As student trying to make sense of job space and prospects, there's just too many statements that gets posted on the internet that seems to contradict each other.
How I learned to code in my 30s
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Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
on the topic of book learning, is there some generally considered principal choice when it comes to learning Haskell? There seem to be some competing ones with widely varying opinion.
Learning Haskell by reading the most influential papers is also a good approach. https://hackwithlambda.github.io/reading-group/
Not to be rude, but that sounds like a horrible introduction to a language for a beginner.
If you're intermediate and want to gain more insights sure. But if you don't even know the syntax it seems like an extremely inefficient way of learning any language.
Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#63Somewhat related, perhaps the most spectacular story of a late coder I've ever heard is that of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pruteanu (somewhat controversial Romanian literary critic and politician). Basically, despite having a major in Romanian literature and spending a lifetime as a literary critic, with almost 0 contact with computers, he decided in his late 40s and early 50s to understand the things beh…
on the topic of book learning, is there some generally considered principal choice when it comes to learning Haskell? There seem to be some competing ones with widely varying opinion.
Depends on your background of course, but Learn You a Haskell for Great Good has been pretty influential as a first look at Haskell. Read it with a REPL open.
Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#64Is a full stack person still realistic with today's web technologies? I mean to build up expert level skillset, you'd have to really dedicate your self into learning the particularities of not just languages but also their runtime environments. Unless you have no life, and only sleep, eat, code, or super intelligent, being able to absorb and stay current with everything..... Other than that, I just don't see the full…
The value of being a full stack dev is not to be an expert in everything, as you're right that isn't really feasible. The value comes from being able to do a good job at each piece, so that you can take an entire project from concept to completion. Most full stack folks naturally develop areas of strength and focus within that, either frontend or backend, but still benefit from the fullstack context and mindset. That has been my experience anyways.
Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#65When computers were invented, a lot of the people involved were already adults - plenty in their 40s and above. Before home computers, you didn't get to use a computer until your 20s.
Therefore, the first few waves of programmers included a lot of "already olds."
This is always overlooked as evidence that older people can learn to program.
Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#66I started to learn to code last November at 37yo. About 30 hours a week for two months I finished the Front End Certificate from freeCodeCamp (highly recommend the site for starters). Then I decided it was better to build my own projects with the tech I wanted to learn (mostly React) using official documentation and tutorials. This is what I accomplished in around 3 months: www.rodrigo-pontes.glitch.me Then I started…
Champion!
May I ask, what was your background prior to moving into coding? A different technical field or trade?
Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Let's just say we guessed wrong. ;-) Not that wrong, imho. > my mom discouraged me from majoring in CS because she literally thought programming was too easy to justify 4 years of classroom training, and she thought that the job market for programmers would quickly saturate. This part is real wisdom. The best developers I know (and I myself, which I consider an above average programmer) learned how to program by th…
I find CS knowledge useful only when you tackle hard problems. Only then, CS and mathematics knowledge will come to play. You don't need a CS degree to make a website.
I don't even think it's that necessary to solve hard problems, at least in most fields.
You can do a lot with general coding knowledge, however, I've found the CS fundamentals to be most useful for optimization.
Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#68Somewhat related, perhaps the most spectacular story of a late coder I've ever heard is that of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pruteanu (somewhat controversial Romanian literary critic and politician). Basically, despite having a major in Romanian literature and spending a lifetime as a literary critic, with almost 0 contact with computers, he decided in his late 40s and early 50s to understand the things beh…
>I read an 1 meter [high stack] of books about the subject. Sounds like a good hook for website. Instead of learn X in 21 days: http://www.1meterofbooks/programming
Given you can get the dimensions of particular books off their Amazon description; looks like it could certainly be done!
Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#69What 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.
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.
My experience: been in both roles. Mgmt is not bad, but after a few years in it, I consider my current career as freelance contractor dev to be way less stressful.
Re: How I learned to code in my 30s
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Learning Haskell by reading the most influential papers is also a good approach. https://hackwithlambda.github.io/reading-group/
Not to be rude, but that sounds like a horrible introduction to a language for a beginner. If you're intermediate and want to gain more insights sure. But if you don't even know the syntax it seems like an extremely inefficient way of learning any language.
The first papers in the list explain the "why" of functional programming, and later on more concrete Haskell topics are covered. Papers shouldn't be the only resource but you can supplement them with tutorials and skimming Real World Haskell. This approach of reading papers is intended to be holistic, of course you won't be churning out Haskell code within a couple days, but when learning Haskell or FP, syntax shouldn't be one of the primary focuses imo. Unless you're learning lisp.