Job market for a 30+ person learning to code? • Hacker News Board

Re: Job market for a 30+ person learning to code?

#71

Post by eru » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 3:37 PM UTC

sethev wrote: post #70

eru wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. That's why I mentioned not only type trickery but the one domain specific example where I can claim to be an expert in (mathematical optimization). I guess, the original ten years was hyperbole?

I think you're missing the point completely. Patrick's comment wasn't about a specific for loop and how hard it is to understand. Knowing what types of problems people have and how to write code to solve them is much harder than learning the JVM spec and much more valuable. How long did it take you to become an expert in mathematical optimization, for example? I doubt very much that that's something you picked up in…

I know that solving problems people have is hard, and worthwhile. It takes a long time of concentrated effort to get good at it for specific domains. That includes picking the right problems, and then either picking the right solutions or coming up with them in the first place.

But here's where my contention lies: Making those choices is hard. But you should be able to explain the logic behind them (or how you came up with a solution) in a few weeks.

To give an analogy: The first task is like acquiring a map of a territory. That needs painstaking surveying of the whole area. The second is describing a path you took through that territory. You needed the whole map to choose the right path, but describing the path should be faster than acquiring (or describing) the whole map.

Re: Job market for a 30+ person learning to code?

#72

Post by edwinyzh » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 4:41 PM UTC

Not sure about the job market, but if you find coding to be interesting, or even exciting, things will be much easier.

Re: Job market for a 30+ person learning to code?

#73

Post by GFischer » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 7:57 PM UTC

rburgosnavas wrote: post #53

donnfelker wrote: post #19

1. Learn to code (You're doing that now) 2. Write down ideas (10 a day) about businesses you can start with software (thank you James Altucher for that tip) 3. Once you have a solid idea (dont do your first one) start writing an MVP. Not sure what an MVP is? Listen to the Lean Startup book on Audible (or buy the real book if you like to read) 4. Build a MVP product and ship it. Get a couple customers. 5. Work hard. 6…

Ah, "MVP", a new term to add to my repertoire, haha. Your advice is very valuable sir, thank you. I'm well aware of the concept of sitting down with a piece of paper and a pen and trying to come up with ideas for projects. Unfortunately I'm struggling with the right balance of "reading to learn" and "doing to learn". I know that doing things, implementing ideas, etc., is probably the most productive and beneficial th…

To get past your problem of your not "brainstorming" succesful ideas, I suggest you watch these slides by the creator of the Business Model Canvas:

http://www.slideshare.net/Alex.Osterwalder/successful-entrep...

there are a ton of resources on Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner:

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/

and Steve Blank's blog:

http://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/

Steve Blank wrote a book called Four Steps to Epiphany which is really good and advocates his "Customer Development" strategy:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/e145/cgi-bin/winter/drupal/upl...

You'll see a common theme on most of those sites, which is basically to listen to the customer, "get out of the building" and validate your idea early (thus, the MVP)

If you need some inspiration for brainstorming and protoyping, Stanford has some advice on their Design School site

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/dtbc/

and some material is available here:

http://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Bootc...

look up "pretotyping", and the book Pretotype IT, it will inspire you:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0QztbuDlKs_ZTk2M2RhZWItYzk3...

Re: Job market for a 30+ person learning to code?

#74

Post by rburgosnavas » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 8:14 PM UTC

GFischer wrote: post #73

rburgosnavas wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, "MVP", a new term to add to my repertoire, haha. Your advice is very valuable sir, thank you. I'm well aware of the concept of sitting down with a piece of paper and a pen and trying to come up with ideas for projects. Unfortunately I'm struggling with the right balance of "reading to learn" and "doing to learn". I know that doing things, implementing ideas, etc., is probably the most productive and beneficial th…

To get past your problem of your not "brainstorming" succesful ideas, I suggest you watch these slides by the creator of the Business Model Canvas: http://www.slideshare.net/Alex.Osterwalder/successful-entrep... there are a ton of resources on Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/ and Steve Blank's blog: http://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/ Steve Blank wrote a book calle…

Great stuff, thanks!

Re: Job market for a 30+ person learning to code?

#75

Post by timedoctor » Sat, Aug 11, 2012, 10:13 AM UTC

One thing to consider is that you are competing with the entire world. So average developers in the US will have trouble. Doesn't matter so much if you start at 30, matters more how good you are in comparison with younger (or older) men and women.