Unpopular view here, but if they want to do code just because they hear it pays well, steer them away.
Coding is not easy. And it requires a lot of fiddling with things and a lot alone time trying to figure things out. Transcribe your own solutions in working code and communicate elegantly about them is also an art form by itself and it’s not accessible to many.
1. Software development isn't some magic field that is different from anything else. People do it mostly because it's good money. Sure, some genuinely enjoy it, but almost no one would do the kind of work they do full time if they weren't getting paid well.
2. Even people who start off with a "love of the craft",so to speak, are usually doing it "for the money" after 5, 10, 20 years.
3. People might not realize whether or not they enjoy coding without trying. Filtering people before they even start because they don't realize whether they like it or not is not a good idea.
4. Most importantly, people are the judge of their own lives. Development might be hard (though arguably a easier than other fields), but people can decide for themselves whether, given their current circumstances, it's worth the hard work in order to earn more money.
This. Please, we don't need any more wage slaves in this industry. I already work with a bunch of people who don't have any interest in correct solutions but would rather just ship code. Feedback is non-existent or unwelcome. If their code is wrong, it's not, you're wrong. I'm 10-years professional and I have never met such a rude and entitled generation of bootcampers who think they deserve six-figures for figuring how how to return an array,
Rant over.
Please join tech or engineering because it genuinely excites or interests you. Not because the wages are higher.
I have 10 years of experience. I can say with authority that I know very little. The only thing I learned is to recognise faster when my code sucks (I still struggle to write a good code)
I identify with this, a bit. I’m getting more serious about writing testing, and it seems to give me some confidence.
I recommend a few books. Growing Object Oriented software guided by tests. It lays out a clear plan on starting and how one can approach building tests.
Next would be dependency injection: principles and practices.
Maybe try the GOOS book first and see if it resonates with you.
One thing to remember is that a lot of people who start out coding end up somewhere else in a Tech company.
I've worked with a lot of people with Engineering and CS degrees who worked as developers writing code for 2-3 years and didn't enjoy coding full time. Then they moved to other teams where they coded only a little bit (e.g. PreSales) or didn't code at all (Product Management, Project Management, Marketing, Sales, Education, etc).
Sometimes learning to code is the easiest entry point into a "Tech" job.
Comments
Unpopular view here, but if they want to do code just because they hear it pays well, steer them away.
Coding is not easy. And it requires a lot of fiddling with things and a lot alone time trying to figure things out. Transcribe your own solutions in working code and communicate elegantly about them is also an art form by itself and it’s not accessible to many.
I dislike this take, for many reasons.
1. Software development isn't some magic field that is different from anything else. People do it mostly because it's good money. Sure, some genuinely enjoy it, but almost no one would do the kind of work they do full time if they weren't getting paid well.
2. Even people who start off with a "love of the craft",so to speak, are usually doing it "for the money" after 5, 10, 20 years.
3. People might not realize whether or not they enjoy coding without trying. Filtering people before they even start because they don't realize whether they like it or not is not a good idea.
4. Most importantly, people are the judge of their own lives. Development might be hard (though arguably a easier than other fields), but people can decide for themselves whether, given their current circumstances, it's worth the hard work in order to earn more money.
This. Please, we don't need any more wage slaves in this industry. I already work with a bunch of people who don't have any interest in correct solutions but would rather just ship code. Feedback is non-existent or unwelcome. If their code is wrong, it's not, you're wrong. I'm 10-years professional and I have never met such a rude and entitled generation of bootcampers who think they deserve six-figures for figuring how how to return an array,
Rant over.
Please join tech or engineering because it genuinely excites or interests you. Not because the wages are higher.
I have 10 years of experience. I can say with authority that I know very little. The only thing I learned is to recognise faster when my code sucks (I still struggle to write a good code)
I identify with this, a bit. I’m getting more serious about writing testing, and it seems to give me some confidence.
I recommend a few books. Growing Object Oriented software guided by tests. It lays out a clear plan on starting and how one can approach building tests.
Next would be dependency injection: principles and practices.
Maybe try the GOOS book first and see if it resonates with you.
One thing to remember is that a lot of people who start out coding end up somewhere else in a Tech company.
I've worked with a lot of people with Engineering and CS degrees who worked as developers writing code for 2-3 years and didn't enjoy coding full time. Then they moved to other teams where they coded only a little bit (e.g. PreSales) or didn't code at all (Product Management, Project Management, Marketing, Sales, Education, etc).
Sometimes learning to code is the easiest entry point into a "Tech" job.