Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I would have hired Doug, but...

liveblog.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 244 posts

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#231

Post by mark-r »

bliti wrote: post #67

As someone who started programming during the mid 80's: - Everything I've learned may be applied to most languages. Meaning that writing testable code generally translates from BASIC to Javascript. - Programming should always make you feel stupid. Feeling comfortable with something means that you stopped learning new things. - Experience != Knowledge. My biggest issue with some older programmers is that they tend to…

> Mobile is here to stay. It will keep morphing and completely remove desktop computing as we know it. The same way desktop computers removed mainframes and terminals.

We've largely circled back to the mainframe/terminal model, except with a prettier face. Your mobile device is the terminal, and the server cloud is the mainframe.

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#232

Post by codemac »

lisper wrote: post #65
SCHiM wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine all the technologies and skills you guys have acquired. If I may derail the conversation a little bit, may I ask if/how you use the things you've learned today? I mean, is it things like paradigms that have stuck with you like OOP/functional/w\e, or do you always structure your exception handling in a certain way, no matter the language? Are there skills/technologies you've been using since you've sta…

No more BASIC, but I still code in Common Lisp whenever I can. And I'm using some library code that I wrote when I was in grad school 25 years ago. Once you grok Lisp, everything else is easy. You come to realize that the vast majority of what passes for "new technologies" is really just a re-discovery of something that exists (or is easily implemented) in CL. That makes it a lot easier (if a tad frustrating at times…

GOOPS[0] in guile is definitely hugely inspired by CLOS, which also has generic functions with multi-method dispatch.

I highly recommend guile to anyone who wants the battery included nature of common lisp. I know that racket is also a great choice here, I just have little experience with it.

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#233

Post by fsk »

georgemcbay wrote: post #187
fsk wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is one of my biggest concerns. A lot of the new tools are just different, not better. But you're expected to know all of them. It's also hard to predict what will be popular five years from now. I thought that using Javascript on the server was pants-on-head retarded, but it's very popular, with no signs of passing on.

" I thought that using Javascript on the server was pants-on-head retarded, but it's very popular" Well, there's no law against things being both terrible and popular. It is quite common.

What does it say about software as a serious career, if tools that are awful are popular and widely used?

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#234

Post by ericd »

alabut wrote: post #229
ericd wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a feeling of productivity, from producing so much noise. But it really is satisfying, if you haven't tried it. And I've found that you start wanting to type faster, to create even more noise. So it might actually make you more productive, in a weird way.

Ugh, it's so much noise for your neighbor though. I worked next to someone with an old IBM keyboard for a year and was grumpy the entire time. Couldn't find headphones strong enough to cancel out what sounded like someone shooting an automatic weapon in the office.

I think there's a happy medium with the quieter cherry switches. But yeah, I don't use a mechanical keyboard in settings where I'm right next to other people.

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#235

Post by leonroy »

mreiland wrote: post #132
michaelangerman wrote: post #19

I am 55 and have been programming computers since 1975 when I was 15 years old. Do the math, I have been programming now for 40 years. Recently, I had a conversation with someone else about this topic and I told them that I have never been so excited about my career, the field of computer science, and most importantly the opportunities that exist today in the field of technology. The excitement surrounding too many t…

What are you doing that it's keeping your interest? I sometimes find myself getting tired of technology and while I love software development, I often think about not doing it anymore. After a while it gets old constantly dealing with other people's decisions. An easy example is working with Powershell Remoting can be a nightmare if you're not intimately familiar with both Windows itself and Windows Remoting specific…

> I sometimes find myself getting tired of technology and while I love software development, I often think about not doing it anymore. After a while it gets old constantly dealing with other people's decisions.

I feel you here. I've been the go to sysadmin at every startup I've worked it. Whether it's Windows Servers, vSphere clusters, VLANs on HP or Cisco, it gets old doing the same thing at a different datacenter every couple of months. Especially when you have to learn some vendor specific crap that will almost NEVER be relevant to anything else outside that specific use case.

Thankfully I've been able to move (push? ;) my clients onto more open technologies like Linux, LXC, Openstack etc. all of which means the skills I learn doing this sysadmin stuff are at least tangentially relevant to my main job (unified comms development).

Ultimately like a lot of oldies here (myself included ;) working on the stuff you really want to do in your spare time is where you learn the cool stuff that helps you land the next great gig.

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#236

Post by ionised »

thinkmac wrote: post #33
michaelangerman wrote: post #19

I am 55 and have been programming computers since 1975 when I was 15 years old. Do the math, I have been programming now for 40 years. Recently, I had a conversation with someone else about this topic and I told them that I have never been so excited about my career, the field of computer science, and most importantly the opportunities that exist today in the field of technology. The excitement surrounding too many t…

well, it is good that you like the things you do. at your age, we youngsters tend to expect you to be in the management level, not at individual contributor level. from time to time, i would see our team hiring engineer with gray hair and requiring special mechanical keyboard, and we all thought "mm.. interesting."

As a programmer of only 2 years I've found the opposite.

I like when the older programmers are more hands on, because I can learn a lot from them.

I also use mechanical keyboards.

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#237

Post by infinite8s »

knice wrote: post #223
mark-r wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basic was what I started with, as did a lot of people from that era and after, just because it was simple and available. FORTRAN I tried on a lark, then got serious with it when I moved to the University mainframe. That's where I picked up the first of many assembly languages, after finding out it was the only way to take full advantage of the OS and achieve the best efficiencies. It's also where I learned Pascal, wh…

Thank you for a thoughtful, detailed response. It seems like a mix of job exposure and natural curiosity led you from language to language. Throughout this thread, I've noted a distinct lack of dogma about everyone's evolution as a programmer. While I imagine there was some of it during the popular phase of many of these languages, it's nice to see mostly pragmatism in everyone's career journey.

I think the people who stick to dogma are the ones who don't make long multi-decade careers out of programming.

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#238

Post by billmalarky »

emodendroket wrote: post #217
billmalarky wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say my generation (millennials) will suffer significantly higher rates of RSI due to more keyboard, game controller, and smartphone use. RSI is no joke.

The most frustrating thing about it is how hard it is to find knowledgeable people. I went in to the doctor for RSI symptoms that were nothing like carpal tunnel and she insisted I had to have carpal tunnel and started talking about getting surgery to release it within like 5 minutes of us meeting. Perhaps the most galling part of this was where she went "here, let me show you" and had me do the various exercises of…

Wow, your experience mirrors mine exactly. Turned out to be a torn ligament.

People wonder why I don't trust doctors, it's not that I don't trust all of them, just most I've dealt with are suspect. There really needs to be a better physician review resource online.

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#239

Post by jakub_h »

thinkmac wrote: post #33
michaelangerman wrote: post #19

I am 55 and have been programming computers since 1975 when I was 15 years old. Do the math, I have been programming now for 40 years. Recently, I had a conversation with someone else about this topic and I told them that I have never been so excited about my career, the field of computer science, and most importantly the opportunities that exist today in the field of technology. The excitement surrounding too many t…

well, it is good that you like the things you do. at your age, we youngsters tend to expect you to be in the management level, not at individual contributor level. from time to time, i would see our team hiring engineer with gray hair and requiring special mechanical keyboard, and we all thought "mm.. interesting."

Do you also expect engineers to drop like flies as they get older so that their numbers would become more in line with the number of available managerial positions? Cause that sounds like a serious flaw with your thinking.

Re: I would have hired Doug, but...

#240

Post by waqf »

ericssmith wrote: post #215
SCHiM wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine all the technologies and skills you guys have acquired. If I may derail the conversation a little bit, may I ask if/how you use the things you've learned today? I mean, is it things like paradigms that have stuck with you like OOP/functional/w\e, or do you always structure your exception handling in a certain way, no matter the language? Are there skills/technologies you've been using since you've sta…

Here is the first program I ever entered into a computer. 1 8 + A 5 + 0 0 + 6 5 + 0 1 + 8 5 + F A + A 9 + 0 0 + 8 5 + F B + 4 C + 4 F + 1 C I remember how much like some kind of incantation it was. I still get that feeling. And I've had the good fortune to work some fun, powerful, and interesting magic with those incantations. I suspect that most younger people haven't yet seen their tech choices slip into decay and…

Apparently this is KIM-1 code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIM-1).
Post reply on HN