

My coding is completed. - hunterp
http://hunterp.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/my-coding-is-completed/

======
babarock
I'm one of the young foolish programmers mentioned in the article. While I
don't think every problem can be brute forced with code, I do feel that the
only problems worth working on are those solved with code.

Code can be a end itself, and not just the means to build some grand master
plan. Nobody minds that linguists study our spoken languages (or even dead
ones - Latin). But we have to act like code is something banal and shallow.

Then again, what do I know. I'm 24 and have just started working. Maybe I'm
completely stupid. Maybe I won't be as idealist at 40. Maybe the majority of
people in my class were right to tell recruiters "I'm not really interested in
technical jobs, I'm more into management"? Maybe I should follow the money and
apply to these consulting firms that are happy to hire engineers from
prestigious schools?

~~~
hunterp
I'm the author.

Keep your skills sharp. Every product that has software has a purpose. Google
is a search engine. Android is a phone and an app market. A good app has a
clear purpose and is easy to use.

But, work on your social skills. An idea that is coded with someone else as a
sounding board is generally stronger than an idea coded by someone sitting
alone at a desk.

Good luck!

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LVB
_Younger programmers will latch on to the newest trends and make you
obsolete... Your best bet is to get out of coding and into management or into
entrepreneurship as soon as possible._

I'm starting to bristle at this attitude because I'm encountering it more and
more often. The implication that others (the young) "make you" obsolete is
just BS. Most professions require one to keep up with new trends, and
programming is no exception.

The other implication is that management is some sort of Golden Acres for
people to end up in when they can't keep up with their younger and sharper
coworker, ostensibly because it is easier, slower, or doesn't have new trends?
This should be similarly annoying to managers.

~~~
hunterp
This was my article.

A team is a group of people that are greater than the sum of parts alone. A
manager coordinates the team, keeps them on target, and brings out the magic
that only good teams have. Can you have an orchestra without a
conductor?...same goes for a team.

And I would rather keep up with new trends by hiring someone with those new
skills than having to learn them myself. Call me lazy, but I call this
entrepreneurial.

Studies have shown that the older you get, the more strategic your thinking
becomes, but the less sharp your raw calculation power. Same reason the fields
medal in mathematics is only awarded to those under 40.

------
Jare
A software engineer that moves into management / entrepreneurship because he
feels that youngsters make him obsolete, was probably not a very good
engineer, and will probably not be a very good manager or entrepeneur.

But good luck.

~~~
hunterp
As the author of this article, but without trying to sound too self
promotional, I disagree. I was the only Android engineer on an app that is
currently featured on the front page of <http://market.android.com>

Entrepreneurship is awesome. I have self generating, passive income from my
personal Android apps and I respond to most customers emails personally.

As far as my skills on SoundTracking:

I already had 2 years of solid Android experience under my belt, and over the
course of the project, I learned a shitload more about Android.

I made use of my teammates extensively.

I released early and often.

I managed to generate positive relationships with over 20 api partners to make
this project happen.

I discovered new ways to make objected oriented abstractions work in Android.

The list goes on.

~~~
Jare
Then I will posit that:

\- You became an entrepeneur because you want. \- You don't believe that your
programming skills are obsolete.

And thus your article doesn't really talk about your actual experience.

~~~
hunterp
Correct. Not trying to toot my own horn, but after 10 years of getting better
each year, I am solid programmer. I literally just finished working on
SoundTracking.

However, I have focused solely on programming the last 10 years, and I believe
my focus depleted from other skills that are highly necessary to balance
someone out: product development, winning friends and influencing people,
sales, marketing, physical builds, the arts and humanities, entrepreneurship
and finally understanding and gettings your hands deep and dirty into real
business experience:construction, food and restaurants, medecine, education,
finance, fashion, etc, etc.

My intention is to help others not go down such a narrow path as I have.

Reading the Steve Jobs biography really lit a fire under me.

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radarsat1
Damn i was hoping it would be an Android version of
[SoundTracker](<http://www.soundtracker.org/>) :)

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nubela
I'm curious, what part of the app required 9 months of work to finish?

