I've started learning programming...

[skraeling]

I think my head wants to explode. It's interesting it's fun I'm wondering how long I'll actually stick with trying to learn it though. I have a full time and a part time job already this is something I'm just poking my head into to see if maybe it's not worth a career change as I'm in my 30s now and making 20-30k less a year than friends around the same age.

I do have a 4 year hard science degree so it's more so a function of where I work and not what I work. Just kind of bored with what I do now.

Any software devs out there have any fantastic advice or things to not do as I dip my toes into this very deep pool?

 

[kh54s10]

I took a Fortran programming class in high school. I messed around with Basic and then Visual Basic a few years later. Probably 20 years ago now!!! I never got further than a few very simple programs. Nothing at all worthwhile.

If you don't have the time to put into it, or if it doesn't really hook you, I would say that you will not stick with it. If you want to make a career change I would take college classes. I am sure you can do it with one of those online college sites.

 

[mmb]

Make sure you have your basics down well. Do the arrays, multidimensional arrays, strings, etc as often as you can to get the hang of it.

What style of programing?

 

[skraeling]

Make sure you have your basics down well. Do the arrays, multidimensional arrays, strings, etc as often as you can to get the hang of it.

What style of programing?

The class starts us with python but I think it expands to others.

 

[b-boy]

There is a huge shortage of American programmers out there right now. Most programmers are not US nationals, so you'll have a leg up in the US since you don't need visa sponsorship.

 

[passedpawn]

I'd recommend taking a basic C class. C is the most common language in embedded devices, and is the foundation for many common PC programming languages (especially C++ and C#). Although I'm an electronics designer, I spend at least half my time doing embedded code or PC code, in C and C# respectively.

I think it's pretty easy to go from C to most other languages, but not the other way around.

 

[jurgenph]

if you manage to land a new job as a developer, keep in mind that you'll be payed the same as a kid fresh out of college, you don't have the experience, no matter what your age is, you'll be payed as someone with zero work experience in the field. so, if your goal is to make more money, i don't think that this is the right approach

that said...

teach yourself good habits, write clean code, regardles of the language.
if you can write great pseudo code you can write great code.

i've seen many developes with expert knowlede of the language that write horrible unmaintainable code. if you can't break down a problems into it's most basic requirements, you already failed before you started.

then pick a scripting language (python, ruby, perl, etc...) and one compiled language (C, C++, java, go-lang, etc...) and master it

good luck, and have fun!
J.

 

[Homercidal]

I did some BASIC early in college, and a couple of semesters of Pascal. When I transferred, I got into COBOL, right before the Y2K commotion. ALMOST got a job with a company doing Y2K and business report fixing/coding, but didn't take it. That stuff was high dollar back then, or soon to be.

Haven't done much since then. I agree with Passedpawn about trying to go from those languages to C++. It's different!

I'd love to learn how to program PLC stuff for my hobbies. I'm sure it would give a whole new dimension to them, and expand my capabilities. I'm sure I would not want to code for a living.

 

[b-boy]

I did some BASIC early in college, and a couple of semesters of Pascal. When I transferred, I got into COBOL, right before the Y2K commotion. ALMOST got a job with a company doing Y2K and business report fixing/coding, but didn't take it. That stuff was high dollar back then, or soon to be.

Haven't done much since then. I agree with Passedpawn about trying to go from those languages to C++. It's different!

I'd love to learn how to program PLC stuff for my hobbies. I'm sure it would give a whole new dimension to them, and expand my capabilities. I'm sure I would not want to code for a living.

There is still a lot of COBOL out there - believe it or not. It's definitely high-dollar now. Since most COBOL programmers are retiring, or will be very soon, you can pretty much name your price. Programmers are coming out of retirement as contractors and making more than when they were working.

Same for some of the other 'Legacy languages'. I know a guy getting 200k/yr to support an old mission critical Visual FoxPro system. He originally got a 3-year contract. He's already been re-signed for another year, because it's taking them longer to convert than expected.

If you're looking to pick a language, I'd say java. You can't go wrong with java.

 

[beernutz]

I think my head wants to explode. It's interesting it's fun I'm wondering how long I'll actually stick with trying to learn it though. I have a full time and a part time job already this is something I'm just poking my head into to see if maybe it's not worth a career change as I'm in my 30s now and making 20-30k less a year than friends around the same age.

I do have a 4 year hard science degree so it's more so a function of where I work and not what I work. Just kind of bored with what I do now.

Any software devs out there have any fantastic advice or things to not do as I dip my toes into this very deep pool?

IMO if you learn python and ruby and you will open a lot of very profitable doors.

 

[jschein]

if you manage to land a new job as a developer, keep in mind that you'll be payed the same as a kid fresh out of college, you don't have the experience, no matter what your age is, you'll be payed as someone with zero work experience in the field. so, if your goal is to make more money, i don't think that this is the right approach

that said...

teach yourself good habits, write clean code, regardles of the language.
if you can write great pseudo code you can write great code.

i've seen many developes with expert knowlede of the language that write horrible unmaintainable code. if you can't break down a problems into it's most basic requirements, you already failed before you started.

then pick a scripting language (python, ruby, perl, etc...) and one compiled language (C, C++, java, go-lang, etc...) and master it

good luck, and have fun!
J.

What j said, solid advice.
Fortran, cobol and MUMPS is a mainstay of the healthcare industry.
Also it's good to learn some kind of industry workflow and use that to practice.
Good luck

 

[passedpawn]

What j said, solid advice.
Fortran, cobol and MUMPS is a mainstay of the healthcare industry.
Also it's good to learn some kind of industry workflow and use that to practice.
Good luck

That's very hard to believe. At least the fortran and cobol stuff. Don't know what the other is.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Loose coupling and make more notes than you think is appropriate.

This is more true than it should be.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

Find a project on GitHub that interests you and contribute. Fix some bugs, implement some feature requests, get your hands dirty.

 

[day_trippr]

Whoa. One must learn to crawl first...

 

[b-boy]

Loose coupling and make more notes than you think is appropriate.

This is more true than it should be.

I haven't heard that in years....

My first coding professor used to say:

'Maximize cohesion and minimize coupling.'

It was his mantra. He was just like Yoda. Kinda looked like him too. He used to keep donuts in his suit coat pocket. you'd be talking too him, and suddenly he'd be eating a donut.