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Ask HN: How Can I Find a Mentor?

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Re: Ask HN: How Can I Find a Mentor?

#41

Post by danpalmer »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #39
danpalmer wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there really a correlation between being well known and having horrible code? Do you have anything to support this idea? It seems a bit arbitrary.

I shouldn't have used the word "horrible" when describing a codebase because "horrible codebase" has very different meanings for different people. The code of well-known companies is typically great from a business standpoint, otherwise they wouldn't have become well-known. By this definition, Mt. Gox's codebase was fine right up until they imploded, because the only reason they were large enough to matter is because…

Thanks, you make some interesting points, particularly about being a first-mover. When talking about "startups we've heard of" you may well be right, I could certainly see how that could work. But in general, the companies we've heard of are the ones who survived long enough to become well known, and in that case, I suspect that their code is very maintainable, which implies many aspects of "good" code. I'd especially expect the companies known for their software to have good code, unlike companies that do other things, but happen to have developers to support their business.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I Find a Mentor?

#42

Post by sillysaurus3 »

danpalmer wrote: post #41
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I shouldn't have used the word "horrible" when describing a codebase because "horrible codebase" has very different meanings for different people. The code of well-known companies is typically great from a business standpoint, otherwise they wouldn't have become well-known. By this definition, Mt. Gox's codebase was fine right up until they imploded, because the only reason they were large enough to matter is because…

Thanks, you make some interesting points, particularly about being a first-mover. When talking about "startups we've heard of" you may well be right, I could certainly see how that could work. But in general, the companies we've heard of are the ones who survived long enough to become well known, and in that case, I suspect that their code is very maintainable, which implies many aspects of "good" code. I'd especiall…

But in general, the companies we've heard of are the ones who survived long enough to become well known

True!

and in that case, I suspect that their code is very maintainable

Unfortunately, there's no relation between a code's maintainability and its business viability. For example, if that were true, then there would be a correlation between beautiful codebases and codebases which make money. In my experience there is no such correlation.

Businesses generally maintain their codebases by hiring people to work on it rather than adopting good practices from the start (so that they don't have to hire more people to work on it). That's why startups have another advantage: they can work much faster than big companies, because big companies generally have to deal with ten metaphorical tons of code bloat, which slows them down almost as much as their bureaucratic nature.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I Find a Mentor?

#44

Post by kenferry »

d23 wrote: post #21
kenferry wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That structure is more or less what we're doing with our iPad app, Understudy, for SICP. If someone signs up for SICP, we pair them with another user a bit ahead, to talk to once a week. Once they're a ways in, they start leading another user just starting out. http://blog.understudyapp.com/learn-sicp-make-friends/ [Obvious disclaimer - I work on this. It was posted to HN a few weeks ago.]

This is a really fucking cool idea and I hope it works out for you. It's been my opinion for a while now that something like apprenticeship should have a higher weight in the educational experience. And $5/mo is chump change if your app actually works like it seems it has the potential to.

Thanks! It seems to be working quite well so far, but we're still very small, of course.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I Find a Mentor?

#46

Post by kooshball »

canttestthis wrote: post #15

This is only somewhat related to becoming a better programmer but I'd rather post here than create my own thread for this. I just graduated from college and I start work in 4 months as a software dev at a company that you've probably heard of and use on a regular basis. What can I do in these 4 months to maximize my chance of success at this company? I thought I might go through SICP but I'm not sure if this is more…

> I can't work on any open source projects because of the learning curve required to get familiar with the codebase

That's totally not true. You'll definitely be expected to contribute with in the first 4 month of starting at work, why are open source projects different?

The processes are probably similar as well. You need someone to help you on board, explain the big pictures, guide you through how thing are connected. Then you take bug, dig into the code and figure out a solution. This is probably what you'll do at a real job, so might as well get used to it. The hardest part is finding someone who is patient enough to guide you along and answer your questions.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I Find a Mentor?

#47

Post by Madsn »

robdoherty2 wrote: post #5

A mentor can be helpful to give you direction on where to focus your auto-didactic abilities. I switched careers into software development several years ago thanks to the mentoring of several individuals. Going to meetups in your area is one of the first places to look, and taking online or in-person courses are also helpful to find other like-minded people. One thing to consider is that there need not be a formal "m…

I'm not disagreeing with you, but the downside of one-off type advice from varying people is that you are limited to only discussing topics which can be covered within a limited time frame. Surely a lot of good can come from that, but having a more long-term mentor lets you get quick feedback on things with little overhead, since the mentor will already be familiar with your current skill level, the project you are working on etc.

Re: Ask HN: How Can I Find a Mentor?

#49

Post by pfalke »

Hey Kremlin, I can't offer any mentoring, but your post reads like your in the exact same situation as I am. I have been programming on and off for about two years, mostly Python and Javascript. I have three months off this summer that I want to spend getting my skills to a professional level.

I'd like to get in touch and hear what you plan to do next. If interested, email me: philipp@[my HN username].com

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