
Ask HN: Am I good enough for a developer internship/job? - coralreef
I&#x27;m about 1.75 years into learning software development. I went to business school but figured I wanted to be in technology, so I started with developing iOS apps.<p>I&#x27;ve shipped 2m downloads since starting, and I make an average income from my apps. I would like to learn more and code more by interning at a startup.<p>The problem: I don&#x27;t know a lot of things. I don&#x27;t know terminal, git, any semblance of code review or QA, etc. I don&#x27;t know a lot of CS fundamentals. I&#x27;ve always just hacked what I need to get my product working. I cut corners, use open source, paste StackOverflow. If I had to do a coding test or hold a technical conversation, I might embarrass myself.<p>Am I too green for an internship? Am I the wrong type of person for a developer role?
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mcintyre1994
"I've shipped 2m downloads since starting"

You're ahead of almost every new CS graduate they'll see in that regard. I
mean, CS fundamentals do matter and many companies will really need to see
them. But no you're not the wrong type for a developer role, you can ship
stuff.

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orionblastar
First off keep on learning. You just listed areas you are weak at, I would
suggest you buy some books or read websites on those technologies.

Take some online resources
[http://www.noexcuselist.com/](http://www.noexcuselist.com/) and learn what
you can on your own time. When you work you won't have much time to learn,
because you will be coding.

I worked with interns, and tried to teach them how to program and use tools
associated with programming. Sometimes management didn't like me teaching them
and decided to make them move boxes around instead. I just had one Intern from
1999 contact me on LinkedIn that I helped and he seems to be doing well. The
law firm I worked at decided to make him move boxes and do manual labor after
I tried to teach him how to program. So it really depends on management and
your work environment.

Trust me if you don't know data structures and algorithms, your code won't be
as good as someone who knows how to use those things. It is never too late to
learn, I am taking a course on algorithms right now and I am 45, learning all
over again as I forgot because I was disabled and out of work for a decade.

Good luck and never stop learning, technology changes every day, learning to
adapt to change is what makes you a good programmer, learning from your
mistakes and learning new tricks of the trade makes you a better programmer.

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georgebonnr
Terminal (bash shell) and git are comparatively easy to learn. You can learn
very basic functionality with those in a weekend... so no real downside to
picking those up -- [http://gitimmersion.com](http://gitimmersion.com) is good
for git. CS fundamentals like algorithms and data structures are obviously
another can of worms. Luckily, while knowing them will give you a far higher
ceiling as a developer, they are not always required to contribute to a
project in an employable way (depending on the company). So you could
definitely get hired as an intern and then dedicate yourself to going back and
learning the CS fundamentals over time. I'd say you would want to make it one
of your primary personal goals over the first couple of years if you want to
really get the most out of your potential in the industry. But it's not a
barrier to entry.

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reseal05
No, I don't think you are the wrong type of person for a developer role.
You're obviously engaged in building things, and your portfolio of work can
speak volumes. You could always show off your work and mention that it's
profitable, and some interviewers might forgive your lack of experience when
they actually watch you code. Alternatively, you could start by volunteering
at a startup and gaining the relevant experience, or take a course from a
school like Coursera, General Assembly, or your local university which will
teach you more formal principles. Hope this helps.

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lisowski
I am just completing my first internship at Intuit as a software development
intern working on turbotaxonline, after only 2 years in the Cal Poly SLO
computer science program. Before college I had no experience in programming at
all, and before the summer I had no experience in web dev. So it doesn't take
all that much experience to be able to function in an internship, you just
have to be driven to learn and teach yourself.

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merinid
Hey there - sorry to not answer your question directly. Just commenting here.
Very happy to see how positive the responses from others were. Makes me feel
very good about the community here on HN. Take that as a sign. You can learn
more by just continuing to ask and be curious.

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covgjai
"I never commit to memory anything that can easily be looked up in a book" \-
Albert Einstein

All of us who program for a living use google,stack overflow,...etc. Keep your
reasoning skills sharp, and you are a perfect fit for developer role.

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armenarmen
I'm in a similar position, wrapping up with a BBA in Entrepreneurship and BS
in Economics in December, but only about 3 months into learning to hack. Do
you have any tips? Links to the stuff you've built?

~~~
coralreef
Build stuff, ship stuff, get users. Debug your own problems as far as
possible. Learn how it actually works (well, building stuff fast kind of
requires you to gloss over how it exactly works, but as you can see not having
CS fundamentals is holding me back).

Follow tutorials, use that code as a base to ship a related idea.

~~~
armenarmen
All good points, thanks! I hope you keep us all posted on your progress, it
really is cool to hear that someone with a biz background can get shit done!

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CompelTechnic
I would say you could fit right in, especially if you started in a company
that works on iOS apps directly- you could prove your capabilities by showing
your completed projects.

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27182818284
>"I've shipped 2m downloads since starting"

I know a boss who just hired someone with 2 masters degrees that hasn't done
that much.

You're fine. Keep killing it.

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tobinharris
Arrange some interviews with companies that look cool. Then just say all that
in the interview. Many will want to hire you :)

