i want to dedicate my life programing, need some tips and advice

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As with anything else, you get get back what you put into it. That being said, the demand for programmers is massive and they are in extremely high demand in the startup scene (and everywhere else for that matter). When people say that you will need [insert massive dollar amount] to build something great, remember that they are thinking of doing it all yourself. In reality, this isn't really the best way to go about it. I would suggest getting into the local startup scene and building or joining a team that's working on a task.
If you live anywhere close to a big city, a quick Google search will reveal startup groups where you can meet people who are looking for developers. While you may not be able to do any of the work yourself at this time, you will be amazed at the doors that will open if you start making connections in your local community.

Good luck on your journey!
 
Sounds like the post where you go : I dedicate my life to playing stocks - where's the money now ?

Programming is easy - Awesome programming is rare . In working you need to have a good understanding of the concepts and how to do something (software engineering) and then writing with any programming lang will do. No there is not universal language - Yes you need to have from 3- 6 languages to cover a good enough market niche. I recommend you start at one point , and slowly grow out -

Desktop apps : Java , C# , C++ , Python -> start moving to networking apps -> games maybe ....
OR
Web application : HTML , Javascript , PHP -> Maybe ruby ?-> move to interactive content (Flash , HTML5) ->so on
Mobile applications

Remember - it's the concept that counts.

I'm a Computer Science TA at university

PS : About the money - if you want you can work for a company , you can freelance , or you can be an entrepreneur . Your call
 
small_town_boy said:
First of all, how old are you? If you are over age of 18 and have no programming experience then you can pretty much forget it. The guys who create master pieces are usually programming from childhood (starting at about 7 years). Just know that there is a guy in India who is dedicating 20 hours a day to this, so you will have to compete with him.

C#, C++, java are a good choice, but it will take you about 10 years to master a single language. That's about 10'000 hours. How will you support yourself through it?


No.


No, you should know at least 3 useful languages as a good programmer.


Everything. Google it.


Yes, but it is extremely hard and an extremely competitive market. You won't be able to do it alone. Prepare investing at least $100k in modelers, programmers, artists and marketing to make a "not crappy game". You would say "Yeah, but Notch". Notch was programming from age of 7, read my first paragraph. He is 30 now, so it took him 23 years for Minecraft success. Where will you be in 23 years?


Yes, takes less investment, but without marketing you will be nowhere. Everyone is jumping the app market now and it's becoming harder day by day. You will not survive alone and without a bulletproof plan and a big marketing budget. Also, a great app. PROTIP: Great app will set you back at least $20k.

Basically, it really depends how old are you. I think you are pretty young judging from your language. I advice you to determine which direction you want to take and just do it. Try to get into MIT if you are serious about it.
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I completely disagree with you implying he won't be able to get by until he accrues 10,000 hours of programming time. After less than a year of programming I was easily able to charge in excess of $100/h. While not everyone has the ability to learn this fast; one of the biggest factors of selling yourself as a programmer is command of the 'English language', your ability to communicate with your client, and implement what they are after.

I worked at a company that outsourced to these so-called prodigies from China and India, and their lack of understanding of fundamental communication led them to be practically worthless, as all of their code needed adjustments from an English-speaking programmer that 'got it'.

Actual programming ability can be learned on the job after a certain point; and can be done by a process of this:
- Quote 20 hours on a job.
- Take 40 hours because you're still learning and will need to Google things.
- Effectively earn half your asking rate while you learn.
 
Ah should I have forgotten to mention - there are bunch of course sites to get started : coursera , udacity and udemy (free and premium) - PM me if you want coupons on udemy and other sites
 
sonicpunk32 said:
Can you give a couple examples? I would appreciate it.
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Data mining could be a full time career, all you got to do is extract the data. Data mining + WordAI can let you create unique, complex, large authority sites.

You can create your own data posting bots and offer links on fiverr, or offer links on BHW. You can sell the program as opposed to just offering links.

One thing I often do is take an affiliate program with someplace that has 50k+ products, I'll rip their site (usually they have a data feed, but for whatever lame reason they only give you 1/2 of the data they actually show on their own website) ... I'll run their product descriptions through a spinner, make the site live ... boom you got yourself a huge catalog site with minimal work.

Automations automations automations ... you can program drip feed links. You can scrape data over time and create reports on various trends. Everything online can be automated, and automation is programming.

You see someone saying how awesome it is to do steps a, b, c, d, e in their "journeys" they post here on BHW? Automate it. You see someone saying they upload videos to youtube and create x amount of accounts and upload x amount of videos it equals $x amount of money a day? Automate it.

The question is what can't you make money from programming lol, there are thousands of opportunities.
 
Python is very powerful. From web apps, backend scripting, to desktop software (e.g. wxpython), it can basically do anything. It's easy for beginners to use and learn, while you can also take advantage of the many libraries, tools and frameworks for Python that professional developers use to build world-class applications. I especially like its clean syntax. It is a language for "perfectionists with deadlines."
[EDIT] Python is also good at text processing (e.g. scrapers).
 
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You know, once you understand the nuances of programming in general (data structures, loops, OOP), then you will pretty much be able to learn any language with little difficulty. I would reccomend starting with java, as it is the simplest (unless you want to program in python, which is pretty much only used for scripting). Once you learn Java, C++ and C# will come naturally to you.

In regards to mobile development, do you want to program on android or IOS? Android uses Java, while apple uses Objective-C. I wouldn't be too focused on mobile development right now though, because you still have a long way to go. You really need to be proficient in at least one programming language before you can start thinking about mobile development.

I would check out "Thenewboston" on youtube, thats how I got started learning java.

Good luck!
 
Don't listen to these " you are too old, and must have 10,000 hours experience" chumps.

The ones who post such blasphemy, are usually the "gurus" afraid of the competition you CAN bring.

A close friend of mine who started programming in c# at the age of 28, is now 30 and making $2,000 - $5,000 a month. It's all about what you want to learn, and how you apply that knowledge creatively.
 
Wow! I am so glad that I am 13 :) I don't necessarily think age is an issue for OP...

I think you have to be "computer minded"... not everyone understands computers, networks, the Internet, and how they work, what they are capable of, and how to take advantage of their capabilities. To become a programmer/coder/developer you MUST be interested in learning the different languages. I feel lucky that I can learn the same stuff as an adult without paying tens of thousands of dollars. I am willing to take my own personal time now at age 13 to learn HTML, SQL, Javascript, PHP, and a special form of Lua, and I hope that it pays off some day. People will pay insane amounts of money to "computer" people just to recover a hard drive, or add RAM to their computer... Right now I can make some pretty good $ just by using some basic coding skills and making mini sites.


As to what language are the best to learn while starting... I am still learning other languages myself, and I would suggest HTML to begin with. It is VERY easy to learn IMO, and it can sort of help you understand what coding is, and what it can do.
 
small_town_boy said:
First of all, how old are you? If you are over age of 18 and have no programming experience then you can pretty much forget it. The guys who create master pieces are usually programming from childhood (starting at about 7 years). Just know that there is a guy in India who is dedicating 20 hours a day to this, so you will have to compete with him.
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Such terrible advice and outlook. It doesn't matter how old you are if you genuinely want to learn and you put in the time and focus to soak up the information.

Sure, someone who has been coding from the womb may be able to make a masterpiece that NASA would drool over but that is hardly the written in stone definition of a successful program or programmer.

Learn and apply your creativity and imagination and make something. It may not be the most graphically impressive or advanced but if millions of people are willing to pay a dollar or more for it (think along the lines of farmville) you can meet with success.

You don't need 10 years to master it, you don't need a time machine to send a missive back to your younger self to start studying it.

You are in a marketing forum and the rules that apply to successful marketing also apply to successful programming - Find a problem and develop a way to do it better or faster or both with your software.

Don't gauge what you can do by what a prodigy can do. Your own ideas will define your outcome. Use your own measure and make things that are useful, entertaining and just plain clever.
 
Not sure if anyone mentioned this but Regex. I see TO MANY "programmers" and they dnt even know Regex. I would start with that. After i learned Regex then i would move on to C. imho it takes about a 5 years to learn it. 10 years to be good at it.
 
Dont listen to the people that say: "If your over 18 dont even try", thats called giving up and taking the easy way out. Heres some good resources. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/computer-science , which teaches python but will also give you he basics of programming. https://www.udacity.com/course/cs101 , the same deal. https://www.udacity.com/course/cs255 HTML 5 game programming. https://www.udacity.com/course/cs253 ,create your own blog (Using a python webserver). Even if your over 18, you can still get good and get a great job with programming. It is amazing to learn.
 
Everyone who says to begin with C, i would think again. You have to worry way too much with memory management and stuff. For begginers, its much more fun to just start coding and this is why python should be the way to go. Then from there you can learn more low level languages.
 
I recommend you:

C# ... a Modern Language with Syntax like C. Benefits:

C# Delegates as Functions Pointers on C.
Dynamic and Var Keywords, allow Dynamic programming like Javascript.
Built-in Frequently Complex Types, like List, Dictionary, etc.
Managed Code.
LINQ a Query Language Builtin, such functionality similar to SQL.

Negative Aspects:

Run on .NET Microsoft Framework, Mono really implement a .NET Library to run C# but not same. C# is limited generally to x86 Win, Mac, and Linux.



C Language: Best Language 4 Ever.

C Language give you hability to make things impossible in others languages. C Give you a varieaty and growly ecosystem of platforms.
 
small_town_boy said:
First of all, how old are you? If you are over age of 18 and have no programming experience then you can pretty much forget it. The guys who create master pieces are usually programming from childhood (starting at about 7 years). Just know that there is a guy in India who is dedicating 20 hours a day to this, so you will have to compete with him.

C#, C++, java are a good choice, but it will take you about 10 years to master a single language. That's about 10'000 hours. How will you support yourself through it?


No.


No, you should know at least 3 useful languages as a good programmer.


Everything. Google it.


Yes, but it is extremely hard and an extremely competitive market. You won't be able to do it alone. Prepare investing at least $100k in modelers, programmers, artists and marketing to make a "not crappy game". You would say "Yeah, but Notch". Notch was programming from age of 7, read my first paragraph. He is 30 now, so it took him 23 years for Minecraft success. Where will you be in 23 years?


Yes, takes less investment, but without marketing you will be nowhere. Everyone is jumping the app market now and it's becoming harder day by day. You will not survive alone and without a bulletproof plan and a big marketing budget. Also, a great app. PROTIP: Great app will set you back at least $20k.

Basically, it really depends how old are you. I think you are pretty young judging from your language. I advice you to determine which direction you want to take and just do it. Try to get into MIT if you are serious about it.
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I code since i'm 12; mainly c++; I create masterpieces;

However i dont think he has to forget about it, he needs just about 3-4 years of everyday 14 hours a day learning to become good ;)
 
Here is my take on your questions:
*is there any universal language for everything
Yes. It's called C++. C is good for anything two but it's harder to work on big/huge projects because it's not object oriented.
*should i stick with one language forever i mean, learning it till there's nothing to learn more
*benefits of c#
Definetely not. Every new language you learn teaches you something difference about programming. I would suggest you leant at least 3 languages:
1) The main language (something like c++)
2) A scripting language and a web framework (like python and django or ruby and ROR)
3) A language that might become popular in the future (things change. it's better to be prepared)
*can i create pc games i mean 3d games not crapy ones with c#
Yes you can, but not state of the art games, because c# is slow compared to other languages
*can i create mobile games, games like temple run etc
If you want to create games for android you need to learn Java. If you want to create games for iPhone you need to learn c#

Good luck!
 
To be a great programmer you just need to be very strong in any on of the languages and the tactics of programming.
Logic building is the main factor which can help you to become an efficient programmer.

Don't give up until you succeed.
 
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