I didn't learn programming when I was 12 • Hacker News Board

Re: I didn't learn programming when I was 12

#81

Post by snowwrestler » Mon, Aug 06, 2012, 8:35 PM UTC

mechanical_fish wrote: post #38

People are already telling you that eighteen is not too old to learn programming. And they are correct. People start at forty and fifty. I have a different point to make. There will always be someone smarter than you. Someone who started younger, learned faster, accomplished more. They're smarter than you are now, and they'll probably always be smarter than you. Just get used to that as quickly as possible and move o…

Great post. Beyond accepting the existence of people smarter and more talented, I would recommend seeking opportunities to work with them on teams as much as possible. It will help you stay humble, yes, but it will also help you accomplish great things.

And--top secret--a lot of really great people secretly think that they are not as great as others. So you might have a spectacular team on which each person secretly thinks the rest are smarter or more naturally talented.

Re: I didn't learn programming when I was 12

#82

Post by iterationx » Mon, Aug 06, 2012, 9:24 PM UTC

My unsolicited advice is focus on coding. I wasted my youth trying to configure Linux drivers and wasting time on all sorts of configuration type nonsense. Linux is better now, but I'm there's plenty of similar things to waste time on and not actually code.

Re: I didn't learn programming when I was 12

#83

Post by sodafountan » Tue, Aug 07, 2012, 1:05 AM UTC

I know how you feel, I started when I was fourteen and even I felt like I was behind. It kind of sucks that so much attention is given to those people who happened to discover programming at a younger age. They'll make some little app using Lua or game maker or something and the media" rel="nofollow">http://www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/4829-young-game-dev... will be all over them. It's almost like developer's above the age of sixteen don't exist unless you invent the next Facebook or Digg.

Re: I didn't learn programming when I was 12

#84

Post by saiko-chriskun » Tue, Aug 07, 2012, 1:07 AM UTC

You’re absolutely right, mate. In fact I am (was?) in a very similar situation. I’ve been (relatively) in the tech world for quite some time, but only really began going at programming about a year and a half ago.

Last week I landed my first real software development position, one of many I was accepted for, all really awesome startups.

I also have friends who have been programming game engines for six years and are working at Pop-Eyes. Confidence is the largest hurdle to overcome, in my opinion. One day it just suddenly clicked for me, that I actually COULD do this professionally instead of just working on hobby side projects.

As long as you have passion and confidence, you’ll be fine ^^.

Of course I realize there are still mountains of experience I need and so many devs out there- just don't get stuck in that mentality. Use it to power your thirst for more, and not waddle behind.

Re: I didn't learn programming when I was 12

#85

Post by yen223 » Tue, Aug 07, 2012, 3:27 AM UTC

parbo wrote: post #35

It's never to late to start. If you love it'll work out anyway. I started "programming" at 10, didn't do anything useful until 16-17. I didn't program for real until I was 25, and it wasn't until I was past 30 that I felt like a proper programmer.

This is almost exactly my life story, only that I haven't reached my 30s yet.

Reading about all the 18- or 19-year-olds forming million-dollar startups really does make me feel like an underachiever sometimes.