Just a life tip here, make sure you work your way up the ranks. Which means studying and learning how to manage people not learning the obscure computer language. Tech is very tough on old guys. Programmers and CS jobs start to disappear as you get older. The happy stories you'll read here are the exception, not the rule. You need to cover your bases. Good luck.
Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
51–60 of 140 posts
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#52Hi, I'm longtime lurker and was compelled to create a HN account for this topic. I'm in a similar position in my mid thirties; currently struggling with a heavy course load while working full time. Most weeks I seem to get most of my work done on the weekends and a occasional week night, struggling with the math classes though. I think I'm about thirty units away from transferring to the University I work for tuition…
For Algebra and Calculus have you tried Khan Academy? Their only downside is that they don't apply the concepts enough to real-world problems, but I found Sal's explanations clear enough.
I also liked http://www.mathsisfun.com/ and https://brilliant.org/ although you need to pay for the Calculus content.
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#53For all intents and purposes, I "restarted" my software career in 2008 when I was 34. I had been at one company nine years and stop learning in 2001.
When I went back on the market in 2008, I basically had to look for junior developer jobs even though I had 12 years experience on paper - and a degree.
Fortunately(?), by then I waa so underpaid, even junior developers were making more than I was so it was still a slight raise.
It took 10 years, a lot of humility, and a lot of job hopping to get to an architect role and to get to the 50th-60th percentile of lead/senior developer for my local market. (After awhile your experience doesn't mean more pay if you're not a manager)
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
> just got hired by Google. And I've got about 20 years on you. As impressive as your achievement is, I'm equally impressed that Google finally started addressing their perceived ageism problem.
Google must be doing something right in their candidate triage algorithms. I applied for one job and they suggested another that was a better fit, which I hadn't even considered. I applied to a bunch of places and only Google seemed to perceive the whole package instead of myopically focusing on my recent education or last job. The whole process was much smarter than any other company in the interview cycle.
Do they still weed out candidates who don't have a background in math and algorithms for roles as SRE ones? When I read about your improved triage experience, it's the first question that pops to my mind.
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#55I find it interesting that you are not having a problem finding Jr SWE roles. I co-run a computer science career community (CS Career Hackers) and I often get a lot of complaints by new grads about the lack of Jr roles.
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of it was stuff that is basic to someone with years of work experience: * Start assignments as soon as they are given out. Stupid, right? * Don't be shy about asking lots of questions. Don't be egotistical or afraid about asking for clarification. * Build personal relationships with the professors and TAs. They are there to help. This is not an adversarial relationship. Show genuine passion for the material. *…
This is great stuff! I am a CS professor and these are exactly the kind of things my undergraduate students struggle with! Especially these two points: * Start assignments as soon as they are given out. Stupid, right? * Be curious. You are there to learn, which means digging beyond the provided material. So many students are sadly focused on the grade or assignment, not on the learning. You should definitely write a…
I was recently and undergrad (now a grad student)---I've done research, work, taught classes, led competition teams, etc... and I still struggle with this.
You should definitely write a book!
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google must be doing something right in their candidate triage algorithms. I applied for one job and they suggested another that was a better fit, which I hadn't even considered. I applied to a bunch of places and only Google seemed to perceive the whole package instead of myopically focusing on my recent education or last job. The whole process was much smarter than any other company in the interview cycle.
Do they still weed out candidates who don't have a background in math and algorithms for roles as SRE ones? When I read about your improved triage experience, it's the first question that pops to my mind.
I had studied a lot of ML but all the technical questions were focused on traditional algorithms, so this was still a little retro. The math requirement was minimal but I had more than enough from the ML coursework.
Bamberg's Math 23a / 23c is phenomenal set of classes at Harvard. You will work like a dog but learn almost all the math you need for ML.
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#58> it was quite challenging in every sense: time/money management, high drop-out rates (~80% fail or stop studying cs at my university), lack of math skills - school was far far away. This is where a mentor I believe does a great job. I know people that had a hard time learning because they don't have someone guiding them. Some aspects, like say, async programming or memory management could be hard to grasp by yoursel…
Any tips on finding a good mentor?
Personally, the best mentor I had was my first manager at my first job. He did really well for himself now and probably could retire (he's in his mid 30's).
But how I found mentors naturally was hang out at a place called Hacker Dojo here in Silicon Valley. Since they often had free JavaScript classes and meetups, I took advantage of that to make connections and eventually found mentors/friends and people in general that help you out.
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#59I find it interesting that you are not having a problem finding Jr SWE roles. I co-run a computer science career community (CS Career Hackers) and I often get a lot of complaints by new grads about the lack of Jr roles.
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Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#60Being in a similar situation (before degree), I totally agree that I need a solid CS education.
BUT, given that resources like https://teachyourselfcs.com/ are available for free why should I waste money and time and energy on courses of a probable lesser quality, at least at my local university.
The way I see it the problem is not the education itself but your credentials or reputation in front of a possible employer.
So I noted down 3 ideas for myself:
- build an Open Source reputation, by own projects and contributions - a stellar github account
- get good at competitive programming - win kaggle competitions, hackerrank, top coder etc.
- get a CS degree