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Ask HN: Is "At which age did you start coding?” a good data point for hiring?

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Re: Ask HN: Is "At which age did you start coding?” a good data point for hiring?

#71

Post by throwawayadvsec »

croo wrote: post #68
throwawayadvsec wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's true for old people, but almost anyone have access to the internet/computers today, so for younger generations the questions isn't did you have access/support, but did you prefer playing minecraft/fortnite/watching youtube or learning to code?

Did you eat cookies and sweets all day or you ignored those and ate the normal meal as a kid provided you always had access to both? There is no kid who choose hard learning over low hanging dopamine fruits these days. If they do the opposite they are either backed by parents or REALLY strange.

I loved spinach, and I loved pizza. Just like I loved coding and MMOs. being called strange for learning stuff on freaking Hacker News is what's really strange

Re: Ask HN: Is "At which age did you start coding?” a good data point for hiring?

#72

Post by throwawayadvsec »

Jcowell wrote: post #70
throwawayadvsec wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's true for old people, but almost anyone have access to the internet/computers today, so for younger generations the questions isn't did you have access/support, but did you prefer playing minecraft/fortnite/watching youtube or learning to code?

I wouldn’t have a career in computer science if I didn’t take an early college computer science course my senior year of high school . I had no idea about the world of programming the same way the a classroom setting would gave me and my high school was so poor it didn’t have AP classes to introduce me earlier. I’m in my early 20s. it’s absolutely about access/support.

You didn't have a computer until your senior year of high school?

Re: Ask HN: Is "At which age did you start coding?” a good data point for hiring?

#73

Post by ian0 »

I think there are traits (eg critical thinking) in people that make them suited to different roles including coding but whether they had the opportunity to be able to develop them early in life or later (even up until the point of getting their first interview with you) does not make much difference.

Its a relatively small data point, but I do think its milk-able. For example for product managers without experience, finding out whether they have actively thought about how things are built the way they are or tend to be unnaturally frustrated by bad design they encounter in life is a relatively solid indicator of whether they will be succesfull.

Its just one indicator though, your will still get false-positives and false-negatives.

Re: Ask HN: Is "At which age did you start coding?” a good data point for hiring?

#74

Post by fatnoah »

lubujackson wrote: post #39
roland35 wrote: post #14

I am strongly against this question. You're basically looking at who's parents provided an opportunity for them to learn coding early. I'm sure you would find that most people who started programming at a young age (and are still doing it obviously) are probably better than average and also enthusiastic. However, I think it is still a disservice to anyone who didn't have support as a child. For the record I was learn…

I'm against it because I would say I started programming by copying BASIC games from magazines for the C64..... and would lose more for being old than gain from starting young.

Hah, there's more than one of us! Copying from magazines and Goretek and the Microchips are how I started.

Re: Ask HN: Is "At which age did you start coding?” a good data point for hiring?

#77

Post by tailspin2019 »

zerohp wrote: post #75

One of the smartest engineers I know learned to program in college at 20 years old. He has never done much coding outside of coursework or the workplace and now works on the Windows kernel at Microsoft. This is a bad question.

> One of the smartest engineers I know learned to program in college at 20 years old.

To add more anecdotal evidence, I know someone like this too.

Re: Ask HN: Is "At which age did you start coding?” a good data point for hiring?

#78

Post by mgkimsal »

lubujackson wrote: post #39
roland35 wrote: post #14

I am strongly against this question. You're basically looking at who's parents provided an opportunity for them to learn coding early. I'm sure you would find that most people who started programming at a young age (and are still doing it obviously) are probably better than average and also enthusiastic. However, I think it is still a disservice to anyone who didn't have support as a child. For the record I was learn…

I'm against it because I would say I started programming by copying BASIC games from magazines for the C64..... and would lose more for being old than gain from starting young.

Compute!'s Gazette FTW!

I was very fortunate to have a computer in the house, available 24/7, from around the age of 10. ZX81 kit, then later a C128, then Amiga, then other variations (and a PC clone in there as well).

We were some variation of 'middle class' in a growing community, and I wasn't the only kid at school with a computer, but I'd say it was certainly less than 10% of us. You quickly made friends with the folks who had Mr Nibble and similar copying programs (I forget the big one in the Apple II world).

But it was a totally different time. Anyone born in the last 25 years has never known a time without essentially instant access to the world's information, essentially for free. I struggled with a 300 baud modem, taking hours to download anything of substance, hoping no one would pick up the phone because you forgot to turn off 'call waiting' during a big download. I remember the jump to 1200 baud, then later a 14k modem blowing my mind.

Back then, it wasn't just about 'programming' as much as ... you learned to 'think' like a computer a bit more than I think you do now. The UIs we have now are both way way way better than 40 years ago, but also still awfully confusing at times.

Re: Ask HN: Is "At which age did you start coding?” a good data point for hiring?

#79

Post by badpun »

yarg wrote: post #21

Not really. You're filtering for wealth.

Not really even for wealth. All of my friends in elementary school got 8-bit or 16-bit home computers. However, my father also got me a BASIC programming manual with it, and I also had an uncle who was already doing some basic tinkering with a ZX Spectrum. Hence, I was the only kid who learned programming in my whole group.
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