ASK HN: I lack programming skills but want an IT future suggestions?

3 points by iapetos 14 years ago | 4 comments

I have time and again tried my hands on learning programming logic. I have recently for instance tried Android development although I am not too proficient in Java. I can understand the code but when it comes to implementation I lack the logic perspective.

Earlier I have tried my hands on at Unix and Linux Admin stuff. At present I am working as a recruiter but in the long run I would like to secure an IT job or atleast contribute to Open source projects.

What are the prospects in UNIX admin jobs be it onsite or remote.

Please do provide your perspective on the same.

apsurd 14 years ago |

If you are talking about web-based development, you have to build a complete application all by yourself, from top to bottom in my opinion.

This means all design work, UI, HTML, javascript. All backend application code that serves the the app/endpoints etc including any database components. And finally you have to have configured your own linux box running the aforementioned application components.

This sounds really overwhelming because it is. And I honestly don't think, statistically speaking, the majority of web-devs would be able to pull this off all by themselves. (I'm not talking about HN cuz I'd say the inverse if we just sampled HN web-devs).

The point is that you are going to get your ass handed to you trying to figure it all out and you are going to feel inadequate and scared and maybe want to give up. I don't know, but I think this kind of "test" proves to yourself whether or not you truly care about making web-based software.

The important realization here is that if you prove your passion to yourself I super-guarantee you this same passion will emanate through your bones and you'll have no problem convincing any company to give you a shot - passion is infectious.

Realize that the quality of the application is not as important as the fact that you yourself actually finished the project, it works (to some degree of work) and you can show it off proudly, source-code and all to your potential employer.

You don't need to be a super-designer; I'm not suggesting you train to be an elite systems ops guy. I'm saying show you are not afraid of being a "problem-solver" by solving problems, and you'll be fine =)

Best of luck to you.

iapetos 14 years ago | |

@apsurd Thanks. Appreciate your response. Yes I realize what you mean by getting involved in a complete application. I set out to achieve the same but ever so often I try to choose a language to learn and then I just cannot grasp the concepts.

I keep figuring out should I learn Java first or should I go back to C that I learnt years ago. This is where I am stuck and I needed help with.

wh-uws 14 years ago |

Are you looking for a developer job or unix sys admin?

For dev I would read this: http://www.andrewmunn.com/2011/01/how-to-land-an-internship-...

I know it says intern but i promise if you get to know that stuff well enough it would get you full time as well.

Also get "Cracking the Coding Interview" and "Programming Interviews Exposed"

Those give pretty good overviews about what is base level knowledge to get you up to speed for a developer role.

Then things would get domain specific from there

Others would have to chime in for sys admin

iapetos 14 years ago | |

@wh-uws I meant that I have tried my hands at coding but I succumb to it and give up feeling I cannot grab the concepts and the system admin stuff I have no issues with but although i could take system admin as a focus I feel with being an admin I cannot create something of my own and thats what keeps me going back to learning code. I keep switching languages and I believe that is what is screwing the efforts up.

Thank you for the link. Looks like a good read.