33
LeMeow
7y

Do you believe that anyone can do anything? (See: 13th Doctor)

Can anyone become a programmer? Or is it not for everybody?

My cousin has started "learning" C programming at college. I was actually surprised when he first told me that he wanted to study programming and get an IT degree. He would give an impression of a spoiled non-tech son of a non-tech manager to you. (He plays games on his Xbox One and Nintendo Switch and uses his MacBook Air to watch anime).He was never good at studying or learning. I immediately thought that it was totally not for him and he should give it a second thought, but he said that he was absolutely sure about it. It's been a few weeks now and he's finding it all really difficult.

I think one should like learning constantly and should like solving problems to make it all an enjoyable learning experience.

Self-study is also really important, especially if you have garbage professors (like he says he has).

I always try to help him. I told him to focus on self-study, recommended good books (he even bought one for C), recommended good online resources. But he's a procrastinator leveled over 9000. So, you'd understand, he's not doing any of that right now. I even told him that if he didn't self-study, he might regret it one day, but he just can't bring himself to self-study, he says. I'm gonna continue helping him in any way I can, but I guess you can't really help someone who doesn't want to help themselves.

Thanks for reading. :)

Comments
  • 13
    It's definitely not for everybody, just like some people just naturally are/aren't good at math or art. Coding requires a certain way of thinking using logic to figure out how to make things work. It's less about memorizing keywords and syntax and more about thinking logically
  • 2
    I don't believe anyone can be good at anything... We can try and all but some people are just got at it and some are OK and them some others just suck. Thats OK, they're probably good at something else... No need to force oneself into something, life takes care of us all either by pushing us into the right direction on obliterating our existence via tsunami or earthquake or Trump.
  • 2
    Hey, don't judge us gamers. I had an N64 and game cube back in the day, still a PC gamer.
  • 2
    @codePolitics He didn't admit it at first, but then he said that he wanted to study programming just because I was doing it. He had no idea what he was getting into.
  • 3
    @alwaysmpe I'm a gamer too, but not like "not good for anything" gamer who's only fit for the job of Senior Procrastinator. (Plus, he only plays child-like games)
  • 2
    I believe everybody can learn anything, as long as one is physically capable for.
    But first of all one has to learn, without learning it won't work out.
    And not everybody will be good at anything, that's for sure.

    At the end, you should like what you're doing for a living, because you will have to do it for quite a while.
  • 3
    Depends on what you're physically capable of for one (a deaf person who can't speak their entire life can't really become a singer).

    Except for that, don't think so. For example myself. I can program pretty well but me and maths... that's just never going to happen (finished it with a bad score both at highschool and at study) because I just can't grasp a lot of it. And that's for everyone I think (can be with different things of course).
  • 2
    Anyone can learn to program. Not anyone can be a programmer. Being a programmer takes a certain way of thinking.

    When I was 10 I was programming but I wasnt a programmer. I mainly copy pasted code from here and there together something that "worked".
  • 4
    Anyone can learn to program but programming is not for everyone. I'm a student and some of my peers never programmed until college, some never even had a home computer until recently (some still don't due to $$) and now they love it and are just as good at it. I also run a beginners boot camp at my school every semester to introduce freshman to the magical world of comp sci and bring them to the dark side. Any one can learn to code and think like a programmer if they love it enough. For those who don't believe someone can learn to think like a programmer is silly, you weren't born with that skill. Granted some pick it up faster than others, but is still learnable.
  • 4
    @r0b0tk1ss3s yes that is true, but you will have to spend time, and as OP is explaining is that isnt the case here.
  • 0
    @jeffalyanak Hey we developers get some design work with patterns right? I've never been in the industry yet, but don't we have a part in the architecture by applying patterns when needed and following principles? Or is more like the structure is predefined and we need to build off of it the best we can using the methods said above? Also, are there any design patterns highlighted in the system architecture if they are obvious at that stage?
  • 0
    @jeffalyanak nevermind, took a few seconds to look it up haha. Sorry to waste your time. Architectural design is very high system design and deals with problems at that level (MVC for example) and design patterns are lower level designs that are found in problems that lie with coding problems which help refine code and create subsystems. And of course you have the implementation (algorithmic) design that goes even lower. Just in case anyone was curious (:
  • 0
    @jeffalyanak agreed, things generally work best when you have people who specialize in their domain take care of their domain.
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