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How I learned to code in my 30s

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Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#141

Post by chrisdotcode »

I'm sorry, but I can't help but be incredibly cynical and jaded about this, and from reading the comments, nobody seems to have the same sentiment. If this was titled "How I learned to play the piano in my 30s", I don't think anybody would bat an eye: learning an instrument is not like joining some secret cult, and anybody can develop basic music literacy over a year or two. I also do not doubt this man's proficiency, but 30 is not old outside of tech circles. This youth fetishization in tandem with the "everybody's dog should learn to code" meme I think is very short-sighted.

Tech is wildly lucrative, is in current demand, and is not physical labor. That reduces the barrier to entry to anybody who has a laptop and an Internet connection. Honestly how many people would be so eager to learn to code if you dropped down the average tech salary to 45,000 (matching other professions)? I think far less: people seem to learn to want to code to ride the high-pay wave, not for the actual love of code.

Again, let's compare to music. Anybody can go to a guitar store and buy a 200$ keyboard. But if I took a 14-week class and afterwards had the aught to call myself a "Music Ninja Rockstar" or some other such nonsense, and start applying to orchestras and bands, I would be called crazy.

Software has eaten the world, and it's here to stay. Increasing the general software literacy is no more different than saying we should teach everybody how to read (and a good thing). However, throwing each person in a bootcamp telling them "coding is wonderful! you can master it in 5 seconds and make 200k a year!" is no different than holding a similar bootcamp for any other vocation and then wondering why the average plumber can't actually fix your house, but can only use a plunger. I sincerely hope this trend stops. This mindset is broken, and the paradigm is highly unsustainable. Where will we be in 20 years?

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#142

Post by Underqualified »

chrisdotcode wrote: post #141

I'm sorry, but I can't help but be incredibly cynical and jaded about this, and from reading the comments, nobody seems to have the same sentiment. If this was titled "How I learned to play the piano in my 30s", I don't think anybody would bat an eye: learning an instrument is not like joining some secret cult, and anybody can develop basic music literacy over a year or two. I also do not doubt this man's proficiency…

In mainland Europe, the salaries for programmers are much more in line with the rest of the workforce, and lower than that of engineers, on average. There's much less of a craze to learn programming here.

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#143

Post by LMYahooTFY »

albedoa wrote: post #87
quincyla wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Quincy with freeCodeCamp. Congratulations on your new job, and your diverse portfolio. Getting a job as a new developer after only 4 rejections is a great batting average. Sean Smith rejected 192 times before getting a job at Trustar. https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-i-learned-to-code-and-ea...

Sean Smith's story is so inspiring. It teaches us that if you can afford to work unpaid for 7+ hours per day, 50+ hours per week for a whole year and move to one of the most expensive cities in the world without a job, then you can truly achieve anything.

This is currently the wall I find myself staring at. I feel like I'm barely over the theshold, and I can't afford to keep doing it this way, I'll have to get permanent work soon.

I definitely can't afford to move to San Francisco.

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#144

Post by oweiler »

I've started learning to code when I was 26 and people told me I was too old and should stay with my shitty job.

Fast forward ten years and I'm a senior software engineer which gives trainings on Spring Boot and Microservices and helps companies implementing Continuous Delivery and Microservice architectures.

You may think I'm gifted but I'm actually not. I'm a very slow learner and bad at Math. I mostly program from 9 - 5 and only work on side projects when I'm feeling to (which sometimes means not doing any commits for months).

But I like what I'm doing and work hard to improve.

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#145

Post by Osiris30 »

teekert wrote: post #125
Osiris30 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you know, or can recommend, any good datasets (or practice exercises) using "Jupyter/Python/NumPy/Pandas/Seaborn" for someone with a similar Excel background (and basic understanding of Jupyter/Python/Pandas)?

Seaborn has a standard data set (now that I searched it, it is part of scikit I think) [0], however, I think what made learning fast is that I used the same type of data as I did before and had a clear goal. Excel sheets are easily loaded into pandas: import pandas as pd file = pd.read_xlsx('some_excel_file.xlsx') file # Just typing this will display the file as a table in jupyter, after ctrl-enter to execute the cod…

Thanks! I also just did a quick google and found the below resources if anyone else is interested

http://www.dataschool.io/best-python-pandas-resources/

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-learn-data-analysis-with-Pyth...

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-learn-algorith...

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#146

Post by dschulz »

martijn_himself wrote: post #110
dschulz wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 36 and already feel "old" and unfit to continue pursuing a career as a software developer, which I consider(ed?) my dream job. I began programming at ~20 yo but had to work in another barely related field (still in IT) because where I live it's more profitable as a lone ranger. It's difficult to find peers in my area. I work as an independent consultant wearing many hats, doing all kind of weird network related j…

I'm in a similar situation but I work in 'enterprise' software development. What makes you hate your job? It seems you are very skilled in various areas and others seem to recognize and value your skills- that seems to me something to be proud of instead of feeling guilty! Is it the pressures that come with the job?

Yes, I think my discomfort comes mostly from that. And from realizing that I'm getting older, with too many responsibilities and less time each day in a path with no return. At this point I even doubt switching to a software dev job would be satisfying for me anymore.

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#147

Post by ice109 »

Klockan wrote: post #112
ice109 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

people say this a lot but it's pretty hollow. if you're smart enough you can do it even if you don't like it. anecdotally I'm a fairly good dev (full stack, know several languages, several projects under my belt) and I hate it. the day I move from technical to management will be the greatest day of my life.

A manager tries to create reliable processes using flaky components with zero test coverage and lying metrics, I don't envy their job. Btw, it irks me that you don't capitalize the first letter of your sentences but still properly capitalize "I".

>Btw, it irks me that you don't capitalize the first letter of your sentences but still properly capitalize "I".

blame my phone.

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#148

Post by coroxout »

jarsin wrote: post #4

What i always tell people if you find yourself naturally drawn to it then you will eventually find some level of success. If your in for just the money then you will not stick with it and it probably won't happen. Same is true for just about most things in life. This guy found he was naturally drawn to it. End of story.

I'm going to disagree from the opposite end of the spectrum as the two replies already disagreeing.

I wanted to program computers from when I was a kid and my dad showed me how to draw coloured circles on the screen. And now, I have a job in tech, part support, part coding.

But the thing is, I'm not very good at the coding part. I'm also quite lazy and hate practising things I'm not very good at, so I don't put in the work to get better.

Meanwhile I've seen coworkers come and go and maybe been a bit scornful of them because they seem to be only in it for the money, or they don't know things "everyone should know", maybe they don't even seem to want to ("pfft, what kind of boring loser would even care about that stuff"). But, they've been much better coders than me: they've picked stuff up faster, they've put in more work, they've gone on to new, better-paid, more interesting jobs. And well done them.

(It's a good, encouraging story for beginners who are drawn to it though, I agree with that part.)

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#149

Post by teekert »

Osiris30 wrote: post #145
teekert wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seaborn has a standard data set (now that I searched it, it is part of scikit I think) [0], however, I think what made learning fast is that I used the same type of data as I did before and had a clear goal. Excel sheets are easily loaded into pandas: import pandas as pd file = pd.read_xlsx('some_excel_file.xlsx') file # Just typing this will display the file as a table in jupyter, after ctrl-enter to execute the cod…

Thanks! I also just did a quick google and found the below resources if anyone else is interested http://www.dataschool.io/best-python-pandas-resources/ https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-learn-data-analysis-with-Pyth... https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-learn-algorith...

Such resources are nice, certainly, they give a feel for what can be done. But in my experience you learn when you get your data loaded and start putting together code based on stackoverflow (or other) answers. Not by "dry-reading" someone else's work. There is no moment where you say: "I'll learn X now", there is a moment when X is the best solution to your problem en you start using it... and become an expert before you realize it. Imho.

Maybe it's different for you of course. And, I may have been in a nice position where I had a job that started to required X at some point. I realize that. But then maybe you can find a problem of your own (maybe you want to plot the data from your fitness tracker?) I once spend a lot of time plotting the details of my mortgage (cumulative paid, rent, decreasing dept as function of monthly payments), such data is just the result of some input and you make a table out of it yourself (in Excel if you want, in Pandas if you feel comfortable enough).

Re: How I learned to code in my 30s

#150

Post by overcast »

oweiler wrote: post #144

I've started learning to code when I was 26 and people told me I was too old and should stay with my shitty job. Fast forward ten years and I'm a senior software engineer which gives trainings on Spring Boot and Microservices and helps companies implementing Continuous Delivery and Microservice architectures. You may think I'm gifted but I'm actually not. I'm a very slow learner and bad at Math. I mostly program from…

People told you at 26, that you're too old, and should be complacent? I guess maybe if you're trying to be a professional athlete, and this is your first time picking up a ball. But learning to code? That's the dumbest thing I've ever read. Most people don't learn to code until college to begin with, so what, you're a few years behind? That's just silly.
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