How I learned to code in my 30s

Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by chrisdotcode on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @07:45AM (#14653284)

I'm sorry, but I can't help but be incredibly cynical and jaded about this, and from reading the comments, nobody seems to have the same sentiment. If this was titled "How I learned to play the piano in my 30s", I don't think anybody would bat an eye: learning an instrument is not like joining some secret cult, and anybody can develop basic music literacy over a year or two. I also do not doubt this man's proficiency, but 30 is not old outside of tech circles. This youth fetishization in tandem with the "everybody's dog should learn to code" meme I think is very short-sighted.

Tech is wildly lucrative, is in current demand, and is not physical labor. That reduces the barrier to entry to anybody who has a laptop and an Internet connection. Honestly how many people would be so eager to learn to code if you dropped down the average tech salary to 45,000 (matching other professions)? I think far less: people seem to learn to want to code to ride the high-pay wave, not for the actual love of code.

Again, let's compare to music. Anybody can go to a guitar store and buy a 200$ keyboard. But if I took a 14-week class and afterwards had the aught to call myself a "Music Ninja Rockstar" or some other such nonsense, and start applying to orchestras and bands, I would be called crazy.

Software has eaten the world, and it's here to stay. Increasing the general software literacy is no more different than saying we should teach everybody how to read (and a good thing). However, throwing each person in a bootcamp telling them "coding is wonderful! you can master it in 5 seconds and make 200k a year!" is no different than holding a similar bootcamp for any other vocation and then wondering why the average plumber can't actually fix your house, but can only use a plunger. I sincerely hope this trend stops. This mindset is broken, and the paradigm is highly unsustainable. Where will we be in 20 years?

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by bradcrispin on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @09:54AM (#14654071)

> However, throwing each person in a bootcamp telling them "coding is wonderful! you can master it in 5 seconds

I am not sure if you read the article? The point is that age isn't a barrier but that becoming a software engineer is a lot harder than just going to a bootcamp and expecting a job to appear. This is about spending a year trying to find a job.

I have zero problem being compared to a plumber with a plunger! If something breaks in the middle of the night, I get paged, grab my mop and my tools, and fix it.

Why does it matter if the average plumber "can't fix your house"?

The pay is good because of supply and demand but I really do not know programmers who decided to get into it for money.

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by lordCarbonFiber on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @11:40AM (#14655047)

I'd go so far as to say most programmers working today are in it for the money. Despite the constant pressure to maintain the illusion otherwise, no one is passionate about making shitty CRUD apps enabling today's questionable business fad, and that takes up a large chunk of available work.

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by chrisdotcode on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @10:15AM (#14654283)

> The point is that age isn't a barrier but that becoming a software engineer is a lot harder than just going to a bootcamp and expecting a job to appear.

I know, but that's not generally what you'd see on a "learn X in Y days" sort of site. I'm more talking about the zeitgeist.

> Why does it matter if the average plumber "can't fix your house"?

"Fix your house" is more idiomatic for the entirety of plumber work. I suspect that you are more than a one-trick pony of development, but that takes years to master. A plumber that needs to fix a house needs to use and learn a myriad of tools that take years to master.

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by Underqualified on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @07:51AM (#14653307)

In mainland Europe, the salaries for programmers are much more in line with the rest of the workforce, and lower than that of engineers, on average. There's much less of a craze to learn programming here.

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by NotSammyHagar on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @02:17PM (#14656765)

Part of the reason for the job craze in the us for programmers it that there are increasingly fewer opportunities for unskilled or low skilled labor in the us, as compared to europe. we rarely have internship programs at high schools, and companies are often desperate to find skilled machinists. But also the fact that we pay so much to good devs - that pay is only because of the tremendous worker shortages.

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by emodendroket on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @09:24AM (#14653836)

I mean, really, so what? Yes, anybody coming out of a boot camp program is going to be pretty junior to start with and will only be able to do simple things without guidance. I'm not sure that makes them so different from new grads or interns (sure, let's make a few exceptions for genuinely skilled kids).

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by shakestheclown on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @09:53AM (#14654057)

I've never liked that programmers in general seem to imply that there is only room for the very best that develop for love and not money. The world needs a lot of mediocre programmers banging out CRUD sites for at least the near future. And some of those mediocre developers will eventually turn into good/great devs, and the ones that hate it or give up will be pushed out.

No one tells the person going back to school for accounting that they really have to love accounting or they should find a new line of work.

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by chrisdotcode on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @10:11AM (#14654252)

I completely get that, but that's not what I'm saying - if we're just in the coding for money (which there is nothing wrong with), let's just be honest about it, like we would be about the accounting gig: "Yeah, I don't love it, but they pay's great".

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by emodendroket on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @11:33AM (#14654985)

I like programming, but if I could do literally anything and be just as financially secure maybe I wouldn't choose it.

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Re:How I learned to code in my 30s by NotSammyHagar on Wednesday June 28, 2017 @02:15PM (#14656734)

Yeah, everyone should learn to code, but there is an impact of age. Not many 40 year old guitar players in current rock bands (not many current rock bands on the radio :-0). That first job is a true barrier to entry for new coders who don't come from an academic background. It's got to be harder for that older person to get a first job.

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