How a blacksmith learned to code
joshuakemp.blogspot.com
How a blacksmith learned to code
1–10 of 46 posts
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#2Frankly, I'd be more interested in "How a developer learned to forge metal."
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#3everybody is learning howto code but when will people learn how to solve hard problems. I would rather see people learning complex math and physics before learning how to code. creating various crud applications is not really that hard.
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#4So basically it was more how to market yourself and get a job to "learn how to code".
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#5everybody is learning howto code but when will people learn how to solve hard problems. I would rather see people learning complex math and physics before learning how to code. creating various crud applications is not really that hard.
You learn to solve hard problems just like you learn to do anything else: by working on them. The problem is that there isn't a "List of Hard Problems" posted anywhere. Aside from a few well-publicized ones (e.g. cure for cancer), being able to recognize a Hard Problem requires years if not decades of domain expertise, which most programmers don't have (since software engineering is a relatively young profession).
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#6everybody is learning howto code but when will people learn how to solve hard problems. I would rather see people learning complex math and physics before learning how to code. creating various crud applications is not really that hard.
You're right, but making CRUD apps pays a lot better (and more quickly) than complex math/physics.
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#7Frankly, I'd be more interested in "How a developer learned to forge metal."
I don't think there's a much of a story to write about it, but I decided I don't want to waste a life employed in IT after all (as someone who's been coding all his life), and wanted to learn something new. Eventually I chose metal work; now I'm learning welding and machining. I'm also hoping to learn something about casting and forging and stuff.
Coding will remain a hobby so that I may focus on what I love about it, and stay true to my principles & avoid making any compromises due to commercial pressure.
It wasn't an easy decision to make and I still feel horribly uncertain about my life and all tha. On the other hand, learning something completely different is very very refreshing, and inspiring.
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#8Congratulations Joshua. Great reading about your experience learning how to code, sticking at it and getting the job you wanted. Your post was short on details (I assume your book will have more) but still inspirational. Definitely good reading something positive like this at the weekend! Good luck.
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#9@sherr Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I guess I should have clarified that by NO MEANS do I consider myself a Software Engineer, I am still VERY much a junior developer who has the awesome opportunity to get to work on an awesome development team at ZipList! I love getting to learn and be mentored by the senior developers at ZipList. I only wrote this article and blog to show others not to give into the naysayers and that regardless of your prior experience or education you CAN learn, and get hired even if you don't have a CS degree or any degree for that matter. Everyday I am SO excited to get the opportunity to really start to learn this wonderful craft at a great company....keep coding peeps, you can do it! :-)
Re: How a blacksmith learned to code
#10I really liked this post, is full of good advice on how to implement big changes, like having small, bite-sized goals where performance is easy to evaluate. The networking part was very well done, forcing himself to engage the community, it puts him out there and provides positive value. And finally, building a very simple website for someone was a great idea, there's nothing like getting experience from a real world project. Joshua, congratulations!