Exactly, mid-life crisis Family.. it is another big question

As for immigration - i dont see significant advantages of living in the West. Salaries are higher along with prices. For example now i rent appartments in the center of Moscow - how much should I earn to rent in Manhatten or LA center?.. If I move to USA in fact I lose in quality of life. Also Russia lacks qualified specialists in IT, a lot of new projects here, so I suppose its much easier to make a career in Moscow.

delete

Some tips for people starting out: I find it the easiest to learn a new skill when I directly benefit from it (or help others). I learned web scraping with Python using this forum to make this thread. Then I tweaked it to help someone compile their long ass post history. And then tweaked it again to ping my local Craigslist to alert me when a cheap ad for a table was posted.

You always pick up some related skills by proximity while doing your own projects which can trigger new projects (like text parsing, scheduling tasks, file structures etc.) And if you get stuck just google your issue and 99 times out of a 100 someone has already had your problem and the solution can be found on Stack Overflow.

I guess you can make the comparison of learning programming in school/taking courses vs. making your own projects is like learning a new language by sitting in school learning grammar vs. going to the country and start speaking. Where the latter is way more motivating and probably faster.

Python seems a really great programming language.

I've got a few high-end programs that take advantage of its functionality. 3D stuff and Audio stuff too.

I've found a few good resources for it. It seems to be a real hacker's language in a way, and has stood the test of time with regard to fashion compared to other high-level scripting languages. I love how it uses whitespace for indentation. That just gave me a real thrill.

I never really got off the ground with the programming, probably due to the fact that I'm not quite clever enough. I still like studying about it though and learning about new concepts. I find I can converse with people who are doing real world stuff and I'm even able to teach them something new, due to my broader generality as compared to their specific speciality, sometimes, at least.

I just have a real love for words and phrases and ways of putting them all together. Shame I lack the maths angle. Then again, my logic abilities are pretty good.

I think if I had had a computer at an earlier age, and been in an environment conducive to study, then I might have cracked it and become at least a mediocre programmer. Kids these days, kind of thing. It wasn't so long ago that the computer was introduced and very few people could afford them. Now you have a supercomputer in your phone.

I know some hackers even who admit to being very mediocre programmers. They make a decent living. But they are clever enough to know their limitations. We skirt around computers when we meet, but it's just a busman's holiday, so we tend to talk about other things.

The internet has turned into the wild west again. There are no laws anymore now. You can data rape APIs and people left right and centre. It helps if you work for the big five of course. But even so, a programmer with wit and guile has access to information that the Stasi only dreamed about. It may not be strictly legal, but you will get away with it, and when the big five or government buys it off you, it will become legit then, as they are above all laws.

There are massive opportunities for abuse without risk of punishment. Every day a new start up appears that does something that would have been illegal 10 years ago, and pushes the boundary of decency. Computer programming and the internet is a dream world today for those ruthless enough to exploit it.

As for Python, well, I spent about six hours installing it on my system before finally getting it working. But I did uncover some path regression bugs in the process. When it got set up properly, it added some pretty amazing functionality to my software (REAPER).

You could make a bit of cash by doing scripting in these environments and providing some kind of 'plugin' extensions, whether they be for 3D programs or Audio stuff. Often times you don't even need to know the dirty down low hard core world of trigonometry and matrix multiplication for the 3D stuff, say, or DSP for the audio stuff. The API provides enough high level functionality to interface with the lower level languages, and very often it is just a matter of writing a bit of pseudo-code and using simple logic to get the job done.

That might take you a few weeks to do, all the same, but even idiots like me can do stuff like that. It's just a case of knowing your target market and application. In fact, very often, you don't even need to go as low level as Python, as macros are built in any way. You would need some familiarity with the system though, and a good idea of what it is you are trying to achieve, and why you are trying to achieve it, or else it's pointless.

But then again, there are lots of people doing this, and giving their work away for free. You still need an angle to make money. There are nerds out there that do this for fun. Then just give it away for kudos. At least in the worlds I'm talking about (3D, Audio). But those are quite niche markets, and probably not indicative of the broader fields, such as industry, say, where you could make money from Python scripting. It's a good language to learn as so many people use it and have it built in already, to the systems they are using, whether they realise it or not.

Just some random thoughts. I'm really not an expert in this at all.

Stack Overflow 2016 Survey 50,000 Devs Worldwide Respond Amazing Data About The Industry

^ I take it Scala developers earning $140k are in finance?

Quote: (03-10-2016 04:54 PM)the Thing Wrote:  

Quote: (03-10-2016 05:41 AM)storm Wrote:  

Do any of you guys have experience managing programmers? What are the best general practices?

Most programmers you will encounter will fall into the SJW category so all the advice regarding herding that type of crowd will directly apply. Here's a few pointers:

- Make sure one of them is not significantly more skilled than the others. Even though they won't admit it, they will secretly get jealous. One of them being significantly worse than the others won't affect much except he'll constantly nag other developers about his shit not working.
- They'll all have strong opinions on how stuff needs to be done, and they're SJWs so they won't directly come forward with their opinions instead they'll go with a passive aggressive nag-until-you-snag strategy. It will be your job to work this shit storm into synergy in order to avoid tearing the project apart.
- You can always talk with them on their favorite subject: themselves.
- Hold stand up meetings every morning to make sure everyone's got their shit on lockdown.
- Cultural fit is important.
- If you're going to hire a woman, make sure she's ugly, otherwise they'll hit on her, get shut down, then spend too much time crying, getting angry, listening to emo music and jerking their cocks.

They say "managing programmers is like herding cats" and this is completely true. Here's a relevant book:

http://www.amazon.com/Herding-Cats-Prime...1590590171

Godspeed.

Isn't it annoying when your colleagues are SJWs? how do you deal with that?

Quote: (05-28-2016 09:56 AM)LouEvilSlugger Wrote:  

^ I take it Scala developers earning $140k are in finance?

Sounds right. I've gotten a good number of interviews from financial firms looking to hire Scala programmers. I'm by no means a Scala expert but I'm capable of discussing the language without sounding completely moronic, especially with a few days to prepare. Unfortunately I've never gotten an offer from one of those companies, but that lies on me.

Most of my work involves scripting languages like Python, Ruby, and Groovy currently. I'm looking to learn C and get into the systems programming/embedded devices world because the current trend JavaScript/web everything trend means that less people will care about that stuff. Which means that people knowledgeable about low level programming will probably be able to negotiate favorable employment pretty easily. At least I hope that's the case. Are there any professional C programmers here? I would love to learn from you.

Quote: (06-13-2016 03:00 AM)Frank Underwood Wrote:  

Most of my work involves scripting languages like Python, Ruby, and Groovy currently. I'm looking to learn C and get into the systems programming/embedded devices world because the current trend JavaScript/web everything trend means that less people will care about that stuff.

Can you elaborate on what this means? Are you saying Javascript is in the process of displacing every other language in the web dev space?

I think he meant that the barrier of entry to becoming a web dev is pretty low which means more and more people are hopping on it which will eventually drove down pay .

Being effective with a language like Scala requires a lot more skill which raises the barrier of entry and in turn raises the pay .

To elaborate, web development is in high, visible demand right now, and it's considered a cool career. That's why there are all those coding boot camps out there, which typically teach JS and maybe a server-side framework like Ruby on Rails. I don't think that any popular language like Python, PHP or Ruby is going to be displaced by JavaScript.

My guess -- which is as much of a gamble as any other -- is that the amount of attention web development is getting will mean that fewer people will be going into different sub-fields such as embedded systems. But at the same time, the need for people to program embedded systems won't go away, meaning people working in that field will be able to negotiate better terms of employment.

Is there less people going into embedded systems because web/mobile dev is the cooler field or is it because there just isn't the demand for those positions? Food for thought.

I'm honestly not sure. But there's an absolutely insane number of microcontrollers being sold every year, so either answer could be valid. It could possibly be that most of the ES jobs pay $20K a year and are farmed out to cheap labor countries.

I did not even start thinking about it until last week, so I need to do a lot more reading and asking around.

I thinking of picking up c#, what do you guys think of the language?

My programming experience is very small and even then it comes from matlab

My job involves c# but we do very little bespoke programming. I also am trying to learn c# from a more individual and hands on approach.

Just been reading about the different areas of the language so far, will start creating mini projects soon.

Jobs wise, plenty out there in the UK.

Quote: (06-14-2016 02:38 PM)Metzer Wrote:  

My job involves c# but we do very little bespoke programming. I also am trying to learn c# from a more individual and hands on approach.

Just been reading about the different areas of the language so far, will start creating mini projects soon.

Jobs wise, plenty out there in the UK.

cheers mate.
With a full-time job it's difficult juggling my job and learning

C# is good choice, there is tons of materials you can pick from, I would suggest you getting official MS C# book in newest revision, it is excellent learning material about language itself.

But apart from this, you also have to learn how OOP works, what are design patterns, it would help to memorize some of the most used algorithms and also boolean algebra.
Also if you really like C# then you will inevitably have to learn other .NET languages and MS SQL.

I myself prefer Java, but thats just me having entry level position after I finished uni.

Quote: (06-13-2016 04:29 PM)cycl0ne Wrote:  

I thinking of picking up c#, what do you guys think of the language?

My programming experience is very small and even then it comes from matlab

C# is good for business to business jobs and eventual consulting and contract work. Large entities favor it for its security and Microsoft backing. It is a beautiful language and Visual Studio is a beautiful IDE.

If you want to get something up fast and be more flexible with your tools I would go for Node.js or Python and learn about cloud integration and big data. Security is always an option I just think the subject is boring and stressful as fuck. One fuck up and that could be your job. Can pay very well though on the otherside.

People keep talking like Go is the future, I just have never met a programmer that seriously programs in it.

Someone else said if you learn C# you have to learn other .NET languages. This isn't true. You could go your entire career/entrepreneurship with never learning another .NET language like F# or VB. SQL is SQL pretty much the same as another other version with some different toy keywords.

Quote: (06-13-2016 01:47 PM)jj90 Wrote:  

Is there less people going into embedded systems because web/mobile dev is the cooler field or is it because there just isn't the demand for those positions? Food for thought.

People don't go into embedded as often because #1 there are way less jobs, though less competition comparatively. Probably 10% of the jobs of web/app developers have. So that is less company cultures and flexibility. You can get a web or app job ANYWHERE. Many embedded markets for certain product lines are only in certain regions of the country or hell even only in certain cities. So if you specialize you can be really grounded to where you can work. Becoming an entrepreneur at embedded is much more difficult due to start up costs of buying, assembling, and selling the hardware.

You always always have to work onsite with hardware or visit production lines to see everything is working after it is assembled.

I.E. it has way way less chances for remote opportunities.

Also the cool start ups with the juice bar and ping pong table are almost never embedded places they are usually more older guys (computer engineers, electrical engineers etc...) it doesn't have as free flowing a vibe because fuck ups on hardware takes a lot more wasted capital the stakes are higher. Carrying this train of thought is fucking up an expensive robot or jet fighter etc...

#2 and a bigger reason is embedded systems C programming is much harder by an order of magnitude than web or app development. You don't have a million tutorials for the exact chip you work on mixed with the overall goal you are trying to achieve. Memory is much more important, efficiency is much more important.

Anyone I know that is good at embedded development is 3 times the programmer of any web/app/ or hobby hacker I know. They know programming inside and out. They have to be elegant.

#3 and the most important. Every embedded dev I know that is success full is a "natural". They were a programming nerd from high school or before. Even if they were rich and retired they would still program in their spare time. I would equate embedded to being very into jazz as a musician, you have to have a real love and knack to really go far in it. Any guy can play punk music on guitar and have some fun, same with web/app dev.

Embedded programming is extremely frustrating in the beginning. Because you have a lot more sources of errors and C is less forgiving than JavaScript. But when you get into it, it can be great fun. I feel like Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice, giving life to dead matter.

And don't be fooled, there are A LOT jobs in embedded systems. Just count the number of devices that have a computer in them, where you currently are.

I do some embedded device programing as a consultant. I'm mostly building prototypes for companies that don't have their own in-house capabilities. It's quite lucrative (I'm clearing way more than 140k this year). If you can learn the details of the hardware and how different components of the system communicate (and what can go wrong) you will be very marketable.

Embedded development is really easy these days. I've been playing with stuff in the Arduino space and development is almost trivial. most of it is doing web searches for the particular functionality you are looking for.

Personally, I would love to get another job programming in Forth, hopefully on a 16 bit processor which is the sweet spot for the language and environment.

For those who are jst learning a language, I recommend things like learnpythonthehardway.com and learnrubythehardway.com. Free to take online.

Also, as someone who has been programming in Ruby since 2003, I recommend learning Python. I think Ruby is a wonderful language and the community is full of great people, but Python seems to have captured a significantly larger market share.

And remember to be nice to your systems administrator. We can make your life much easier or much more painful.

^ For everyone familiar with the Arduino IDE, you should check out the ESP8266. It is essentially an arduino with built-in Wi-Fi for only $4. It can host small websites or you could use your smartphone as remote-control.






If anyone has a question about it, feel free to send me a PM.

Quote: (06-18-2016 02:29 PM)CookieDough Wrote:  

^ For everyone familiar with the Arduino IDE, you should check out the ESP8266. It is essentially an arduino with built-in W-iFi for only $4. It can host small websites or you could use your smartphone as remote-control.

If anyone has a question about it, feel free to send me a PM.

Those things are great. I use them in a lot of remote sensing/monitoring projects.

I just recently began playing around with Arduino. It is pretty cool all the things it can do. I definitely recommend everyone here that likes to do computer programming, mess around with building things, or making gadgets check it out.

It is really cheap if you get your Arduino and components from China. I picked up an Arduino mini from Aliexpress for $1.44 including shipping. 100 LEDs for $1, 10 voltage regulators for 34 cents, 20 photo resistors for 63 cents, all included free shipping. You can also find cheap deals on eBay for components too. Shipping takes 2 to 3 weeks so plan accordingly.

One of the things I plan to make is a sun tracker for some solar panels using the Arduino, 1 or 2 linear actuators, and a custom mount. I'm also going to make a little weather station just for fun.