Mathematical
Silver Coder
Hey there.
You may have read this thread here: https://www.codeforum.org/threads/my-advice-to-newer-programmers.871/
That thread was giving advice to newer programmers, who don't exactly know what to do or learn. I'm thinking it'd be best to write more pieces of advice for newcomers, providing examples from my experience and the experiences of others inside these pieces. So as a result of that, expect more advice in the future. Again, these threads are aimed towards newer programmers, but they can of course apply to people who have been programming for a while now.
So, what exactly I want to talk about today is, projects. Every piece of software that you use, is the project of one person, a group of people, or the child of a corporation. The Linux Kernel was a project developed by Linus Torvalds. Look where it is now. Reddit was a project started by two men. Look at how many advice animal memes there are now. MS Windows was started by Microsoft. Look at how much of a mess it is now. Of course, I don't want every single one of you to look at one of these projects/products and say: "I could do that, maybe even better". Hate to break it to you kid, but you can't. You can try, but it will be much harder than you think it is.
Let me tell you about my experience. I've started a lot of projects at this point. But unfortunately, they've either been scrapped or I passed them onto somebody else. WebWareBox was a project of mine, which was continuously riding a roller-coaster without ever coming off of it. It now lies dormant in the hands of somebody else who has not bothered with it one bit. I was also trying to make my own games at one point, but one after the other, I just gave-up on them all. This leads me to my next point and it's that, not everyone can create and manage a project. I'm one of those people.
But the good thing about starting projects, is that you learn from past mistakes, and you also learn new skills. For example, WebWareBox wasn't originally a piece of software that you could install onto your website. It was actually proprietary, centralized, hosted and developed by only me, and looked like crap. If I hadn't of leased it over to CodeForum, then I wouldn't of learned and improved upon many things. I wouldn't have improved my communication and co-operation skills with others over the Internet. I wouldn't have learned Git. And I most certainly wouldn't have improved my HTML and CSS skills. Another example is when I tried making games on ROBLOX(This was when I was younger). If I didn't create new projects, I wouldn't have further expanded my programming-skills. Of course, I've moved on from ROBLOX, but then that took me to Unity and C#, in which I developed multiple projects using those, albeit with no luck or success.
Again, this proves my point that not everyone is fit to create and manage a project. Some lack the skills, others aren't comfortable with doing so, and some just don't want to do it. But, as with the examples I've given above, creating new projects allows you to stop yourself from committing past mistakes; learn new skills; and improve on skills that you aren't so good with(Such as team-communication).
Now, I still like to start new projects, but they're mostly just re-iterations of the same project I started a couple of days prior. I just happen to develop and write them in a different way until I can get results that satisfy me. Although, my main focus now is on looking for work. And for you newer programmers, I suggest you do the same. As with creating new projects, you'll get the chance to learn new things and improve on existing things. CF has a board for you to announce that you're looking for work in, here: https://www.codeforum.org/forums/project-marketplace.87/
When you post there, looking for work, you should expect somebody to come by pretty soon with an offer or with interest. If nobody comes, continue announcing on the very same thread that you're still available. Somebody is bound to pick-up soon.
I hope this second guide for newer programmers, has helped you. Expect another guide to be posted soon(That is, when I think of a topic to write about. I've already posted a guide regarding new programmers learning different languages and finding their interests. And this one was about projects and work. If you have any suggestions, feel free to reply with them, and I'll consider writing about them).
Thank you for reading.
You may have read this thread here: https://www.codeforum.org/threads/my-advice-to-newer-programmers.871/
That thread was giving advice to newer programmers, who don't exactly know what to do or learn. I'm thinking it'd be best to write more pieces of advice for newcomers, providing examples from my experience and the experiences of others inside these pieces. So as a result of that, expect more advice in the future. Again, these threads are aimed towards newer programmers, but they can of course apply to people who have been programming for a while now.
So, what exactly I want to talk about today is, projects. Every piece of software that you use, is the project of one person, a group of people, or the child of a corporation. The Linux Kernel was a project developed by Linus Torvalds. Look where it is now. Reddit was a project started by two men. Look at how many advice animal memes there are now. MS Windows was started by Microsoft. Look at how much of a mess it is now. Of course, I don't want every single one of you to look at one of these projects/products and say: "I could do that, maybe even better". Hate to break it to you kid, but you can't. You can try, but it will be much harder than you think it is.
Let me tell you about my experience. I've started a lot of projects at this point. But unfortunately, they've either been scrapped or I passed them onto somebody else. WebWareBox was a project of mine, which was continuously riding a roller-coaster without ever coming off of it. It now lies dormant in the hands of somebody else who has not bothered with it one bit. I was also trying to make my own games at one point, but one after the other, I just gave-up on them all. This leads me to my next point and it's that, not everyone can create and manage a project. I'm one of those people.
But the good thing about starting projects, is that you learn from past mistakes, and you also learn new skills. For example, WebWareBox wasn't originally a piece of software that you could install onto your website. It was actually proprietary, centralized, hosted and developed by only me, and looked like crap. If I hadn't of leased it over to CodeForum, then I wouldn't of learned and improved upon many things. I wouldn't have improved my communication and co-operation skills with others over the Internet. I wouldn't have learned Git. And I most certainly wouldn't have improved my HTML and CSS skills. Another example is when I tried making games on ROBLOX(This was when I was younger). If I didn't create new projects, I wouldn't have further expanded my programming-skills. Of course, I've moved on from ROBLOX, but then that took me to Unity and C#, in which I developed multiple projects using those, albeit with no luck or success.
Again, this proves my point that not everyone is fit to create and manage a project. Some lack the skills, others aren't comfortable with doing so, and some just don't want to do it. But, as with the examples I've given above, creating new projects allows you to stop yourself from committing past mistakes; learn new skills; and improve on skills that you aren't so good with(Such as team-communication).
Now, I still like to start new projects, but they're mostly just re-iterations of the same project I started a couple of days prior. I just happen to develop and write them in a different way until I can get results that satisfy me. Although, my main focus now is on looking for work. And for you newer programmers, I suggest you do the same. As with creating new projects, you'll get the chance to learn new things and improve on existing things. CF has a board for you to announce that you're looking for work in, here: https://www.codeforum.org/forums/project-marketplace.87/
When you post there, looking for work, you should expect somebody to come by pretty soon with an offer or with interest. If nobody comes, continue announcing on the very same thread that you're still available. Somebody is bound to pick-up soon.
I hope this second guide for newer programmers, has helped you. Expect another guide to be posted soon(That is, when I think of a topic to write about. I've already posted a guide regarding new programmers learning different languages and finding their interests. And this one was about projects and work. If you have any suggestions, feel free to reply with them, and I'll consider writing about them).
Thank you for reading.
