're (maybe) lowering it. Whatever percentage of your housing costs go towards interest, property taxes, HOA fees, homeowner's insurance, mortgage insurance, etc. are not going towards equity. Especially early on in a mortgage, the vast majority of your housing expenses are not going towards equity. Your analysis is only correct late in a mortgage. Early in a mortgage it's entirely possible to be paying more in non-equity expenses than you would be if you were renting.
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