I'm 13 years old self-taught programmer! If you had the option to learn and discover the tech field at this age, would you do that?

Currently, I'm doing web development things, both front and back (node.js).

Yes I would, but I strongly recommend doing some electronics as well (Arduino and Raspberry Pi) and don't let anyone, especially yourself, make you think you don't have what it takes!

@qbalsdon What do you think about node.js? What field do you work in? (mobile, web, etc...)

@Yuval Node.js is fucking awesome. There will be some diehard PHP dudes that can't or won't learn anything new. They'll tell you that node.js is shite, don't listen to them. I never did and I'm doing fine 😄

@Froot What do you think about higher education? Thank you.

@Yuval I think it's useful.

> Will you be a 10x Dev once you're done?
: No, you'll be an intern shitcake that still needs to learn most on his own

> Will it still help you in life in various ways you can't imagine at first (like knowing advanced maths or getting a better deal on your mortgage because you have a degree)?
: Absolutely! You'll find uses for various bits and bobs down the line and it will help you.

Ofcourse, don't go I to insane debt for it. I got my degree for free and as such I'm not much help when you need to pay for education

How can you even imagine NOT to discover the tech fiekd???

@Yuval This might seem odd, but... There is no "best" thing to learn. You should not learn the most popular tools simply because they're popular or because people like or love them. Likewise, you should not avoid tools because others do not like them.

Learn what YOU find FUN! That's very important! There is a LOT to learn in the tech world... Nobody can learn it all... So do what's fun for you!

... NodeJS is awesome!

@Froot Tbh I'm a PHP fan but love node as well!

Come to the mobile side!
We don't have to support IE! (and we have cookies)
(said by 20yo Android/iOS Dev)

@lucaIO I mean programming and development..
Thank you all guys for your excellent advice.

Do you know, that Node.js creator said, that Go is the best language for backend?

Definitely YES ! Now I'm 20 yo and I've been learning programming for bit less than 5 years and sometimes I would love to go back and begin sooner.

@rostopira interesting fact!

@Yuval hell yea! I myself started with the age of 14, I'm now 28 and am doing it for half my lifetime and still enjoy it :)

Keep going as long as you like it.
And as @ObsidianBlk said, there is no right or wrong side, just do what interests you and you'll be fine ;)

@AdrienNini Where are you from? I'm from Israel.

@Yuval I'm from Belgium :) but I'm Portuguese ;) You know ... parents expats

Can you guys tell me what do you exactly do?

@rostopira do you have a source of that statement?

@Yuval And I nearly forgot !
Welcome in this wonderful world which is programming (and computer science in general) and also Welcome to devrant !

@AdrienNini Thank you!

Do you work in a company or as a freelencer?

@Yuval I'm currently in my second year in computer science. Doing lots of different things like: web dev, Java, System administration, electronics, UNIX system development (essentially C)

@AdrienNini Awesome

Also doing some freelance, actually I was already doing freelance in web dev even before start my studies in computer science.

@Yuval you're awesome ! Already programming at 13 ! I would have loved to start by this age ! I would know so much more today :D

@AdrienNini Do you want to work on a project together? Because I'm only 13 I don't have any other programmers friends so I'm a bit lonely...

@ignuit Did you read a book named Holes about a child called Stanley?

@Yuval I never actually collab with someone on a project but I would love to :D

@AdrienNini So we will talk...

@Yuval currently I don't have much time (working on 2 projects for school) but If you want we can stay in touch ;)

@Yuval we read this book twice in school and watched the movie

@Yuval for sure ! ;)

@lucaIO I read it and also watch the movie in this year at school too!

בהצלחה

@Yuval I think NodeJS is great, but it has its limitations. It runs on a single thread and it ultimately interpreted (making it slow). Also, with such a large amount of libraries, you need to make sure to manage your dependencies (--save).

I am a mobile developer (mainly android) by trade and an IoT Dev when I can spare the time. Some things I have built are here: https://hackaday.io/projects/....

I do recommend learning an object oriented compiled language like C++, Java or C# because NodeJS alone is actually just a wrapper for Considering libraries. Know how things work under the hood, at least in principle.

yep, do it, go learn C++

@rostopira but webdevs have so many cookies they even give them to people though their browsers.

LOL no

@RealKC is the website down when they don't have any more cookies ?

@AdrienNini yeah, doesn't it make sense?

@RealKC several years ago I found a website which only said "sorry, we don't have anymore cookies" xD

@plusgut give me a minute to found it again

@AdrienNini using funny little jokes for messages when you have errors is awesome(of course the error should also be clearly stated) imo

Learn math, math is power. You can work in AI, economy, finance, computer science, physics ...

@plusgut here it is

"Ryan: Yeah, I think it’s… for a particular class of application, which is like, if you’re building a server, I can’t imagine using anything other than Go."

Link: https://mappingthejourney.com/singl...

@RealKC yours cookies tastes like "we just fucked your privacy in mouth. Twice"
But our cookies contain weed :D

I started learning and programming when I was 12, started Java (for Minecraft and later Android) at 13.
I'm in web development too. If I have to suggest you a field, I would suggest to start developing for a game you like if it is possible, this helps a lot imo.

Hell yes and it's good that you are!

At your age too focus on the aspects and applications that are fun to you first. Business focus second, unless you enjoy doing that.

By the time you enter the workforce you'll be two steps ahead of your peers and be able to teach old dogs, like myself, a few new cool tricks.

Node.js is cool but it still has some problems at the moment.

It's definitely a good choice and I really hope they get they're infrastructure fixed eventually.

Regarding webdev, Python has also a few really good backend frameworks (I tried Django and Flask so far), Go is nice, but not easy if you've never done any low level language, Ruby on Rails is said to be really cool.

And I would recommend you to not learn PHP until you have a bit experience with programming in general. There are so many bad examples and tutorials that you would probably be taught based coding styles. I consider it a decent language though.

Finally there are things like ASP.NET and Java which I personally don't like as backend languages.

Considering I started when I was 11, that would be a big yes. The younger you start, the better.

I started when I was 8 years old.

@arbel03 Thank you! What do you do in Israel? (work for which company)…

@deusprogrammer I don't know what is you age but I guess that it was much much harder to learn and experiment things back then.

Do other people want to work with me on a project? As I wrote earlier because I'm only 13 I don't have many other programmers friends so I'm a bit lonely and I think that I will learn tons of stuffs while I collaborate with people....

@qbalsdon I will! Thank you for your great suggestion.

Yeah. I started leaning programming in my teenage and it became my profession after all. But maybe you might wanna learn and try other hobbies or things if you feel like it.

In general, youth can take more risks, can recover faster, have more stamina, have more time, have less responsibility.

@Yuval I’m not putting you down mind you :). I was just saying that I started somewhat early too. I am 35 now.

can we see some websites?

@Yuval I am 17 years old, currently doing projects as a hobby, I worked last summer and it was enough for me...

@deusprogrammer I mean the opposite, that is a big wow that you started at this age because back then there were less resources, now it's much easier.

@calmyourtities I'll send a link to my protfolio...

I've been coding since I was 8 :D

When I was in my mother's womb she used to read me vim manual and the latest javadoc... Good times... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My best advice would be not to stick desperately to one thing. Everyone prefers some languages/libs over the others, but it's not always best choice just because you know and like it. I have a friend that is c++ + QT fanatic. I find it very limiting.

@VOID404 QT's gonna be big, just watch Blackberry...

I do stuff... And complain about mistakes.

Great! 😀 Good to see some guys like you. 😏 By the way I started when I was 11. 😉 (Not 3)