You can't become a programmer. You are either born one or not. To have your answer, you'll have to try your hand at it. Nobody can predict that for you.
Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
41–50 of 77 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#42I have some cool ideas to implement in the Web... Programmer thinking: cool, ideas, Web PHB speak: some, implement If order to have the right mindset for programming, you must replace "some" with "one" and "implement" with "build". In other words: 1. Is there something that you just have to have? 2. Do you absolutely have to build the first version yourself? If you can answer both questions "yes", then, by all means,…
I disagree: I'm a programmer; I have "some" ideas and I "implement" them. Works for me.
You should try having "a few" ideas and "whipping them up". It's changed my whole perspective.
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#43You can't become a programmer. You are either born one or not. To have your answer, you'll have to try your hand at it. Nobody can predict that for you.
That's a very strong claim. I'm not sure I believe it - do you have a citation?
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#44It depends on a combination of factors: background education, personal inclinations, innate abilities, and so on. I'd say it's not too late, but it takes time. You can trade your existing experience against the native wit/speed of the youngsters, but it still takes time to learn to program. Especially to learn to program for someone else, by which I mean robust and comprehensive enough to be used by people you don't…
Doesn't pg recommends all technical co-founders?
No. In fact if I had to guess I'd say two founders - one business and one technical might be the median YC company. Even if not, it doesn't seem like a big outlier given the founders I've met.
Having no technical founders is different. I believe that's happened only once in YC, and the founders were teaching themselves to be technical people at the time.
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#45One of my colleagues is a sixty year old PHP developer who was a nurse in the army until he was 45, decided to get a degree from Open University and took it from there. Never too late.
I'm 37 and studying with the Open University. With full-time (non-technical) work and a family, the time demands can be quite high (so high that I don't have time to work on my own project) but I think the benefits of a structured education can't be overstated.
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#46You may face ageism issues when you look for jobs especially if you are not good at self promotion.
OTOH you may have some great domain knowledge which will give you an edge over the kids if you are thinking about programming in your area of expertise.
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#47No, it's not too late. I started at 37 and it took me 2.5 months to get my first app using codeigniter.
Although i had some experience programming when i was in college, it was 17/18 years ago so i had to learn a new language and found it relatively easy to start. I'm not the best programmer but i'm improving day by day, and the feeling i have when i get through a problem is really great. Reminds me of my times in college where i would be up at 3am compiling some code on a 8086...
My regret is that i should have done it a few years before...
Just do it!...
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#48I have some cool ideas to implement in the Web... Programmer thinking: cool, ideas, Web PHB speak: some, implement If order to have the right mindset for programming, you must replace "some" with "one" and "implement" with "build". In other words: 1. Is there something that you just have to have? 2. Do you absolutely have to build the first version yourself? If you can answer both questions "yes", then, by all means,…
I disagree: I'm a programmer; I have "some" ideas and I "implement" them. Works for me.
I disagree: I'm a programmer; I have "some" ideas and I "implement" them. Works for me.
I am also a programmer and it also works for me.
But grandparent was addressed to OP, who has already self-identified as a PHB, a totally different audience.
When another programmer talks about "implementing some things", I know exactly what he's talking about. He's going to dig down at his terminal and make things happen.
But when a PHB says the same words, it has totally different meaning. Why? Because these are "fluffy" words which infer different things from different sources. A PHB "implementing some things" probably means project plans and meetings, not coding in the trenches.
I think that the most important thing for OP to do is to stop thinking like a PHB and start thinking like a programmer. In his case, this means focusing on specific details and digging more than 1 level below the surface, 2 things at which PHBs are notoriously weak. If he continues to think "some" and "implement", he'll never shed his PHB skin and grow the new programmer persona he'll need. That's all.
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#49What does PHB mean? pointy haired boss ?
Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?
#50I have some cool ideas to implement in the Web... Programmer thinking: cool, ideas, Web PHB speak: some, implement If order to have the right mindset for programming, you must replace "some" with "one" and "implement" with "build". In other words: 1. Is there something that you just have to have? 2. Do you absolutely have to build the first version yourself? If you can answer both questions "yes", then, by all means,…
Bullseye, edw519. Respect.