As someone who started with a Computer Science degree 50 years ago, I can share several thoughts. In IT in general, things are constantly changing. You will need to embrace change in order to survive. Expect to be learning new things your entire career; new languages, new methods, new habits, new ways to work with others. Nothing is ever static in IT except change. I probably used several dozen languages over the years. Also, being a self starter is one of the secrets of success. Often, I was the only programmer working on a project, so I had to do it all. At other times, I was just one programmer in a group, so it was important to change my work habits to mesh well with the others.
CS degree in 1971? You are a trooper sir. The changes you must have seen in your 50 years. I remember my first experience with a computer, a fortran summer camp in high school, using a printer terminal using a phone cradle to connect to the universality mainframe.
Absolutely correct. You need to adapt to changing technologies and not get stuck in a rut saying "this is the language I work in". This is why I don't actually understand all that current nonsense with people putting developers into little boxes labelled front-end, back-end and full-stack. Development is development, and you need to be able to tackle any programming problem thrown your way, regardless of technology. If you know how to code, a new language should not be a problem to pick up as the fundamentals are the same, the rest is just syntax. In my time I've coded in BASIC (ah, the 80s), 6502 Assembly, C/C++, C#, Java, PHP, Perl, Javascript, Python and tinkered with the likes of Ruby, Haskell and Pascal. I'm currently learning Rust for fun (and it is lots of fun). Different languages and technologies are the tools in your toolbox, and you need to be able to select and use the correct tool for the job at hand.
@@Mu77ley the front-end, back-end stuff I have encountered kinda made sense to me. front-end is much more visual work and requires you to work with artsy people quiet frequently, while the back-end is cotton dry engineering with a better pay and less fun/sunlight....and basically 0% female coworkers
Your statement is one of those that could discourage newbies. So I will have complementary one. What you write is just foam and wawes on the surface of the ocean. But deep there is silence and peace. The depth there is the mathematical substance in the subject of programming.
Okay "you will give up more than once" that got me right in the feels. Been on this path for around 18 months and sometimes I wonder if I should've taken the blue pill. But then the next day I wake up and I'm at it again.
It really helps to foster a lifetime-learner, growth mindset. I won't say you won't want to say "Screw this! I'm working at McDonald's!" or, in my case, want to throw the f-ing computer against the wall (Trust me, this doesn't solve the coding problems...!) but with a growth/lifetime-learner mindset you can at least come back and say "Ok...so I was able to do this, that, and that. But I am struggling with this particular thing. What do I need to know about this particular thing? What about this particular thing do I understand and what is {{ unknownLanguage }} to me? That way, at least you can ask better questions. Anyway, Good luck and don't give up! You got this!
I have been programming since the early 1980s, and there are days you are forcing through the slog to get something very minor done, and then other days you power through an amazing amount of work. So the word "give up" isn't really accurate. It is you feel like you are stuck in the mud. The best thing is to stick with it. The solution will come to you, and you will be amazed at how simple it really was. The rush of solving that issue is amazing, and the great thing is it never goes away. 40 decades, and it still happens to me!
@@alexandervillagran6502 Very spot-on. Sometimes when you're banging your head against the wall, the best thing to do is just to walk away from it and do something else. Myself, I prefer taking long walks. Usually, you'll get the solution when you drop your focus and let your brain figure it out in the background.
"Learning how to google". I love it, because it is so true. It becomes so second nature, but you need to know which question to ask, and that is far harder than it sounds.
And perhaps more importantly: Google question, middle clikc on first 5 links to open new tabs for each, speed read key words on each and move on quickly through to find an answer thats useful as quickly as possible.
The funny thing about coding is that once it clicks, writing code becomes fairly trivial (in most cases - not all). The art of good software design and problem solving then begins, and that's when the fun and challenge really starts to kick in...solving real life problems.
Once you learn to code, then you must learn to solve problems and write code in a way that its in with your org and other coders, like abstractions and patterns.
Re #4. When you’ve reached “language doesn’t matter” anymore, then you’re a fully fledged software developer. And I’ll never work for anyone that insists “X years language Y”. Style of language, architecture goals, interesting businesses - that excites me. Remember, concepts, modelling, good practice and discipline in whatever tool you are using is key to your success! Have fun!
We need to change the interview process for this to go away. I know but sooooo many interviews that ask the question before you even get to see the senior dev
I'm not convinced. I've seen bad C written in almost every language and these days you need to a lot of libraries that go with the language as well or you'll reinvent the wheel.
The hardest part by far of programming for passion is finding a project complex enough to hold your interest but simple enough that you don't burn out a tenth of the way through. All the good projects are already taken, too :(
Love the content! I spent 6 months learning JS and couldn’t grasp how to implement it so moved to Python and it’s starting to click… when it does I’ll go back to JS and retry. Also started looking for courses on problem solving, general psychology and maths to help me try and learn everything outside of the code itself.
I can understand why your experience was so. Python is a much more structured programming language. There are certain ways to do certain things right in it and there is a lot of entry-level programmer information in Python out there. Javascript, if you don't discipline your usage of the language with extensions like Typescript or a solid framework, is a hot mess. PHP is notorious in the same way and Basic is awful when it comes to how to structure your code. C/C++ is too liberal in giving low-level access and pointers can mess up a lot. In my experience Python is a good starter language. C# or plain Java are OK as well. (I code professionally for 20 years now and it was a hobby/subject of study in the 15 years before that - started out on ZX Spectrum Basic at age 10)
I think the best I've heard yet was talking to an experienced developer about programming. His answer was he is not a full-stack developer, he is a full-stack Googler. But I agree knowing what to google for and how to is VERY important.
I've been programming for over 15 years. One way I used to weed out candidates for hire during interviews was simply give a nearly impossible task to complete simply to watch how they troubleshoot it. It never really mattered to me if they solved the task. I just wanted to see if they had the kind of mindset that allowed them to figure things out if they didn't already know it. So much of technology is changing that simply testing on existing information wasn't very useful. I would even go as far to say that if I could tell that their programming skills weren't really good, but they showed excellent troubleshooting skills, I'd prefer that candidate.
Sure, but why do you feel qualified to recognize every form of “problem solving skills”. Maybe you were completly biased by your own experience, and believed that your thinking process apllies to everybody. You are not a psychologist or anything remotely similar. You really know nothing about the mind. You have been eliminating candidates that maybe were perfect for the role, only because you believe that they should fill your pocket-list about what a “problem solver “ should be. That’s why companies are starting to just give real problems and wait for the candidates to solve it.
@@rombach1995 There's more to being a programmer than just getting the answer correct. Problem solving techniques and a passion for learning have been way more predictive of success than someone who can pass an academic test.
@@natnaelghirma2617 Well for instance, one test involved fixing the css/html of a page to match a given mock. There's a lot of rules most developers don't even think about because it rarely comes up day to day. For instance, css classes can't start with a number, and the test would have such classes. Most developers can recall a situation where there are tiny details like this that felt silly to fix once they found the solution. On the way to finding that solution, however, that's where I see potential. There's more examples of stuff like that that throws interviewees off into odd directions. I typically looked for if they tried processes of elimination, isolation of the problem, googling effectively, etc. I once had a person whip out a tiny css reference book they had on them, lol.
The third one i really can relate with. When i first started out i used to do DSA alot on leetcode and edabit, and when i couldnt crack some of the problems id loose my mind lol. Eventually tho, i realized that in programming, not everythings going to work the first time (usually nothing works the first time), it takes patience and a shift in your mindset of problem solving. Feeling like you just cant do it anymore comes naturally. Ya just gada take a step back and get to it later when your mind is fresh.
I only had one program that worked right first time. It was an emergency program that was needed to address a one time problem. I built this 4000 line program in 45 minutes by borrowing code from three different existing programs. I checked in on my former division a decade later and found out this program had propagated throughout the system, and was used 12 times in various runs. At that time they had never found a bug in the program.
As a senior developer; I'd say if you are not comfortable "not knowing" and having to learn, then perhaps it isn't for you - because that never stops! Even with 20 years of experience, it does not take much of.a shift for you to go from "I know everything within the stack" to noob again. This means that you will need to schedule, in your life (because there is not enough official time for it), spare time for reading up on latest trends, idioms and practices. I sometimes envy the medicine trade a bit, because they don't appear to be quite as susceptible to being outdated. This might be one reason why senior developers often end up taking on less hands on items such as architecture, QA, project management etc. and actually code relatively little. Myself, I always imagined going into teaching... eventually. Cheers and thx for an interesting perspective.
"Programming is changing your mindset in a specific way." I was almost totally self-taught (my first computer was a KIM--1.) But I have been a musician for decades and that mindset maps into programming beautifully. I remember as a beginner reading a piece of code, trying to understand, and as I reached a call to another subroutine, I had said to myself, "..then we go to the bridge.." wait - the bridge - this is a SCORE! And from then on, it was 1000% easier!
THIS! I don't know how many musicians flip that switch - for me, I hadn't really noticed the similarities until after I'd been a professional software engineer for several year. And while this is correlation (as opposed to causation) - when you get a really good group of developers together, ask how many of them are musicians. Either as a side gig, or just as amateurs. In terms of population, I've found a much larger musical sub-population than in the regular population at large.
A lot of the good programmers I worked with when I was starting out were either musicians on the side, or were even music majors in college. I'm not a musical person except as someone who enjoys music, but after reading "Goedel, Escher, Bach" I learned why they were so good.
I started programming when I was about 8. Found some Visual Basic (VBA) tutorials in computer magazines and started playing around with that. Didn't quite understand what I was doing, but I did manage to make some little programs that were my own. About 2 years later, I had another look at these tutorials and the difference in comprehension was insane. Suddenly it all made sense. This is when I properly started to learn to program. I don't really remember struggling as much as you mentioned, but I'd also just avoid anything I didn't understand. One thing I do remember, though, is that it was very fun. I distinctly remember one instance where kept going so long, my concentration was entirely gone and I struggled to add up two single digit numbers. (This is not hyperbole - it actually took me multiple seconds) It was time to take a break and go watch some TV. It actually took me a couple minutes to even properly watch TV, it was a very interesting state I was in. Never happened again, though. I've programmed for 12 hours in one go and not gotten to that level of mental exhaustion ever again :D So yeah, don't remember much of the struggle, but I had a lot of fun. It's been 20 years, programming is now my job and I still do it in my spare time.
Thank you tiff .. I have hit this give up wall over and over .. each time I come back , I remember how much I love the creativity of coding and it comes back a little easier . My first project was 40 years ago , i programmed an interface in basic for Steve Jackson & Ian livingston fighting fantasy game books .. I still have the printed pages … currently learning swift .
I'd add also that there is a constant information overload at least during the first year of learning. It's crazy how much information we need to gain at the beginning. It might be overwhelming.
As someone who is learning the self-taught way, does this ever die down? I'm currently working through getters and setters on Javascript objects and it's tough, it's ALL tough, but partly because i'm learning something, MAYBE retaining 50% of it, then moving on while still trying to remember what I just learned and apply it-responsiveness in html and css, all the various quirks of html and css from accessibility and so on and so forth THEN add an actual programming language like JS I am quite curious if a programmer ALWAYS feels this intense stress of playing catch-up and having information overload because if that is the case i'm thinking maybe this isn't for me...is it always that case???
@@TiffInTech As someone who is learning the self-taught way, does this ever die down? I'm currently working through getters and setters on Javascript objects and it's tough, it's ALL tough, but partly because i'm learning something, MAYBE retaining 50% of it, then moving on while still trying to remember what I just learned and apply it-responsiveness in html and css, all the various quirks of html and css from accessibility and so on and so forth THEN add an actual programming language like JS I am quite curious if a programmer ALWAYS feels this intense stress of playing catch-up and having information overload because if that is the case i'm thinking maybe this isn't for me...is it always that case??? I love to learn, and I love the fact that tech is always changing, it makes it an exciting field but I also love my life, and my hobbies, and my friends and family and i'm not sure if programming will always take up so much of my energy or will there be a point in time where I feel confident and can have a life/work balance..if that wordy wordy paragraph makes sense???
Finally doing my first programming 'challenges' for a job. I've made it through to the second one as of today and hope I'll get to the next phase. Hopefully to an in-person interview and being hired on. What they don't tell you is how many places you'll apply to (and get ghosted by) until one finally decides to give you a chance to demonstrate what you know. I searched nearly 2 years before getting a single interview.
@AlgorWorld , can u advice me on this? I hv computer science bachelor degree but no experience in it. And 4 years experience in Human Resources but recently lost my job and thinking of learning programming(python), should I continue in this path and later on apply to master degree in computer science, or going into MBA instead cuz on my experience in HR? What do you think?
@@suranabil900 I'm not sure I'm a good person to ask. The employer I mentioned in my previous post ended up lying about my submission for their coding challenge, stating I never sent it in. Of course I had the email showing I sent it in. Which I showed them. But it didn't make any difference. They already picked whom they wanted. Getting into the software development field is outrageously hard if you don't know someone in the industry that will help you get in. I'd go for the MBA if I were you.
I have been working in technical space for over 30 years, started coding almost 20 years ago, stopped after 2 years, then got back into it around 5 years ago. I have migrated from WordPress developer to Laravel Developer and now learn Java as a Software Engineer. I think the most important thing is a desire and passion to always be learning because to be a good developer you must always be learning. Love Your Work
Hello, I really appreciate your informative videos. I'm changing careers and after many years I am now pursuing a long time goal of going back to college and finishing my degree in computer science. Your videos continue to encourage and inspire me.
Rule number 1: First task is to "paint a picture" for yourself and the team about what is about to be done - where you're at now, where you want to go and how, and what is the final state you wish to achieve (definition-of-done). This actually is the key of project or task of any size.
I feel like writing hairballs is an important part of the learning process. It's definitely given me a deeper appreciation for design principles and why we apply them. Even if a beginner tries to do the right thing and be well organised, they will still end up writing a hairball because of a lack of experience.
This video was perfect timing for myself. I’m currently learning and have spent the last 18 months teaching myself via online courses. Number 3 is exactly how I’ve felt recently! So thank you for your perspective, it’s hugely appreciated.
Just landed on your channel and I literally love it!!❤ I'm currently studying ux/ui design (also learning to code (html, css, js) and I definetely think I will spend much time watching every single video of you from now on! 😊😍
About the third truth, usually, we don't hate programming, what frustrates programmers the most is working on a project they don't want, when we're working on a project we like, even when things get tough, we still have some guilty pleasure on solving it.
@5:57 I have 6 years of professional experience and I have been coding for at least 10 years and I have never ever thought about giving up or have felt frustrated. I just love to code and I love to learn new things even more.
Great video. I love how this didn't turn me off rather than motivate me even more. I don't care how long it takes. This has quickly became a passion for me. I'm in a position right now with quite a few passive revenue streams that allow me to stay at home and basically learn new things or watch Netflix all day, so I'm really grateful for that. Learning is my hobby, honestly; and I'm not trying to sound super corny when I say that. When I was a kid I was put into guitar and piano lessons. The 'homework' was to learn the agreed upon piece of music and practice and play it at the next week's session. I started noticing patterns and something clicked. I went through the entire workbook before our lesson contract was up and basically showed up to my lessons to get advised on posture, hand placement, etc. I rapidly improved over the years picking up Viola, Bass guitar, Ukulele, Mandolin, Piano, placing second in my entire state for Solo voice and 5th for my ensemble, and for my 21st birthday, my family got together and bought me a Sitar. That ate up every waking moment of my life lol. The one thing in common with all this was patterns. The musical alphabet doesn't change. You just have to find a way to 'talk' to and translate the same instructions from one instrument to another(like programming languages). Once I realized this, I picked up a Rubik's cube and learned the algorithmic standard method of solving and then the more intuitive 'problem solving' approach of solving the cube. I can't do it in 10 seconds or anything but 27 is my personal best. It was all patterns. Languages: I only knew English but I learned Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian because of the similarities and p a t t e r n s. Which led me to my current journey of learning Romanian since it also derives from Vulgar Latin. From that foothold, I then plan to learn more Slavic languages. Patterns are fun and I see programming as no different and I can't believe I didn't get into it sooner. The feeling is the same as when I'm learning new languages or instruments. I see patterns everywhere and I often will rewrite HTML code(or whatever language I'm learning, only know Python and JS, learning HTML and CSS) I learned recently and build a website on paper, no typing(seeing things through different media is vital for my learning process). The more there is to learn and the more overwhelming something is, it drives me even harder. Always improving, staying a student for life. The moment the student assumes he is a master, he no longer opens his mind to learning like a student. I'm sorry for the book but out of all the programming videos I've watched recently, yours is what people want to see(and don't want to see lol) and need to see. I would really love to completely change my career to programming and tech but even if nothing comes of it at all, I will still use programming to solve my own problems. And that seems to be the key like you said. Every single concept I've learned, I've done the same thing for my own uses on the side, just changing input id's, labels, etc. For example I used my crash course into HTML to build a website for a shop that I used to work at that had an absolutely horrendous product lookup and POS system. I learned Python first so at the time I was separating shop inventory into the two categories it needed to be in, into databases which I then linked the submit form button to. But the thing that helped them the most, was 2 radio buttons to select between the two types of products along with a keyword search to my simple databases which cross referenced compatibility issues as well between the two parts for older machines that they didn't carry the parts for but new ones could be used even though they didn't specifically say they were for that make or model. Wow, I'm rambling. I should start a blog, this would probably span 3 full pages if I kept going, so I'm going to stop lol. Sorry. And thank you for this video. I haven't wrote a comment like this in a long time but your words resonated with me in a time where everything is instant gratification or close to it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Well, I like Tiff's videos that I've seen so far in the last 2 days. Yes, I have given up, that is gave up on trying to get an A in the class but decided to say I need help and get a B+ instead, due to time running out in the class. There will always be areas to re-learn and improve on in the future, so that continuos learning is more important to me for that deficiency.
You don't have to become a Jack of All Trades , but knowing more than one programming language is essential. thanks! Tiff for this wonderful information, by the way I've been hear for about 5 months.
Good points in the video. Speaking as a software engineering executive, one thing I would suggest for folks just starting is finding an open-source project you are passionate about and contribute. You can use that knowledge and experience to land a job faster than just building dummy projects because real-world code is often more complex than a simple Todo app. This can showcase to potential employers that you have a better understanding than just a simple Todo app. In addition, you'd be amazed at the contacts you can get over time being part of any such community, especially if your contributions are seen helping push things forward. Many OS projects have local meet-ups or a network of people that get together at larger conferences. This can often be an excellent pathway to finding a job through people who know you, rather than just a random interview.
Great video! Absolutely felt #3. 2 days ago I felt like a complete idiot. Like I should just quit. Took a day off, then came back today and I was able to humble myself and stick with the program I'm doing atm. And I finally was able to work through it given time and reflection. I will for sure feel like I'm not cut out for this again, but I'll keep trying. At least until I can start building some simple games.
last night i realized that i have to learn javascript typescript mongodb to build the custom backend exactly the way i want ....i was totally depressed ....because im still struggling to learn dart and flutter ....but im not going to give up ...
4:50 Completely agree. Landing my first developer job my boss told me a couple of months after I started that the reason I was hired was because of my enthusiasm and drive for develeping since I lacked the experience. I actually missed out on a couple of jobs before this one due to "my lack of experience".
Writing code or solving technical design problems is really only a fraction of the reality of a commercial software engineering career. You'll need good people skills, or people won't enjoy working with you and your opportunities will be limited. You'll need to embrace writing and reading boring documents created by the business. At times you might even be dealing with documents and meetings more than actually writing code. This is common, especially in big tech. If the job doesn't fulfill your technical ambitions, make sure you're doing something interesting as a side hustle, or you may lose the fire that got you started. Speaking as a 25+ year professional.
Thanks Tiff for the timely sharing. I’ve been learning how to code for almost 2 years thru tutorial and courses. I still can’t find my first job in Tech. Thinking of giving up and go back to my old career. Now is contemplating if should I continue to learn coding while holding a full time job.
Thanks for sharing! Honestly it’s not a bad idea to learn code on the side while working because it’s less stress and pressure to learn so quick and in turn it might be more enjoyable 💕
Don't give up, Helen. I also agree with Tiff. Also consider part time/flexible work if it can pay the bills. I would also say: just work on 7 projects for a portfolio and just put yourself out there.
@@I_Lemaire I would advise to work on a small project of your own making. Treat it as a hobby, something you think you would really enjoy. Motivation is often fuelled by passion, so if you can learn to enjoy it, you will find the motivation you need.
5:18 I actually did a mini ETL tool. The goal was to do just enough targeting a particular data type, so we didn't have to hire a custom developer to adjust the current tool we own that could not do the job. The project had a GUI designer and a command-line tool to run the ETL conversions in batch.
The last Harsh Truth can be a benefit aswell, in one of my previous jobs there was a member of my team that before he had that job as a Frontend Dev, he was a farmer. He basically went from farmer to frontend dev two distinct areas of expertise. I say it is a benefit because in this case the WebApp that we were developing at the time was targeted to farmers, so basically he had knowledge that most of us in the team did not have and asked him if some features had sense or not.
I was seriously thinking about giving up on data science before watching this video. Really needed to hear that "you will give up more than once" message. So much gratitude. Thank you.
When i was learning programming at age 12, i walked away probably a dozen times but came back. 20 years into a programming career, i still have those moments. The problems i solve are WAY more complex. I still have those moments sometimes.
I've been a Network Administrator for almost 20 years. I'm on disability now and I have been thinking about getting into programming. I just don't know if it's worth it to become a "junior" software developer rather than just try to learn more updated Net Admin skills and stick with that...
As a retired network administrator, I will say that it was very useful for me to have started out as a programmer. I was the only network engineer with any programming ability, so I could create tools to make everyone's job easier or to monitor the network or to modify shareware to do new things. All in all, it was a very rewarding experience.
The funniest is when a group of devs recommend coding and a non technical person disregards the idea because "I'm not that good at maths" - oh the facial expressions are priceless!
FInally 😄someone that speaks the truth, so great to hear someone who is not trying to boost their views ON RU-vid about the industry-my point of view is if you build the foundation to something you want you will have no problem being successful, but because people are broke due to the pandemic its a feeding frenzy for work in this industry. And as usual people are looking for shortcuts. Thank you for being honest about this.
About learning more than one programming language: When you've programmed a few examples, or mini-projects (maybe a small piece of code for an Arduino, a simple data storage application or if you're math enthusiastic, somethjng like a graphical representation of a fractal) and had some moderate results in getting them running, try to start seeing 'through' the language and what the code actually does (for the initiated: the algorithms used, program state flow and logic and other language agnostic traits). Try to make sense of it in your own words. 'Loop this, condition that, do this then something else'... Now try to implement the ideas in another programming language with similar capabilities to the one you used first. Eventually you have to become language agnostic as a good programmer because languages will come and go and certain languages have traits that make them more or less useful for the various projects you'll come in contact with. If you know the languages' strengths and weaknesses (you don't need to learn them by heart, just their traits) and you know how to solve programming problems in a logic sense, you can then apply that logic to the language the project needs. It's a long therm goal, yes... but one to keep in mind.
I landed my first job without networking. So I landed a job in 5 days with tutorials, courses and a portfolio. I must say though that I did everything you are supposed to do and I took it very serioulsy 💅
oh my, that is so great! could you give more details as to "everything" you did? what languages did you learn? on average, how many tutorials did you do? what were the projects you included in your portfolio?
Sure! I did many courses. I think the main one was CS50. I did several courses in frontend masters, udemy, freeCode camp and platzi (I'm a Spanish speaker) and I think the main thing was building projects, having a GitHub profile and absorbing things from the dev community, like from this channel. Good luck in your journey!
10:30 hmm the burn out. Sometimes there are projects that I need to push 12 or 15 hours straight of work to get over certain hurdles. When I did the designer for my ETL tool, i t took three attempts to get it right. I had to scrap many hours of work twice because the logic was not adding up.
11:00 More harsh truths? Having a boss who thinks he/she knows what to do, but doesn't, and he/she keeps pushing their narrative, way forward in the dev process.
Now that is the truth! I have had plenty of bad bosses in my day. I had one boss reprimand me for generating a flow chart of the main gameplay loop. The rules provided by the designer were so complicated, I couldn't figure out how to start coding them. I then sat down and wrote a traditional flow chart. Went through all the actions and broke them up. From there I was able to really understand the game flow, and it was pretty easy to write the code after that. I easily saved myself several weeks of development spending a few days doing the flow charts.
Awesomeness and spot on and well said!! If your like me you'll get stuck. My instinct use to be to try and pushing through and keep digging. After many years I learned the best thing I can do is walk away for a few hours and think or do something completely different. Most of the time I come back with a fresh perspective. That's when I'll find the answers. Plus it keeps me from digging the hole deeper. At the very least it has helped me keep what little sanity I have.
Thank you for your advice. I rather see harsh truths with advice on how to deal with it. Advice that I can apply and make my own as well. On a side note, I love the Spider-man shirt. Spider-man was my favourite childhood hero.
Haha, Harsh #3 (Giving up and thinking, why I could ever started with programming) - after over 30 years in programming I still ask me that sometimes. ;-)
Been a programmer/systems designer/analyst for 20+ years. A lot of good advice in video. One thing I would add is to structure learning around projects. Tutorials are a good start, but having an interesting project will motivate you to keep learning. You should start with the smallest possible useful project and build on that if you find it interesting. Also if you can join an open source project that will good motivation, but you may take some time to get to a level that you can contribute. Good luck to all.
3:55 Tutorials (on new stuff) are better for people that actually know how to code because they have the mindset and seeing a new technology or how a function works will have them understand it better. Alot of tutorials show you "the what" but not "the how". What I mean is they will show what a function does but now how to properly implement it in a real-life solution. - Not to say tutorials are useless for beginners but you should be aware that what you see is not always how a you would use it.
I'm working on my PhD, and it is very tempting to just quit and land a six-figure salary right away with just my Bachelor's, since I'm getting less than 30K right now. Sometimes, you just need to swallow your pride and work for less to get the experience you need for a senior level position at a young age.
Programming is what it was using a typewriter in the past. Being fast at typewriter takes time. And yet being a secretary stopped being a career and became a soft skill.
when you get into a fight between programmers of different industries you did not know before you set foot, your friends may fight you. like if you start learning Solidity, your banker friends may try to discourage you first, and then they'll trash your blockchain ideas.
I'm so stuck at algorthmic thinking hehe Gosh the sorting algorithm its so hard to figure it out instead of memorzing it. kind devestating , cant yet solve a problem without at least take a quick pick at the solution But the former roman epiror Marcus aurelius once said "The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." So an obstacle who blocks. prevents progress. it isnt always like that it can also becomes the way , and you need to embrace it.
I never gave up or asked myself why I even bother doing programming. It’s my calling. But also I do have down phases where I don’t feel to Plan and code new or existing projects further. That’s when I get out official certificate preparation books, read and code along through them. In these phases I like the guidance in advancing or just practicing stuff they provide. Sounds not like fun at all. But it’s kinda relaxing and I always end up energized to take on the real world problems afterwards.
Coding is easy. Understanding problem domains is so much harder. As someone who has interviewed many people (technical side), I found experience working as a bartender or server is a big plus in jobs that require multi-tasking.
Thanks for this! Just found you and wish I would've earlier! I've been spending the past few months learning Python and have been trying to land an entry-level role with no luck. It's become clear that I need more than one language under my belt, so I'm now learning CSS, HTML and JS. It seems web development has a lower barrier to entry, and having this stack will make it easier to transition into tech. I REALLY wish I would've realized that earlier so I could be nearer to my goal. I'm hoping my deeper understanding of Python will help me stand out when I am ready to make the move in a few months. Looking forward to learning more from you!
I don't interview candidates anymore but I have in the past. Frankly, the most important thing to know in any interview is the fact that you're much more likely to land a job if the interviewer likes you. Obviously you'll need a basic knowledge and skillset for the job, but leaving an impression of enthusiasm and friendliness goes a long way, particularly if there are several candidates for one position. If you're better liked than another candidate, assuming your skill sets are comparable, you're far more likely to be chosen over another. It might not be fair, but that's human nature.
I have a fine arts degree in multimedia, but my career in tech started by reading "Sam's Teach Yourself HTML/CSS in 28 Days" (got through all chapters within ten days despite previously not taking any web dev or programming courses in college) all in an effort to create a portfolio website after graduation-- but then applied for a virtual technology specialist position to design online courses, and soon became the resident html/css guru. Well after years in the ed-tech industry, I've been involved in video production, graphic design, business analysis, project management, software development, and am currently a CTO. I say all this to say you cannot learn it all in one month and it takes a lots of work to become competent, but one dedicated month can still change the trajectory of your career. Thanks for the great videos! (Been watching them since the end of last year.)
Harsh truth - when there is a serious flaw in the code (it might not even be your code) and a system is unusable management will shout and scream at you to get it fixed 5 minutes ago!!
Hi, I found your video by accident and really loved it. I saw a lot I can relate to. I started to learn coding 3 years ago by myself - Java EE - because I was a skill I really admired and wanted to make it my own. I learned 7-8 months and got lucky to directly get a job as a junior developer in a great company. I never stopped to improve my skills and I'm really proud what I have accomplished until now and my tech stack - Java, Javascript/Typescript, MySQL, Jenkins, Docker, Quarkus and a lot of other things I had no idea 3 years ago. I love how coding allows me to grow and learn while creating software which is used by a lot of ppl. Some thing you have not mentioned in your video is imposter syndrome (maybe you never had it) which really gave me troubles at the beginning and sometimes even now until I realized that almost everybody gets it at some point and doubts him/her self. But if you power through and never quit it get easier and easier while your confidents in your ability grows. I have subscribed to your channel and I'm eagerly waiting for your next video 😁👍
(Retired Oracle DBA) Programming (or DBA work) is interesting but sometimes you realize that the driver you need is out of date, no longer works and you may be the only person on the planet trying to do a specific thing. Or you may find that what you are running is not a priority for your favourite vendor because they are trying to push people to use something else instead, to boost their revenues (Microsoft, Oracle, even open source groups do this though they mostly follow fads). Some employers don't pay for training, so you are on your own with learning. Most training is generic and won't tell you how to build specialized applications, you will have to figure it out by yourself and make it work. It helps to know colleagues who are intelligent and knowledgeable, but they are busy too. Also, bureaucracy is horrible. It's inefficient, resources are allocated badly, incapable people get promotions, you will meet some really bad characters. Even contractors pull their hair out dealing with bureaucrats. Corruption. Careerism. The Peter Principle. Cliques and fads. Many, many liars. Awful, awful people. I loved the technology though -- setting up servers, installing the software, deploying applications (Web or client/server), helping people using the systems, performance tuning, fixing problems is extremely rewarding and meaningful work. Some of the technical people you will meet are the best people to know in the world. A pleasure to work with every single day, day after day.
Adding to your list would be the fact that the IT world is _not_ just UI programming, i.e., Web and phone apps, etc. Programming is 1) UI, 2) systems, 3) computational/numerical, and 4) data management. Most of these "learn to code" programs are only about 1), so beware. Another truth is the "big boys and girls," i.e., the people who went to elite universities and got the "full meal plan" CS degrees will have a big advantage over those who didn't. Computer Science as a major is enigmatic for so many people because it's basically applied math . . . and a very weird sort at that. The big-name colleges hammer their CS majors with it, while the 2nd-tier schools not so much, and of course the non-CS degree people don't have a clue. Sure, you can make a career without a strong or weak CS degree, but it will always be the elephant in the room, the glass ceiling on your career. My last harsh truth is programming is _not_ a 9-to-5 job, it's "all waking hours" -- for at least the first 10 years until you get to some sort of "guru" status. The happy news, however, is a programming career is possible, i.e., you can sit at your computer and with due diligence, gather _all_ the knowledge you need to make it work. This is unprecedented in history! In closing, my advice is to take Dan Grossman's _Programming Languages_ offered at Coursera (www.coursera.org/learn/programming-languages) or just go to his Programming Languages U of Washington CS course page. Again, the big boys and girls are learning this stuff at the elite places. So it's a great, no-pressure way to get a taste of what the upper echelons are doing.
The benefit of having a university degree is that it kind of counts as some background. My dad went from spackling to being a software developer within three or four months after graduation, and for that I decided to go to college, and am less than a week from finishing up my degree program. I wouldn't consider myself the best programmer as of right now, but I at least don't need insane amounts of help. When I'm learning something new, I know which direction to go in. Plus, I realize now that I like cyber security more. I don't know how that happened, but three of my last clases were about cyber security, and I'm just insanely interested. Probably going to shoot for software development, and continuing building other skills. Because tech is an insanely specialized field, so why not, anyhow.
Hi, I'm offering petroleum engineering in the university but then I realized I'm the introvert who would rather sit behind his computer all day so I started learning programming along the way. I really want to be a programmer but I fear starting university all over would be a waste of time. I also get worried if I'd ever get a job involving programming since I don't have any CS background 🥺🥺🥺
As being a programmer for soon 20 years: The best is to start programming, it's starting early. In the 80s you first glimpse at coding before you were 10, if you were using a computer. Today, I think an Arduino is a nice thing to start learning programming, as you get results very fast like blinking lights. One important thing Tiff completely missed is: You need to have off the scale frustration tolerance. I worked on the same problem for up to two months, without any progress. One last thing: You should learn how assembler works, so you can learn to think like a computer. And one more thing: If you hate math, don't become a programmer.
Heh, i hate math, flunked out of high school because of it, and then became the lead architect of a math university's backend and had to write a lot of math-specific code without any The biggest problem i had with math was - what's the point of doing it manually in the age of a calculator in everyone's pocket? The amount of math i needed to understand for programming was very small. So small, i googled it and applied it in an hour. Flunking out of high school was a good idea - it gave me the free time to learn a *much more* important skill at a young age - programming.
Thank you, so much! My current position is in data analysis but I long to be a dev. I'm working on building an application from scratch. The application would replace a certain task that I'm asked to do multiple times a day. My hope is that once this is complete I could then have the confidence to apply for a dev position. I'm currently developing in python but was thinking that since I need it to be a standalone software I might switch to Java. I'm still a beginner when it comes to building large gui programs.
Being a python user, you may enjoy Javascript/Typescript more than java. You can use React Native to write native mobile/desktop apps in either language.
@@jordanrenaud3147 Thank you so much! I'll look into it. I was thinking that web might be better if I want to distribute it easily and without installing something on the local machine. Honestly, thank you for giving me a different perspective.
To my right is a book, "Learn C++ in 24 Hours." Well, 24 basic lessons that take about an hour each that give you the equivalent of ordering dinner and a beer, and enough to get your face slapped by waitstaff.
Yeah, when I heard her mention a month, my thoughts went right back to the old "Learn Visual Basic in 24 hours" book. I think it *might* have worked for somebody that already knew some other form of BASIC or perhaps Fortran, but anyone else? Not a chance.
@@ZlothZloth If such a book is properly applied, it takes over 3 weeks to get through it, an hour a day. Still, a 3 week class on a computer programming language? No. I can learn programming itself in 3 weeks, anyone can. That's the easy part. Python 3, however, is much like early BASIC but it's 1,024 times as complex and versatile. Its handbook stays open while I code. "You know you can't memorize Zen."
Talking about burnout. I am burnt out because I have been doing this for too long. I am so ready to retire, it is hard for me to do any programming. I would prefer just to go on a road trip.... a very long road trip, the kind where I don't need to come back home. I love being on the road :)
My three hash truths. Unrealistic expectations regarding implementation of complex architecture and integration Unrefined and poorly defined requirements Not listening when sharing and collaborating from product owner to devs to infra to deployment to ops and missing out sec in drvsecops
Harsh truth for the more degreely, CS people. Many stuff you would like to copy & paste does not satisfy your requirements so you need to build or buy it. OS stuff like semaphores and threads, structures like queues, stacks, trees etc. and you will read several thousand pages of documentation and write several hundreds for your collegues over a year. And it's quite likely that you get in contact with a lot of other engineering or buisness related tasks that you don't need to do but understand and work along them.
Idk I you have commented on others videos but, front end developers design what they are going to code? Or there are designers and the programmers just code that design?
I've found the best example you can give a potential employer is create your own project management system. Create something you can login to, create a project within, create tasks within, etc. The tech stack is always changing too and that's okay because the core of them all is the same. Been doing this for 20 years trust me we've come a long way.
because of time crunch I suffered anxiety when I was at Dojo. not saying that Dojo didn't help me. teachers were always supportive. I just had very hard time find my footing. I think bootcamp should be 6 months at least. what do you think?
Oh I completely can relate! That was me too in my coding bootcamp. I wish they were 6 months too - I guess maybe they dont do that because some people cant afford to take that much time off. But it would be nice to have both options forsure.
Pure coding is for junior programmers. Then many become system designers, then project managers. But some are happy sitting there and coding their entire career.
The other thing to note is that while it's possible to land a job without a degree, there are some employers that require a degree and won't hire you even if you built a startup, or you're an amazing programmer or whatever. It's a corporate policy, and it's not going to change. If you're targeting a specific company - make sure to check their HR policies. The other harsh truth in my opinion is you're going to need to work hard, and show value. Many employers will only retain the talent that adds value to the company - eg commits a lot of code, works well, etc. You can't just rest on your laurels. Plus you'll always be learning.
I agree with all what you said in this video and actually the third one made me happy , cause I thought that's only me who struggles with the idea of giving up :) .
truth number 3 you will give up, this has happend to me constantly i joined the university since 2018 and i have dropped out 3 times😧, i have a programming background this is a plus but i need tobe constante love your advices
