Programming is definitely not for everyone. Those that hate or failed math need not apply. Having tried to learn a few different spoken languages, I can say that learning a new coding language is similar but not as hard as learning something like Mandarin Chinese. It’s more like learning a language with a vocabulary of, say, 200-400 words instead of 100,000-400,000. Coding is like the inverse of solving an algebra equation, meaning instead of simplifying the equation you’re making it bigger and bigger while making sure it is still all true and equal.
Educate Yourself
Jun 22, ’11
8:00 AM
Being a brand new developer, I really appreciate good resources. When I started out programming, I was using Tizag to answer all the ‘why’ questions I had about each line of code. However, Tizag’s scope of training is not all inclusive. Now, I also use W3 Schools, which covers all the core technologies on the web.
In a day and age when technology is advancing so fast, traditional education is deprecated for technology information. By the time a textbook can be written, a curriculum developed and classes completed, the information is already outdated. Foundational education, which does not change as much, may be the only thing with a place in the traditional system.
One of my greatest realizations while in college was that universities are for-profit organizations. All this stuff about getting a degree and guaranteeing yourself a good job in your field is just marketing. You never hear any businesses or employers saying things like the universities. Hands on experience carries much more weight when all the cards are in, and I believe it’s going to be harder and harder to charge money for information and knowledge in the future.
So, making use of resources like W3 Schools and actually doing something with what you learn can be as helpful as having Bachelor of… on your resume. Like their slogan says, “Educate yourself!”
Thoughts on Reading (and why I love audiobooks)
Jun 17, ’11
8:00 AM
First of all, not everyone reads books anymore.
33% of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42% of college graduates never read another book after college. 80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. 70% of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years. 57% of new books are not read to completion. 70% of books published do not earn back their advance. 70% of the books published do not make a profit. (Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com) Close to 800 books are published each day in the US alone. (http://www.bowker.com)
There seems to be a huge disparity between the amount of reading material and the amount of readers for the material. Now, I realize that online reading has increased as offline reading has decreased, and this merely may be a change in medium. But I still feel like there’s good information getting overlooked in this interchange.
I have many physical books, and I try to read them at night because I read the Bible in the morning. But I find that my pace with reading physical books is not cutting it especially with so much information coming out daily. I recently become a huge fan of audiobooks, and here’s why.
I have a less than 10 minute commute to work, but with listening to audio books, I have listened to 8 books in about the last month or so. Granted, I also listened during trips other than my normal commute, but this far exceeded my physical reading pace. Maybe this is a cop out, maybe this is a lack of discipline and maybe this is a further degradation of our society, but this has definitely worked for me.
What makes a real man?
Jun 8, ’11
8:00 AM
What is a man? What makes a man a man? How does a boy know he has become a man? What makes a great man? These and many questions like are asked by every boy in the world, but few countries or cultures effectively answer them. Unfortunately, I don’t believe our culture is one of them that does. Because there are age restrictions by law on certain activities and because there is no other said standard or definition of being a man, the blank has been filled in by default by some of these age restricted activities. For example, until you’re 18 or 21, you can’t drink, smoke, buy pornography, or buy a gun. So now there’s this unspoken definition in our culture of a real man being a drinking, fighting, smoking, womanizing, shooting buffoon. This, however, is not what makes a man a man. It simply means that you have accrued the number years of existence necessary by law to harm yourself and others in these ways.
Turning an Idea into a Reality
May 31, ’11
6:38 AM
Visionaries dance the “POLCA.” This was a way I memorized this cycle while in business school and it’s always stuck with me. POLCA is an acronym for an order of tasks which bring an idea from concept to conception. They stand for P-lanning, O-rganizing, L-eading, C-ontrolling, and A-ssessing. I will expound on each in detail.
