"Just learn to Code" they said... the TRUTH about Coding / Programming Jobs

[JT-Money]

So the trades are better than tech correct?

I would learn both because the tech labor market is due for a major crash. Just 10 years ago you had massive layoffs in the tech sector. And with the economy poise to be in a really long recession it's gonna happen again.

Tech jobs hammered by recession – The Mercury News

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Everytime I think to myself, "Gee wiz I should get back into trying to learn programming". I get hit with a thread like this and the grim reality that 80 percent of programmers are on the struggle stance while the 20 are complete sociopaths. Plus, I get "nam" flashbacks of trying to debug a simple project for school that took fukking a whole weekend, until I found out that I missed a letter

 

[Ayo]

So the trades are better than tech correct?

I'm an executive in software and make good money. Do OK for myself and my family.

My boy is a 'master' plumber. Even when he was a 'journeyman' between his regular union gig and his side work he pulls in more than I do. He's also managed to buy 3 rehabs in college towns, rebuilt them and he now owns as rental properties.

My boy who's in a pipe fitters (sprinkler systems) union, same thing. Makes more than I do. Rental properties in college towns.

One of the plumber's former coworkers owns a fairly small plumbing business in NY that gets regular contract work and was he was one of the first people in the US with a Porsche 911 GT2 RS.

And all 3 have done a year PAID disability bid it's like a right of passage.

There's money in the trades. It's just not in manufacturing anymore. And a career that provides some sort of designation/license/certificate (i.e. 'master' plumbing) will usually keep the low skilled cheap labor from competing.

 

[Crack Daniels]

I think the problem is people are conflating "learn to code" with "learn to develop".

If you go to a coding bootcamp expecting to make 100K - you are in for a rough time. Learning a programming language isn't Computer Science. Similarly, it's not Software Development either. It's like being the guy on the construction site that just brings tool for other people to build the house. Yea you know some stuff, you can even build things, but you don't understand the whys and hows of what to do and when to do them.

So you get your bootcamp certificate and realize you only know surface level stuff. Great, you know C#. Do you understand how bubble sort works and can you create it in another language?

A comp sci student will know the answer to first. They might not know the answer to the second depending on the language, but once they get the syntax down for the new language they will. And it may take them less than an hour to figure that out. THAT is the skill you want and what you get paid for. To be able to think in abstract ways and understand that programming languages are just there for implementation (and communication to the OS and other programmers). You are there to solve problems and create stuff, not be obsessed with the way tools work.

This is what I was trying to convey earlier and you said it perfectly. The way it was explained to me is when you’re hired the company is getting a negative return on investment for at least the first 6 months. That’s because you’re spending that time getting up to speed with their tech and upskilling. They’re banking on you using that technical knowledge down the line to become valuable. But their main concern is do you possess the fundamental understanding to be able to leverage any technology to solve problems. Knowing the “What” and “Why” >>>>>>> knowing “How”

Because your business' product isn't software. Writing banking software is easier than (for example) writing a compiler.

Sorry breh but you are wrong here.

Exactly what part am I wrong about? Software development is a broad field and the vast majority of developers aren’t writing compilers... but let’s discuss this

 

[Rhyme n Tekniq]

Trust me I have nothing to be mad about. I just call out bullshyt where I see it. You are giving out bad advice to young brehs who may be curious and I don't rock with that. It's one thing to say that tech is not a get rich quick easy scheme and that it can be hard work. I agree with that.

Where I disagree is you telling young brehs on the come up that if they go this route they won't have any kind of social life or hobbies and they're better off driving trucks and fixing toilets. Loads of misinformation and overall
Terrible advice. If you gave IT a shot and it wasn't for you that's cool. just leave it at that.

Tesla and other companies out here pumping out self-driving trucks and you telling people to go opposite of technology and go to truck driving.

Exactly.

I ran into alot of fear mongering and discouraging attitudes and , people trying to play gate keeper when I started out, but I ignored all of that and carved my own path and stayed focused.

To all my niccas at a crossroads in life and pondering if they should get into tech, trust me my G's; You'll be alright. Dive in. Dont listent to these jaded ass bums tell you what's possible or what you cant do.

I had no mentors or any of that shyt starting out; Didnt even know what an A+ cert was. All I had was The IT Certifications and Careers thread and my boundless ambition.


I remember when I attended this bullshyt ass IT Bootcamp school tha helps with getiing certs for beginners,
Doing class introduction, I witness multiple cacs say they want a decent helpdesk job paying 30/hr and when I said the same, they looked at me like . Like I was tripping.

Now I'm making 40 dollars an hour 1year and 8 months into my career , getting basically waterboarded with knowledge of in-demand technologies while most of those same bum ass cacs are still bouncing between manual labor jobs and military leave struggling to pass the A+ with the closest thing they have to a job in tech is unboxing DELL laptops and imaging them before delivering them to some school or office building..


Nobody believes in you, GOOD...fukk'em

fukk what they think isnt possible or realistic

fukk their sob stories and bitterness, It dont mean shyt. 100% of these people feeding y'all negative demoralizing info are just flapping their muthafuccin gums aimlessly , hoping they can pursuade as many people as possible to not get into tech because of some fear of job scarcity or they're insecure about the idea of some black folks and women getting into tech and crushing it; running laps around their bum ass


The niccas who eating in tech aint hanging out on Reddit 16 hrs a day bytching about their career and the so called "pitfalls" of working tech.

However, what they ARE doing is effortlessly paying off their debt, increasing their credit score, investing, taking REAL vacations to places like the Maldives, and proudly flaunting their get-money gut (Not me lol) from all the bomb ass high-end restaurants they can afford all because they stay on the grind and know how to play the game.


Best advice. Find out what areas in tech you want to work in , the hottest markets, online learning resources and attack your goals relentlessly.

fukk external motivation...motivate yourself
fukk these hoe ass nikkas opinions....find out for yourself

Trust me my g's you'll be ok

 

[LV Koopa]

Exactly.

I ran into alot of fear mongering and discouraging attitudes and , people trying to play gate keeper when I started out, but I ignored all of that and carved my own path and stayed focused.

To all my niccas at a crossroads in life and pondering if they should get into tech, trust me my G's; You'll be alright. Dive in. Dont listent to these jaded ass bums tell you what's possible or what you cant do.

I had no mentors or any of that shyt starting out; Didnt even know what an A+ cert was. All I had was The IT Certifications and Careers thread and my boundless ambition.


I remember when I attended this bullshyt ass IT Bootcamp school tha helps with getiing certs for beginners,
Doing class introduction, I witness multiple cacs say they want a decent helpdesk job paying 30/hr and when I said the same, they looked at me like . Like I was tripping.

Now I'm making 40 dollars an hour 1year and 8 months into my career , getting basically waterboarded with knowledge of in-demand technologies while most of those same bum ass cacs are still bouncing between manual labor jobs and military leave struggling to pass the A+ with the closest thing they have to a job in tech is unboxing DELL laptops and imaging them before delivering them to some school or office building..


Nobody believes in you, GOOD...fukk'em

fukk what they think isnt possible or realistic

fukk their sob stories and bitterness, It dont mean shyt. 100% of these people feeding y'all negative demoralizing info are just flapping their muthafuccin gums aimlessly , hoping they can pursuade as many people as possible to not get into tech because of some fear of job scarcity or they're insecure about the idea of some black folks and women getting into tech and crushing it; running laps around their bum ass


The niccas who eating in tech aint hanging out on Reddit 16 hrs a day bytching about their career and the so called "pitfalls" of working tech.

However, what they ARE doing is effortlessly paying off their debt, increasing their credit score, investing, taking REAL vacations to places like the Maldives, and proudly flaunting their get-money gut (Not me lol) from all the bomb ass high-end restaurants they can afford all because they stay on the grind and know how to play the game.


Best advice. Find out what areas in tech you want to work in , the hottest markets, online learning resources and attack your goals relentlessly.

fukk external motivation...motivate yourself
fukk these hoe ass nikkas opinions....find out for yourself

Trust me my g's you'll be ok

Jesus Christ

 

[Dave24]

Exactly.

I ran into alot of fear mongering and discouraging attitudes and , people trying to play gate keeper when I started out, but I ignored all of that and carved my own path and stayed focused.

To all my niccas at a crossroads in life and pondering if they should get into tech, trust me my G's; You'll be alright. Dive in. Dont listent to these jaded ass bums tell you what's possible or what you cant do.

I had no mentors or any of that shyt starting out; Didnt even know what an A+ cert was. All I had was The IT Certifications and Careers thread and my boundless ambition.


I remember when I attended this bullshyt ass IT Bootcamp school tha helps with getiing certs for beginners,
Doing class introduction, I witness multiple cacs say they want a decent helpdesk job paying 30/hr and when I said the same, they looked at me like . Like I was tripping.

Now I'm making 40 dollars an hour 1year and 8 months into my career , getting basically waterboarded with knowledge of in-demand technologies while most of those same bum ass cacs are still bouncing between manual labor jobs and military leave struggling to pass the A+ with the closest thing they have to a job in tech is unboxing DELL laptops and imaging them before delivering them to some school or office building..


Nobody believes in you, GOOD...fukk'em

fukk what they think isnt possible or realistic

fukk their sob stories and bitterness, It dont mean shyt. 100% of these people feeding y'all negative demoralizing info are just flapping their muthafuccin gums aimlessly , hoping they can pursuade as many people as possible to not get into tech because of some fear of job scarcity or they're insecure about the idea of some black folks and women getting into tech and crushing it; running laps around their bum ass


The niccas who eating in tech aint hanging out on Reddit 16 hrs a day bytching about their career and the so called "pitfalls" of working tech.

However, what they ARE doing is effortlessly paying off their debt, increasing their credit score, investing, taking REAL vacations to places like the Maldives, and proudly flaunting their get-money gut (Not me lol) from all the bomb ass high-end restaurants they can afford all because they stay on the grind and know how to play the game.


Best advice. Find out what areas in tech you want to work in , the hottest markets, online learning resources and attack your goals relentlessly.

fukk external motivation...motivate yourself
fukk these hoe ass nikkas opinions....find out for yourself

Trust me my g's you'll be ok

That was beautiful

 

[Shadow King]

If you’re gonna put in the effort to learn a skill for monetary value, at least make it something you like to do. You can get burned out on anything but if you don’t have a passion for it in the first place you’re just wasting your time

The thing is most "skills" that pay well are things 95% of people aren't passionate about.

 

[Dave24]

@Rhyme n Tekniq

What if you are not passionate about IT or are not talented enough to succef in it?

 

[buzzkill]

So are you telling me I’m wasting my time learning scratch?

Do it breh

Just dont expect 100k quick u gotta put in the work and take a small time job and even do free or cheap work to build your portfolio to pay your dues and get your name out there... after u get experience u will want to keep learning and trying new tech because its interesting... op makes the shyt sound bleak but there's literally so many possibilities once you get the foot in the door

 

[the bossman]

Exactly.

I ran into alot of fear mongering and discouraging attitudes and , people trying to play gate keeper when I started out, but I ignored all of that and carved my own path and stayed focused.

To all my niccas at a crossroads in life and pondering if they should get into tech, trust me my G's; You'll be alright. Dive in. Dont listent to these jaded ass bums tell you what's possible or what you cant do.

I had no mentors or any of that shyt starting out; Didnt even know what an A+ cert was. All I had was The IT Certifications and Careers thread and my boundless ambition.


I remember when I attended this bullshyt ass IT Bootcamp school tha helps with getiing certs for beginners,
Doing class introduction, I witness multiple cacs say they want a decent helpdesk job paying 30/hr and when I said the same, they looked at me like . Like I was tripping.

Now I'm making 40 dollars an hour 1year and 8 months into my career , getting basically waterboarded with knowledge of in-demand technologies while most of those same bum ass cacs are still bouncing between manual labor jobs and military leave struggling to pass the A+ with the closest thing they have to a job in tech is unboxing DELL laptops and imaging them before delivering them to some school or office building..


Nobody believes in you, GOOD...fukk'em

fukk what they think isnt possible or realistic

fukk their sob stories and bitterness, It dont mean shyt. 100% of these people feeding y'all negative demoralizing info are just flapping their muthafuccin gums aimlessly , hoping they can pursuade as many people as possible to not get into tech because of some fear of job scarcity or they're insecure about the idea of some black folks and women getting into tech and crushing it; running laps around their bum ass


The niccas who eating in tech aint hanging out on Reddit 16 hrs a day bytching about their career and the so called "pitfalls" of working tech.

However, what they ARE doing is effortlessly paying off their debt, increasing their credit score, investing, taking REAL vacations to places like the Maldives, and proudly flaunting their get-money gut (Not me lol) from all the bomb ass high-end restaurants they can afford all because they stay on the grind and know how to play the game.


Best advice. Find out what areas in tech you want to work in , the hottest markets, online learning resources and attack your goals relentlessly.

fukk external motivation...motivate yourself
fukk these hoe ass nikkas opinions....find out for yourself

Trust me my g's you'll be ok

The come up! I felt the perseverance and the grind all throughout this post. And only 1 year and 8 months in too??

Get your money, black man!!

 

[wastedmermaid]

A lot of people saying you have to be dedicated to coding and have a passion and constantly keep up with the latest technology to get and keep a job, but I disagree. Maybe its because I don't live in a major tech hub and don't work at some cool company but for the most part 90% of the people I work with come in, do there 9-5 and go home to do other stuff. And these guys are very good at what they do. I feel like a lot of people in tech make it seem like tech should be the center of your life and that after you get done your dev job for 8-10 hr you need to go home and write more code, work on personal projects, do coding problems to "stay sharp" etc. Working in a large company I find there's not this need to stay up to date with the latest and greatest technology for most people. These established codebases are HUGE and there not about to do a damn re-write of it every year because a newer "better" technology came out. Most of the stuff I'm working on is 10+ yrs old. Again, the question is "Does it work? If so, don't break it". Small updates here and there as needed but never anything major to fast. I work with guys that have been doing Java/.Net for 15+ years working on large enterprise systems and there doing just fine. For me personally, I'm working on getting good at a few languages (Java, C#) thrown in a popular framework here and there and just learn things as the need arises

I like coding/technology and all, but, I wouldn’t say that its a passion per se.

 

[buzzkill]

And the thing about no social life is a lie u may have to sacrifice a little at some points in learning or freelancing

But I'm bagging more bishes than ever

A black dude that's cool + in the tech field these chicks gonna be trying to get u to cuff quick ... u not the norm

 

[Hoshi_Toshi]

Man I hated Java. I get it but I don't have the brain power to do it all day. That helped me choose a path though. If you don't apply yourself to it you might not like it. We had a black guy come to my class and told us for an hour about how these companies in Silicon Valley are just begging to hire some Americans but they can't get any good candidates. He went on and on about how they keep having to go to India for good developers. I don't know if that's true or not but I do know all the people in my class were not interested in Java, only there because it was a required class. There were 3 people actively participating and coding at home on projects for fun. 2 Asian guys and a white girl.

You gotta stay on that shyt AND you gotta network.

 

[JLova]

A lot of people saying you have to be dedicated to coding and have a passion and constantly keep up with the latest technology to get and keep a job, but I disagree. Maybe its because I don't live in a major tech hub and don't work at some cool company but for the most part 90% of the people I work with come in, do there 9-5 and go home to do other stuff. And these guys are very good at what they do. I feel like a lot of people in tech make it seem like tech should be the center of your life and that after you get done your dev job for 8-10 hr you need to go home and write more code, work on personal projects, do coding problems to "stay sharp" etc. Working in a large company I find there's not this need to stay up to date with the latest and greatest technology for most people. These established codebases are HUGE and there not about to do a damn re-write of it every year because a newer "better" technology came out. Most of the stuff I'm working on is 10+ yrs old. Again, the question is "Does it work? If so, don't break it". Small updates here and there as needed but never anything major to fast. I work with guys that have been doing Java/.Net for 15+ years working on large enterprise systems and there doing just fine. For me personally, I'm working on getting good at a few languages (Java, C#) thrown in a popular framework here and there and just learn things as the need arises

I like coding/technology and all, but, I wouldn’t say that its a passion per se.

I'm talking about getting into programming. You have to be dedicated and passionate especially if you're going to learn it through self-study. The shyt is difficult if you can't think a particular way and hard to grasp for many. So it's easy to just put it down and do something else. So in order to get stumped and still keep going, you need to be passionate about what you're learning. Eventually it will all click....but it's easy to get discouraged and leave it alone. At first you will spend a lot of time on it.

The people you're talking about have already learned how to code. Once you learn you will have the time to do all the things you want to do. If you're coding at work for 10 hrs, there's no need to go home and do more. That's more than enough training. The response was for people who are green and trying to get into it. You have to keep at it.