
Ask HN: Is there a space in the tech scene for the not numerically-inclined? - llampx
As I was going through a brain teaser today, I realized that I just may not have the numerically-inclined type of brain.<p>I&#x27;ve never been good at math. I do well with languages and can write up a storm, however. Is there space in the tech scene for someone like me? I am interested in everything data, but it seems that that field requires a numerical brain. Is the analytical part of your brain something you can build and improve?
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bootsz
First, it depends on what you mean by these terms "math" / "numeric" /
"analytical".

The vast majority of software development and even computer science relies
mostly on logic rather than "numeric" math (some sub-disciplines aside).

I initially ignored CS because I hated math in high school and thought it
would be "too much math". Turns out I am really good at CS even though I
sucked at things like calculus.

So my first point would be to make sure you try some actual programming before
you get scared away about any "math"-related concerns.

Secondly:

> Is the analytical part of your brain something you can build and improve?

Absolutely. It is just like a muscle. The more you practice, the easier it
will become. To be able to build powerful software you have to learn new
patterns of thinking, which takes time. But it is definitely doable, provided
you enjoy it enough to push through the tedium. But it's not everyone's cup of
tea.

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otras
For the idea of building and improving the analytical part of your brain, I
highly recommend the Coursera course _Learning How to Learn_ by Dr. Barbara
Oakley. [0] An excerpt from her Wikipedia page[1]:

 _After her Army duties ended, Oakley decided to challenge herself and see if
her brain, more used to the study of languages, could be 'retooled' to study
mathematical subjects. She chose to study engineering, in order to better
understand the communications equipment she had been working with in the
Army._

[0]: [https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-
learn](https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn) [1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Oakley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Oakley)

------
DoreenMichele
A random internet stranger really can't answer this for you. I suggest you
start a file and start collecting articles and other snippets that have
meaningful information for you.

I have a strong-ish math background, but language is more my forte. I've
picked up some HTML, CSS and I have a certificate in GIS. I'm currently the
very part-time webmaster for a local nonprofit, though I'm not actually a
programmer.

I also homeschooled my 2e kids and did pro bono professional work for an
education oriented voluntary health and welfare organization. My son has
difficulties with numbers, but I was able to teach him the concepts. You can
always use a calculator or spreadsheet to crunch numbers for you, but not
everyone gets the concepts, which turns into a case of garbage in, garbage
out. He's gotten good at finding the math errors -- or logic errors in using
math -- in games he plays.

So even if you really are terrible with numbers per se, that doesn't mean you
can't learn important math concepts for purposes of analysis. You may just
need to look for the right materials that present it in a way that works well
for you.

But the best thing you can do to develop a career path is pick up a book like
"What color is your parachute?", do the exercises and some informational
interviews and sort this yourself. You are the person most qualified to
recognize if some role fits your criteria for being _in tech_ and also
something you could comfortably do.

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collyw
The vast majority of coding these days doesn't involve anything mathematical.
(Behind the scenes yes, but for application development that you will likely
be coding no.)

~~~
EpicEng
This is technically true, but what typically makes a person good at math is
the ability to think logically, critically, and understand systems at a high
level of abstraction. The correlation is probably not 1:1, but I have yet to
meet a good dev who is terrible at math. That doesn't mean they remember all
of the details from school, but they can understand it.

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oldboyFX
I will say that most web/iOS/android/similar developers rarely have to do
anything more than simple division, multiplication, modulo etc when it comes
to math.

Yes, many developers are good at math but I'd say that's mostly correlation,
not causation.

NOTE: This is my personal, anecdotal experience.

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always_good
If you had enough experience in tech such that you were actually building
things, then this question would have answered itself on the basis that you
can build things, which extrapolates to things that you can get paid to build.

But since you don't have that experience apparently (despite whatever "write
up a storm" means), then you have no clue what might be preventing you from
entering the tech scene as it may (and is far more likely to) be related to
any of the other things that keep people out of tech, like tenuous interest in
the subject at all.

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jvanderbot
Tech companies employ non-stem skills all the time. Communication, marketing,
branding, design, hr, so many more.

I know an old lady who wrote history books who now works for a major financial
company editing quarterly tech briefs for their high profile publications. She
knows more about the workings and impact of bitcoin than I do by editing. She
literally did bootstrap her knowledge at the age of 60.

It takes all kinds and the maths-only stereotype needs to die. Anyone can
help.

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commandlinefan
Years (going on decades) ago, I would have said the same thing about myself -
I'm just not that "good with" numbers, but I'm good with coding and problem
solving. And I actually did just fine - but one day I came across an
interesting problem on Usenet about drawing a block arrow that could orient
itself in any direction. Out of curiosity, I started trying to implement it
and I realized I needed to recall the algebra that I remembered just enough of
to pass the test when I was an undergraduate. Suddenly, in context, it became
interesting, and I started re-learning all of the "number stuff" that I
dreaded when I was younger. Not only did it start to make more and more sense,
but I found myself becoming a better programmer incidentally: solving these
simple, ready-made problems (that happened to involve manipulating numbers)
sharpened my ability to concentrate and focus on bigger, fuzzier problems. I
don't think anybody - or maybe only very few - people are "naturally"
numerically inclined; it's something you have to work at, but I also think
it's something that anybody can master if they really put their mind to it.

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LarryMade2
Back in grade school a lot of the educators believed that in order to do
programming (BASIC) kids needed first to understand algebra in order to grok
the concept of variables and such...

I myself wasn't all that good at algebra but while programming I was able to
grasp math concepts in application trying to figure out how can I get x to
equal y etc. For me my math application skills improved vastly by learning
software development. Even now I can get frustrated by purely algebraic
problem solving puzzles, just not my thing.

I can see if you are good at such things it is a great benefit to know some of
the concepts where I had to do a lot more research, trial and error to get
some results. But also, if that's all you are good at you probably aren't
coming up with the next flappy bird.

You don't really need a numerical brain but you do need to be determined solve
problems, have good memory. And I think as you work with it you will exercise
those abilities.

I would find some computing aspect you like and research that, find some easy
language/platform (or open source project already in progress) to play on and
see where it gets you.

~~~
wingerlang
Same here. Never really had the motivation in my mathematics courses at uni,
too much theory. But with a concrete goal and visual feedback I was able to
solve quite some problems.

Example, I didn't do well in my linear algebra course, but afterwards I made a
(simple and slow) physics simulator with the very same concepts. Each thing I
discovered, length between vectors, dot product, projection made a whooole lot
of sense once I could actually draw the lines on a screen.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud8NirjyLAA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud8NirjyLAA)

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api
A lot of programming is more linguistic than mathematical. If you stay away
from hard core algorithms, graphics, scientific computing, AI, and similar
things, you're likely to be able to get by with high school math and algebra.

One big area is UI/UX, which usually requires little math but does require
design skills and good intuition about what makes a convenient intuitive user
interface. Unless you are coding a rendering engine from scratch the math
you'll hit in UI/UX coding will be arithmetic, basic bit manipulation
(AND/OR/XOR), and maybe a little algebra.

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admay
Check out UI/UX design and development. Web development in particular. It
isn't quite mathematically charged like data science is but it's a great way
to build tools to visualize data!

~~~
reason-mr
This. UX designer with implementation skills - not numerically oriented at
all; designers with implementation skills are not in great supply.

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wilsonnb3
You could be a business analyst or product owner at a tech company.

Basically, your job would be to translate what the client wants into pieces of
work that your development team can do.

It’s not coding but it’s still a very interesting position.

~~~
dragonwriter
As someone who has done both, in enterprise internal tech rather than a tech
firm—at times simultaneously, on different projects—business/system/domain
analysis tends, IME, to be no less numerical/analytical than coding on the
same system.

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quickthrower2
UX / product manager / business analyst ( non financial / math domain ) /
sctummaster / project manager / training / sales

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jchassoul
It's all about messaging.

quoting: Soon we will have chips with thousands of cores with high-bandwidth
interconnect. Such chips will power the next generation of Intelligent
Applications.

Since message passing between Actors is the standard method to communicate,
languages like Erlang are highly relevant.

