Few questions about beginning

Questions to all those who are willing to answer.
When did you start coding(programming)?
How did you start? (Was it school or just curiosity?)
Why did you start? (Was it matter of passion or need for cash something?)
What are you doing now? (Are you satisfied with how things end up for you)?

1 Like

Not counting tweaking the HTML of my MySpace page, 2008-ish.

In college.

I was required to take 2 programming classes for my degree.

I’m a software engineer doing mostly web application stuff. I’m pretty happy with it.

1 Like
  1. When I was ~13 html/css if that counts, if not it was Visual Basic the next year.
  2. Curiosity, unfortunately my school never taught me anything like this.
  3. Passion, I just found it fascinating that I could make this ridiculously simple things and actually see it work in front of me.
  4. I’m a graduate software developer, and yeah i’m quite happy with it, i find it quite mentally draining, but i get a lot of satisfaction out of it. I am also only 6 months in however, so only time will tell.
1 Like

What is web application stuff?

Currently it means a few variations of a hybrid Angular/angularjs application with a C++ backend that runs on associated hardware.

1 Like

Early high school when I found how .bat scripts to run “batch” files on windows XP. I thought I was the coolest hacker on the block using gotos and changing the color of the console to look like fake blue screens of death.

It wasn’t until I actually went to college and realized I knew so little about programming.

I never was able to take “programming classes” in high school, so it was more of something I did in my spare time in the classes I had access to a computer, and at home on my outdated laptop. I’d bring a USB with all my tiny programs to each class so I could work on them on the side of whatever I was suppose to be doing.

Boredom and at the time programming was akin to an “educational puzzle”. I remember a teacher caught me in one of my elective classes writing out my tiny batch program, and asked “uh why are you messing with the DOS… well just don’t screw it up” haha. I could fiddle with my little programs or study something for my classes that I didn’t care about. I choose to program more often as it was interesting and challenging.

I’ve been wanting to be a programmer full time since high school, I was never picky about what I’d be doing as long as I would be able to solve problems thru code. Since that’s basically what I do 9-5, and what I do in my free time I’m pretty content. :slight_smile:

3 Likes

I started coding when I started university so about 4 years ago. But I started knowing how to actually code around a year ago. If that makes sense?

It was school. I wanted to go to University for musical performance but found it would be hard to make a living.

At first it was because I wanted to change the lives of others. A teacher in the local school system wasn’t able to buy resources because the school couldn’t fund her class. I teamed up with a friend of mine and for our final project in school we created an AR app for learning math.

I’m now a front end developer with a contracting company. I’m working with databases, containerization, web development, and data processing with Python. This isn’t where I expected to be, but I’ve never been happier to have been given this opportunity.

I’m curious, @CaptainMakaveli Are you willing to answer these questions? I would love to hear about your coding adventures!

2 Likes

Started when I was about 12, writing BASIC on a VIC-20. Godawful dialect of BASIC even for its time, but I didn’t know (or have) any better. Mostly I played games on it then later the far superior Commodore 64. At 14 or so, I toyed around with FORTH (Blazin’ Forth on the C64). Never really wrote much of consequence in either language that I can remember, but it got me understanding the basics. In college, things took off when I learned C, C++, and emacs lisp, and I’ve picked up lots of languages and platforms since. Dropped out after two years, but it still taught me a lot about fundamentals like data structures, compilers, and algorithmic analysis.

Probably the most formative language for me though was the programming language of LambdaMOO, which featured prototype OO inheritance (not quite like JS’s version) and immutable data. I already knew some OOP from C++, but this let me use it in all kinds of fun projects that other people could use immediately. I still miss having an environment like MOO and other programmable MUDs – the internet today may have so much more power, but it just doesn’t feel the same.

I learned HTML back when it was HTML 2.0, and the web browser I had to work with was Lynx: a text-mode browser. My IT career stalled for a few years, I did tech support a while, then sysadmin for Unix and Windows systems. Wrote some code in side projects, mostly in perl and tcl/tk, and I kept writing MOO code for fun, including an HTTP server in MOOcode.

My first real programming job was sometime around HTML 4.0 was new-ish (though I’d done other toy projects for work) but mostly for backend work in perl. Javascript was just starting to take off. PHP was doing okay, but perl still ruled the backend. Left that to go start a dotcom, lost my shirt, and went back to tech support to pay the bills.

Couple years later in 2001, I went into more “enterprise” development doing java and yes, perl, but decided to retire from that about 5 years ago. Now I make half of what I did before, but for a small four-person consulting company, writing in a variety of languages including Java, Javascript, and PHP. And despite having to work with PHP (which I detest), I’m much happier for it. Rather than go through N levels of management to get access to deploy a project that might block 0.001% more spam, I’m developing a website that helps kids learn to read. I get to see actual tangible results from my work. Hard to put a price tag on that.

1 Like

Well I just started with it at age of 27. Where I come from (Bosnia and Herzegovina) programming wasnt really a thing. But now am curious. And I like to create things. So I started month ago and decided to sign up in AT academy in my city. I would like to create a gaming platform that will combine art and fun. So I will see where this yourney will take me. :joy:

1 Like

What interesting questions!

I started coding when I was 12, on the Apple ][. My friend also had one and he gave me some games, and I started getting into computers that way. I wrote some little programs in BASIC and learned about logic, separating code into subroutines, and lots of technical stuff about the computer.

My knowledge probably started deepening by trying to cheat and add more lives to games, so I learned to halt the game, inspect memory, change some values, restart the game… and suddenly I had 255 lives. :grinning: I began writing more and more stuff in assembly language: animation routines, sound routines, a data transfer program for modems (this was a long time ago, pre-Internet, so everyone used modems to go online).

I took BASIC, Pascal, and Fortran in high school, because that’s what they offered. Took computer courses in college but by that point I started burning out on computers, after working so furiously on them for so many years. I drifted a bit but ultimately got a full-time job as a developer on the AS/400 platform, which was like an old-school mini-mainframe. It paid the bills and allowed me to buy a house, but it wasn’t exciting work. I did that for almost 20 years, but got laid off about six years ago after the company had been downsizing for a while. Then I started learning about iOS app development, but found it difficult to get a job doing that. After a few years, I got hired as a JavaScript developer at a great company, and I absolutely love it. Every day is a learning experience, enriching and fun.

So for me, my whole career was started as a kid by curiosity and the drive to figure out how computers worked and to prove I could build something. I somewhat regret staying at the AS/400 job for so long – I really stagnated there for like 10 years. But in the end, it worked out and I’m once again excited by what I do.

3 Likes

What was your degree in? Business? Just curious.

When did you start coding(programming)? College

How did you start? (Was it school or just curiosity?) Went to school for a biology degree and hated it. Took an elective, just to check it out. Switched to Computer Science. Changed to Information Systems after Calculus II.

What are you doing now? (Are you satisfied with how things end up for you)? Once I graduated I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but didn’t want to be a programmer.

Went through the hardware route of desktop, then servers. Got asked to do scripting related to Active Directory and account management in a Windows environment.

From there .NET App Development in VB and then C#.

Currently Web Development. Currently in .NET Core but we do a huge amount of HTML/CSS/JS. The JS part is what led me here.

1 Like

My degree is in Computer Science.

Only two classes gave me the impression that you started in a different degree path to start?

Oh. Sorry. It’s been long enough that I forgot the context. My first degree was in Technical Communication. I went back for Computer Science. Fuzzy daylight savings brain :no_mouth:

LOL. My wife was complaining about that this morning.

My least favorite day of the year.

I’m still a newbie but here’s my answers:

  1. August 2019 at the age of 60 years.
  2. Udemy classes, then FCC, then Odin Project.
  3. I got interested from doing WordPress sites and found I liked coding. It’s not
    about the money for me. I want to do some non-profit work, do some good in this world.
  4. I’m still learning; taking a deeper dive into JavaScript, and eventually WordPress development. I already have my first job putting together a WordPress site for a non-profit.
3 Likes

wow that means the age is just a number :slight_smile: I’m 32 years old and still struggle to learn web development every day because I’am overwhelmed by the courses from "Udemy " and I don’t know the path to follow through and how?
should I take FCC first or a course from Udemy !!

1 Like

Thanks Winas. Have you studied web development before? If you are a complete beginner, and feel a little intimidated, I recommend a Udemy course by Kathleen Farley, https://www.udemy.com/course/step-by-step-html-and-css-for-absolute-beginners/
This course will walk you through the beginning in easy steps. FCC will work well with this course. After you feel more comfortable, try a course by Angela Yu or Colt Steele.

3 Likes