
Becoming a programmer in a week; I'm working on it - grumancik
http://grumancik.tumblr.com/post/62629101246/my-name-is-genny-and-i-want-to-code
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brandon_wirtz
Your enthusiasm as great. But be aware by saying you think this is something
you can do in a week you are telling the world you think programming is a
semi-skilled job.

I learned to weld when I was 7. I can make art or patch up a broken plow. A
real welder can make a boat because all his seams are water tight, and cam
patch body work because his seams are so smooth. 27 years of welding as a
hobby or for bits of maintenance and I am not a welder.

~~~
cjbprime
I don't think we need to be so inflexible about language -- there are plenty
of people in the world who would like to pay someone to make straightforward
websites (patching up broken plows?) rather than work on, say, a new in-kernel
memory allocator (building a boat?). It would be pretty ridiculous to claim
you have to be able to do the latter before you get to call yourself a
programmer.

I think the truth is that programming is a field with work available for
people of disparate skill levels and experience --
[http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-somers-
web...](http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-somers-web-
developer-money/) is a good article explaining some of why that is. It
describes a friend of the author who went from being a law student to being a
programmer with an $85k/year salary in six months; does that make programming
semi-skilled? Where's the boundary?

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Dylan16807
Be careful with that analogy: a lot of simple sites need zero code, or at
least zero code that you need to ever see.

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krstck
I started programming (professionally) this year after transitioning from a
completely different career. I lucked into my current gig by basically
impressing my future employer with enthusiasm for programming. I also am kind
of a rarity, as there are probably less than a handful of professional
programmers in my rural Texas town of 15k people, and seemingly no one else
was interested in Rails. So I've gone from Michael Hartl's tutorial to an
actual job with customers in less than a year, without a CS degree or anything
like that.

I honestly think the best way to learn programming is to make yourself by
having a project. I'd been dabbling in online courses for a year and a half
beforehand, but I don't think I learned much until I had a customer that said
"I want something that does this, can you do it?", and just having to figure
it out.

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dangerwig
Your excitement and story are really compelling! It's wonderful seeing someone
adopt a new passion. There are so many benevolent people willing to root for
you if you show them who to root for. I wish you luck on your journey! You're
off to an amazing start.

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cjbprime
Good luck with it! Portland's a great place to be learning. I don't want to
imply that women have to learn programming in women-centric spaces, but I bet
you might enjoy checking out PyLadies and Flux too if you haven't yet:

[http://www.meetup.com/PyLadies-
PDX/events/140264752/](http://www.meetup.com/PyLadies-PDX/events/140264752/)

[http://fluxlab.io/](http://fluxlab.io/)

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vonseel
I understand your problems with finding jobs in the German-speaking countries
without having great language skills. I once naively started a Master in
Banking and Finance at the University of St Gallen (20 min by train from
Zurich). Came home within a few months as my language skills were nonexistent,
at the time hiring banks were looking for native German speakers with English
fluency and at least one other European language. That was a few years ago,
and soon after I began my adventure learning programming.

Best decision I ever made, and I'm shocked I didn't get into programming
earlier. I can't imagine returning to corporate finance or accounting type
jobs -- and hope my programming skills prevent me from ever needing to.

Good luck to you! :D

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spongle
Good luck. Don't let anyone kick you down. I learned how to program in a week
in 1988 (and I'm still learning to program).

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lutusp
Quote: "I’m really excited about coding. There are so many cool things
happening in tech, and I love the idea of being able to work with smart people
no matter where I am. My goal is to learn enough to be able to find a job that
would allow me to reunite with my love in Zurich… but the journey there
suddenly seems really fun, too."

I should tell you that if you actually become a programmer, in the real sense
of that expression, your priorities will completely change and your goal will
become more programming, not more relationships.

For a normal person, programming is a means to an end, which is meaningful
relationships. For a programmer, relationships are a means to an end, which is
meaningful programming.

~~~
cjbprime
That doesn't match my experience as a professional programmer; there are many
types of programmer out there. :-)

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adamconroy
You probably don't have time for blogging.

