
Ask HN: Stuck on my path to become a programmer - technosopher
Two years ago I made the switch from writing to programming. I joined a small software company as a php developer. As I hardly new anything, in my first year I grew and learned a lot. It loved it. After that however, I feel like I got stuck. I&#x27;m obviously not the best programmer on the team, so the harder stuff is done by those who are, which mostly leaves the smaller (less instructive) jobs to me. As it&#x27;s a small company, there&#x27;s no real &#x27;career path&#x27; to follow or courses to take, so if I don&#x27;t take any action, I&#x27;ll probably be stuck in this position for another 40 years.<p>Now this situation is partly my fault. I could step up and try to change the situation within my job, but I guess that&#x27;s not really how I am. I get challenged when people expect things of me that I can&#x27;t do yet. I get motivated by learning new stuff. But when people have low expectations, I tend to get really comfortable walking the &#x27;safe road&#x27;.<p>Realizing these things was a big step. But now I don&#x27;t know what to do next. I&#x27;m not sure my skills are sufficient for a &#x27;big job&#x27;. I think I&#x27;d like to start one of those combined jobs&#x2F;traineeships at a bigger company that offer many more ways of developing your skills and career, but I&#x27;m not sure if that&#x27;s the best choice, being 30 yo with 2 years of experience.<p>I&#x27;d love to hear your advice!
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downerending
1\. Take every opportunity you can to learn more. A lot of this will happen on
your own time. Many of us have probably spent almost as many hours learning on
our own as we have on the job.

2\. Consider looking for a company/group/task where you _are_ the best
programmer on the team. You might have to take lower pay, but there's nothing
like being the only guy/gal around to speed up your learning.

3\. Head to management if it looks like a good fit.

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jstewartmobile
Double-down on a real subject like math/physics/chemistry or maybe
engineering, and then the wizards in the current shop won’t seem like such
wizards after all.

Workplaces generally aren’t the most efficient avenues for personal
development.

