On 12/15/2013 06:27 PM, Israel wrote:
There is no starting place too small or big, I myself am not really a
developer yet, either... I am in the process of learning C++ and
furthering my web dev skills (HTML,CSS,JavaScript), so learning to
program well is the definite place to start.
Getting involved in small projects is a good way to begin.
The Ubuntu SDK is pretty easy as a place to start making function apps
with nice interfaces with only needing to know some JavaScript.
I forwarded your message to the list, as I thought it was for the
list(the subject), but it may have been a personal message... sorry if
I shouldn't have forwarded it... I didn't realize it until after I
forwarded it..
All:
As a developer, I don't presume to be able to prescribe a way you can
get into the business successfully. But I can tell you what I did,
which was successful for me, in my case.
I am probably more of an old-timer than most of you.
I went to college in the 60's, and got a job at Univac (the original
company name). I 'rode the wave' of mainframe internal software, later
specializing in communications software.
But all of that was proprietary software (and microcode), and mostly in
assembly language.
So when they started laying-off people, I had over 32 years experience
in software development, but not in modern languages, and without
recent, relevant, college training.
Yet I did get a job as a Java developer, writing interfaces between
hospital computer systems.
Here's how I did it.
In my last years at Unisys, seeing the 'writing on the wall', I learned
(on my own, on my home computer) C++.
Being a computer hobbyist, I had written various video games (and AI
programs) in C and assembly language, on my home computer.
So I had complex, working applications, written in C. C++ is not that
big of a jump from C, so I converted several of those applications to
C++. I even developed a methodology for converting C programs to C++.
Though being experienced in C++ was useful, it wasn't enough to get a
job. In my job application experience, C++ seemed to be getting
less-important.
Fortunately, other modern programming languages (JavaScript, Java, and
C#) are not really all that different from C++. In fact, they are so
similar that you can get confused as to which language you are using,
and how you do similar things in the different languages.
So I took those same programs I converted from C to C++, and converted
them to JavaScript, Java, and C#.
By converting working programs, very little time was involved in fixing
logic-errors. Most of the debugging was in errors relating to the
differences in the programming-languages used. So my time was
efficiently used in learning the details of each programming language.
When I finally had four complex applications developed in each of the
languages, employers started to be interested in my resume. Of course,
my 32 years of experience was useful as well (but my lack of recent
college training was a negative too).
Those applications I developed, I could demonstrate as evidence of my
work, and my abilities. The context-sensitive help functionality seemed
to impress them most.
I eventually got a job as a developer.
I am retired now, and am still doing software development. This time,
something nearer to my passion, with which I think to change the world
(lofty goals). We shall see. One of my beta-testers thinks it will.
Anyway, good luck on your goals. Unfortunately, luck always seems to be
involved as well.
I hope this lengthy e-mail will prove to be useful advice to someone.
--
Sincerely,
Aere
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