Nikolay, Senior Serverless JavaScript Developer at Voximplant - has eight years of experience with back-end and front-end, in love with * nix-like systems, vim, clean code, architectural approaches and open source, as the best thing that has happened to humanity. He is one of the founders of SamaraITCommunity (heavily involved in the emergence of GrindConf, VolgaHack, SITCast ”and“ SITalk ”podcasts), and he is also a member of the Juunost project team .
We share with you the transcript of the broadcast and the recording.
âť’ My name is Kolya, my surname is Sweet. I am 29 years old, I am a developer, currently working as a Senior Serverless JavaScript Developer at Voximplant, working on the Voxengine engine, which is a serverless platform. I've been in development for about 7.5 years now, almost 8; my main tools at the moment are JavaScript and Go. That is, in JavaScript we do serverless, and in Go, when needed, we drop performances.
âť’ A few words about yourself.I was involved in both the backend and the frontend, that is, I am a full stack web developer, although more backend-based. As I said, this is almost 8 years of experience. I am a devops culture addict, that is, I advocate that you need to drop operations everywhere, wherever possible, in order to automate processes as much as possible. I am a technology evangelist, in particular, I am very strong for NodeJS - well, also within some reasonable limits. NodeJS is a very cool technology. I also worked in architecture, building web applications, and worked as a team lead. He worked as a CTO in two companies - a start-up and a larger company called Mechanica (formerly called ANMEDIO).
I do a lot of various socially useful activities - I think you can call it that. There is an independent community of developers of the Samara region - Samara IT Community, we once made it together with other guys, now it is actively developing without much participation on our part (we moderate more). As part of our community, we did interesting events, we had a GrindConf conference, and several times we did the VolgaHack hackathon. We also record SITalk and SITCast podcasts. I am also a stakeholder and one of the founders of the Junost project.
This is a project for learning, and it is so called because its main idea is to always, as it were, be a june and live in pursuit of new knowledge and development. I am also in love with * nix-like systems (it happened so historically), I love vim very much, I drown for clean code, clean architecture, so that everything is clear, so that everything is easy to read. I drown for open source, I have a lot of interesting things about open source, I write open source myself - you can find me on GitHub. In general, I believe that open source is one of the best things that has happened in the entire history of IT technologies.
âť’ Why am I talking about "enter IT"?Probably, there must be some kind of background. In fact, it is: the fact is that for two years of my life I worked in the police, namely in the criminal investigation department. And in 2014 I started learning programming - it was difficult, strange, but I did it and therefore I can tell you something about it. 7 months after I started learning programming from scratch, I found my first IT job. It was not a job as a super-programmer: it was something like a webmaster (site support, SEO, context). Almost 8 years have passed since then, I am doing what I love, and I advise everyone. I went the very path that every person who wants to enter IT has to go through. Of course, this path will not be 1 in 1, and specifically my experience may not be relevant to another person. However, most likely, I know many of the pitfalls,with which we have to face, and on this topic we will talk, reason and draw conclusions. Perhaps I can help someone today. If at least one person will benefit from this, the day will not be in vain.
âť’ Let's talk about the IT sector in general - where does it get such popularity?We will not delve into the detailed history of development, but talk about what is happening now in terms of the market, marketing, and the monetary component of popularity. Let's talk about how to enter IT and become a programmer - this will be the longest section, we will spend the most time on it; I will talk specifically about programming, because it has historically happened that I am a programmer, and this is closer to me. I'll tell you a little about my path; perhaps it will be interesting to someone or even relevant. I have many acquaintances who still work where I worked, or in related structures, and want to change their lives, but they lack something to do it. Therefore, I will tell you how I had it.
âť’ Is it possible to get into IT without programming?We all perfectly understand that IT is a huge area, and not even just one area, but a very broad concept. Therefore, the market is not fed up with programmers alone. Let's talk about what awaits the sphere in the near future, and draw conclusions from all this. Then we will answer some more questions.
❒ So, let's talk a little about IT.There is such an interesting phrase - I don't even remember where I heard it: “You must have a very serious reason to work outside of IT in 2021”. This is a joke, of course, but there is a lot of truth in it. Already in 2020 - and now it is already 2021 - IT was everywhere. That is, IT penetrates into all areas. It can no longer be said that IT is some kind of separate technology, now it is a way of doing business. Business is changing beyond recognition. And for its proper functioning, growth and development, it has to go into the IT sphere.
We have gone through a serious test, which for us has not even ended yet, and for many countries it is only just beginning. But, nevertheless, we now feel more comfortable in these conditions. Take this same time a year ago - March, April; Do you remember what happened when the lockdowns were announced and everyone went to the remote location? It was difficult, but basically all areas win this. Even now we are sitting - I am sitting in one place, you are watching me, perhaps from another city or country - and we do it using the Internet, using the very IT sphere. And it is convenient for us. It turns out that we can work the same way. People call up through Vox, through other services - this is how you can communicate with each other, communicate, work, earn money. The health sector is in the same way now going into IT, and in general the entire public sector,all government services do it. There is the same site of government services, where now you can, by registering and confirming your account, make an appointment with a doctor, for example, and from May it will even be possible to re-register a car when selling; that is, a lot of things you can do. Delivery - again, at the lockdown, we all felt very well, and now we continue to use it. It's very cool, very convenient when you don't need to leave home to buy food, buy other things, do something else - we can do this completely remotely. Acquiring, remote acquiring or ordinary cashless payments - how often do we use ordinary physical money now? They simply do not have the same meaning that was invested in them before. Transport, all e-commerce, all the gadgets that we carry in our pockets are all IT too. That is, all areas are now tied to IT,and IT - in all areas. We are already directly working in areas that cannot live without IT - or in areas that IT itself cannot do without. It locks up recursively on the fact that all spheres cannot live without IT.
And all this happened, first of all, thanks to the development of the Internet. Many people do not think about how powerful the Internet is, how cool and cool it is in the modern world. It's not just Facebook, Instagram and TikTok; people usually just do not think about it, but, in fact, the Internet now is primarily a job. All of the above areas, which we talked about, ultimately come down to the market. And the market exists to make money. That is, the Internet is our main weapon in order to make money. And in order to do things, you only need a laptop, an Internet connection and some kind of skills. It turns out that business requests go online: the business that was not on the Internet before - for example, it had nothing to do there - should be there in 2021. If it is not on the Internet, then,most likely, he himself is no longer there, or will not be - he will gradually degrade and die.
From this we can draw a simple conclusion: if we have more and more spheres, more and more work appears on the Internet and in IT in general, then someone should do it. And we hear all the time - especially in the last few years - that the world needs programmers. Sometimes someone claims the opposite, but you and I know the truth. The world needs programmers, the world needs IT specialists. And if against the background of demand, supply is born, then against the background of business needs, jobs are born. And this work must be done by someone. And if someone has to do this work, then they constantly talk about it, we hear about it from every iron, and people start to get interested. That is, the sphere heats up, the molecules of this sphere move faster, and people are already beginning to take an interest from the outside - they are becoming interested. Many people want to change something in their life - mostly,in pursuit of something interesting, or for money - but all the same, this is facilitated by the fact that we constantly hear about it, because the sphere is very hot. People want to change something in their lives - and they start wanting in IT. Or, at the very least, learn more about it.
And these people are you and me. Just as I was interested in 2014, and as you are interested now - most likely, if you came to this lecture, then you are interested. I’ll say right away that I’m not a coach at all: I’m an ordinary programmer who writes code. I just passed this way at one time, and I want to share it with people. I do not tell how it should be; perhaps it will not be quite so for you, or quite differently. But I try to think logically, and I have many acquaintances who have already passed this path, or are going to go it. I think, if you think logically, then you can draw some conclusions from this, and this is our current goal. Then you can think it over again and draw some conclusions for yourself.
Let's imagine an abstract character Petya who wants to enter IT. Let him be about our age with you. An important caveat: age is not too important, and if you are 35-40-50 years old, I don't think that will stop you. Of course, it will be a little more difficult for a number of reasons, but it will not be impossible. So, Petya is our age, he also came here to learn something new for himself, and, of course, he wants to enter IT. He wants to become a programmer, because it is popular now - and he will definitely be a programmer, this is his path, he chose it for himself. What does he know about programming? He knows it's popular. Because there is really a lot of work, to deny it is stupid; we have vacancies, there is a Headhunter where we can look at them, we constantly hear the news, we come to the bar and hear,how programmers talk to each other about strange things. That is, it is really popular. And we know it pays well. At least about space salaries now, again, they are broadcasting from every iron, we cannot pass by this - they are loudly talking about this.
Petya also constantly comes across advertisements for courses. I think this is the case for everyone now - we constantly come across advertisements for courses where they promise to make a programmer of us in 3 months (weeks, days, hours). And Petya thinks about trying it. And why not - he is young (well, or not very) and full of energy, he can combine current work with training, if he tries, and he is not completely stupid. No offense here, but we must understand perfectly well: here you will need to think with your head. You have to think everywhere, of course, but in IT - a little more, probably. Petya has some kind of education; this is optional, but most likely, if you have an education, it taught you how to learn, and you know what it is. That is, you are ready to further self-study. And Petya also knows how to use computers - well, because it's still IT, and in 2021 you need to be able to use computers somehow.At least surf the Internet. There are also nuances; well, Petya understands that he is not the smartest, although not the dumbest (again, no offense), and he has no specialized education, at least a technical one; with a technical education it will be easier, of course, but with a specialized education - a different story altogether. But Petya doesn't have it. And, most importantly, he is afraid, worried; it is quite difficult to take and change profession. But he decides to give it a try.
And now Petya will ask questions, and we will try to answer (these are the same questions that were in the announcement):
Q: When should I change my profession?Obviously when you hate your job. If you go to work every day that you hate, you won't go there all your life. Something needs to be changed. Also, if you are not ready to do what you are doing now all your life. Because, again, it's hard to just live your whole life; what is it - was born, suffered and died? This is strange.
If he is ready for the fact that it will be very difficult, and it will take a lot of time. Let's be honest - programmers are paid money, but they are paid for a reason. It's complicated. It is not impossible; it's not rocket science - we don't launch rockets into space (well, most of us don't), but it will take a lot of perseverance, time and effort.
And - if you're willing to risk your time. Because, again, why not. You just make this decision for yourself, it is your bet.
But you should not do this if you are just tired, if you need to rest in order to continue doing your business. If you freak out, something is going wrong with you, but at the same time you love (or at least don’t hate) your job and are ready to do it all your life, then it’s probably better not to rock the boat. This will be a more correct decision. You don't need to change your profession just by believing in a fairy tale. About 300 thousand a month - of course, it is, this is all true, we see these salary arcs. But in order to make money, you have to do things. It won't be easy. If you do not like difficulties, you better pass by. Programmers always overcome something, it is not as easy as we would like it to be. If you like solving complex problems - this is a profession for you, and if not - you still need to think about whether it is worth it.
Q: Is it worth going into IT?It is worth it if you understand that it will be very difficult. At first it will be difficult, then it will be even more difficult, then it will be even more difficult, then it will start to let go a little, when you already begin to understand how to do something, and understand how what works.
You need to go to IT if you are tech-savvy and you are not afraid of this math of yours. We will talk about mathematics later, but, in general, you need to understand that mathematics is present here. Not very difficult, but, nevertheless, it will not work without it.
If you are ready to spend all your free time learning. If you went to university, you know how these 5 years go. And if you studied by correspondence, you also perfectly understand what it means to study on your own, when you are only given materials and shown a roadmap for promotion. It will be the same here: you will spend a lot of time learning. If you feel like hanging out, then this is probably not a story for you. But if you are ready to invest your time in learning, then go for it.
If you like challenging tasks, because programming is challenging. With each subsequent task, the difficulty will increase if you want to progress, not procrastinate. And if you are diligent and morally stable; you sit all day, figure it out, watch how everything works, debug something, it doesn't work for you; after a while everything worked, you are happy, great, you solved the problem - and then all over again. You need perseverance.
It won't take two weeks. “Let's make a programmer out of you in two weeks” - these are all fairy tales. If you don’t want to understand mathematics, if you don’t like to think, if you were born to relax, this is definitely not for you. If you want to party, too; at least at first you will have to constantly work hard, in order to hang out sometime later. And - if you do not love or cannot sit for a long time at one task, then this is also not for you. This is a story where you have to sit for a long time and think a lot.
Q: Okay. You decide to become a programmer, nothing scares you yet. Which direction to choose?This is where the fun begins. What do we know about directions in programming? There is a web frontend - this is HTML, CSS, JavaScript and others like them; popular frameworks have been built - React, Vue, Angular. This is the easier way; not to say that everything is quite simple - there are different tasks in terms of complexity and within the same profession.
We will now go from top to bottom, and each next will be more difficult - in my own opinion. After the frontend, we have a backend - namely a web-based backend. This is NodeJS, PHP, Go, this is all sorts of Express, Laravel and other frameworks built on these technologies. We also have an enterprise backend - this is Java, C #, that is, what everyone has heard about. There is Spring, .NET - technologies on which large enterprise applications, large distributed complex systems are built. This is the banking sector and so on.
Then we have mobile development - development for mobile devices. It is now at its peak of popularity, because there is Kotlin, Swift, Dart - these are the three languages ​​that are most sharpened for mobile development. There is a wave of hype here, but it's rather difficult.
There is also the direction of data science, machine learning - working with data, training neural networks. This is Python as a programming language, all sorts of platforms on it - GPT3, TensorFlow and other interesting solutions from serious players, global corporations that make machine learning. It is difficult, but very interesting.
The direction of game development - the development of computer games - is considered the coolest and most enjoyable, of course. I remember right from myself - once I thought that I would develop games, and it would be cool. There was such an idea. But when I started doing this, I realized that it was not fun at all. If you yourself love games, most likely you will not at all like what is “under the hood” in the development of computer games. The programming languages ​​are most likely the most hype now C # and C ++, because the Unity game engine is built on C #, and the Unreal Engine and many different physical "guts" are built on C ++, although not only these languages ​​and platforms are used.
A difficult area to learn and learn, because good mathematics is needed here - these are algorithms and data structures. It is development and optimization: all sorts of maps, geolocations and other things where you need to count the shortest paths by graphs, for example.
There are even more complex things - for example, areas related to a complex performance, with complex calculations. Any "guts" of crypto or just blockchains that will be written in specialized programming languages, for example, Solidity (high level) or Rusty (low level), but this is already difficult.
I would advise you to think more about the first 3-4 directions. Maybe also data science in Python. That is, web content, web backend, enterprise backend, mobile development plus data science / machine learning.
Q: , ?Money pays, yes. There are salaries. But I will not give numbers. First, they just google: really, just go to headhunter. Sometimes the employer hides the salary bracket, but the average temperature in the hospital is easy to determine - out of 150-200 vacancies there will be 15-20 with an open salary bracket, you can calculate the average and determine how much money is paid to a particular specialist in a particular area. Secondly, they vary greatly by region - if I talk about Moscow salaries, and you yourself are from the sunny resort city of Samara, then there will be a discrepancy. But, again - a pandemic, a remote, all this is here. You can find a Moscow salary remotely, and working remotely for a foreign company is not a problem either. It all depends on skills, on your skills, on the ability to sell yourself, which is also important.The ability to pass interviews, submit yourself and raise your salary bracket somewhere is also very cool, you need to understand this.
You also need to understand one important thing. Especially when our Petya is still young and hot, he still doesn't really know anything, but he already really wants money and he constantly hears that programmers get a lot of money. No one will ever pay you money for nothing. You have to do things. When you know how to do things, and you know how to do it well, then you will receive a lot of money. Nobody will pay you just like that.
And you need to understand that, as Uncle Ben said, great strength is a great responsibility. The more you get paid, the more you have to do, the more difficult your tasks. Or not “the more they pay”, but “the higher the position” - it is not necessary to represent everything in money. For some, money is not paramount: maybe someone just wants to assert themselves, to achieve something for themselves in life. To become a leader, for example, or to run a large company in general - be a CTO or a solution architect. Many people work precisely for this, not for the sake of money. I myself know many people who work precisely on this principle: for them money is, of course, good (you can have a tasty meal if you have it), but they are not the most important thing on the market.
Q: Where to study?This is probably the most difficult question in 2021. It would seem that everything should be the other way around; when I started to study in 2014, there was not as much information as there is now, I had to look for it somewhere. I can't even imagine how self-taught people learned in some 2010. Now there is a plethora of information, but this is the main problem. There is too much of it. How to find in this information storm what you need, and that will not just waste your time and suck money on paid courses, but will have a good price / quality ratio? At the same time, the price here is taken into account not only in money (maybe free), but also in the cost of time.
I think the best advice you can give here is to find acquaintances who are already in this area. If you have such acquaintances, you can talk to them, ask them for materials and advice, at least on what we have already covered today, on the same areas and the choice of a future profession in IT. That is, what you want to do, what kind of programmer you want to be - frontend, backend, data science. It is better to consult with someone who really fumbles about this, who has been in the field for at least several years - 3, 5, more is better. You will be given advice and materials.
In the future, you can agree with these people about mentoring, or just about code review; so that you, having written something, showed them, and they answered: dude, everything needs to be redone here, but here it is good, do so, and then correct it a little. Then you will learn better, faster and better. But - attention, this is very important - don't pester these people too much. Do not ask to teach you everything, do not demand anything from them. Try to be blunt as little as possible and not bother them with questions, especially those that you yourself feel in a position to Google. I know from myself - I was the person who annoyed me with my questions. I was also the one who got bored, but I always talked about it: calm down, I am not your mother, I will not sit with you at notebooks and solve your homework; I can help you, give you a hint, but you have to do it all yourself.Therefore, my advice to you - do not bother these people. If you do not get them, if this is your good friend and sympathetic person, then he will even be pleased to discuss this with you, to talk. Another important point: when a programmer, an engineer explains something to someone, he himself, as it were, goes through it all over again and begins to understand it even better. Therefore, if you do not bother the interlocutor too much, he, most likely, will want to communicate himself.most likely, he himself will want to communicate.most likely, he himself will want to communicate.
Unfortunately, it's easy to run into nonsense online if no one is helping you. Nowadays, there are a lot of bad paid offers - mentors, courses, low-quality books that you can stumble upon and waste your time. There are probably more bad materials than good ones, so it's good to ask someone who is in the subject. Although I would not say that there is 90 percent dirt and only 10 usable; probably the ratio is slightly worse than 50 to 50. Try to show the material that you find to your friend who mentors you or communicates with you - he will give you his feedback on this material. It will be great.
For materials in general - books, webinars, courses, podcasts, screencasts, and so on - there is no right decision. Someone is more interested in books, someone - videos. I love to watch videos, I enjoy it, I do not perceive text as well as video and audio information. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I still get a lot of useful information from them every week. But for someone podcasts do not go at all, someone cannot do something and listen to a podcast at the same time, for example. Everything is individual. The main thing is to learn how to filter sources, and on what media they are - it's the tenth thing.
Q: Regarding paid content - is it worth using it?A very important point: where does the paid content come from? It is made by people in order to make money. They spend their time on it. If people spend their time on it, this is the first filter. If a person is qualified, then, most likely, there is some kind of arrangement, filtration of information. It's always good. Let's say how we study at a university on a correspondence basis: we get sources, the same books, articles, they tell us where we can get information from, and we go and get it on our own. Nobody lectures us, but they give us sources.
The story is the same here. In the courses, we can be given sources - correct, good - and we can structure the information, that is, the presentation will be structured. We will have a roadmap: we go from here to here, here, here, and at the same time we know that we are really walking along the path somewhere, and not marking time, which often happens.
More about paid content. It is very important to understand that although there is a lot of theory, we need practical exercises. In programming, theory without practice is nothing. Therefore, if you take a paid source, then it is good that there are tasks there. Live mentoring and mentoring is always worth the money, if you understand that the person who deals with you is adequate and is a real specialist in his field. If he asks for some very big money, then this is inadequate; if this is adequate money, then why not spend it. You get a person who fumbles within walking distance - this is very convenient.
There is such a moment that the money spent can motivate you for greater returns. That is, I paid the money, now I have to work it out in full. It works great for me.
And, as with any content, you just need to learn how to filter it. Communicate with other people, watch what courses are, read reviews, receive some kind of feedback. Understand which course is bad, which is good. This is a bad source that is worth inadequate money, this is a good one that is worth adequate.
Q: About mathematics, English and specialized education. Does a programmer need mathematics?Once, at the beginning of my journey, I talked with my friend, a very good programmer, and asked him this question. He said: does the seller need a mathematician? And, you know, this is a very deep thought - such a small seed from which a huge tree can grow. Everybody needs mathematics - mathematics is everywhere around us. I realized this later, when I started to study, raised it anew and rethought my school knowledge. It turns out that, of course, the programmer needs mathematics. But the seller also needs it - otherwise he will not be able to work, count the money. Everyone, without exception, needs it, and you need to understand exactly what level of mathematics you need. I will say this: if you choose one of the available directions (web frontend / backend), then there will be nothing special there. You will not launch a rocket into space, no one will demand this from you, especially at the very beginning.Nobody will immediately give super-difficult problems, they are all lifting. In general, of course, mathematics is needed - to a certain extent.
Regarding the English language: English is cool not only for a programmer or IT specialist, but for a person as a whole. I think in a few years it will be generally a must have. Let's be honest: English is the language of the world, the whole world speaks it. All official documentation, all specifications for languages, protocols, solutions, RFCs, whatever, are written in English. That is, if you want to read and gain clear knowledge, then you need exactly English. It will be difficult without him.
As for education - in some cases, of course, a crust is needed, but this is also rather an exception. If you come to work at some company, they will ask you if you have any education, you say no, they will tell you - well, go away, you say - ok, and you will leave. To another place where people are needed who solve problems, and do not shine with crusts. But, if you suddenly think about going to a second higher education, I would advise you to first try to understand whether it is yours or not, try to study, maybe even find your first job. It's not that hard right now, really; maybe you will need to study for six months or, at the most, spend a year of your time on it. But it will be much better than spending another 3-4 years at the university or even quitting it after 1-2 years due to the factthat - let's be honest - at the university you will not receive the knowledge that you will need to directly solve problems right now. After all, the university knowledge base is becoming obsolete. I'm not saying that this happens in all universities, but, probably, for the most part they teach just basic things, and not problem solving. And if you start to study on the courses yourself, then you can start solving problems and feel the profit from solving your problems, and this will be very useful.then you can start solving problems and feel the profit from solving your problems, and this will be very useful.then you can start solving problems and feel the profit from solving your problems, and this will be very useful.
âť’ Concerning coding: how much time to devote to the code. Theory is great, of course, but you have to code. You need to code as much as you can. Lots of. If you want to learn how to write code, you have to write code. If you do not do this, but will pump in theory, you will be an excellent theorist, maybe, but theorists, most likely, are not paid money. Or it is rare. It takes practice. It's like in school: in order to learn how to divide with a column, you have to divide with a column.
Let's say you've learned everything and start looking for a job. What do you need to start doing this? We need a base. Basic knowledge - mathematics is the same, basic: that is, basic logic to be able to write solutions, algorithms, data structure algorithms. This is the most important thing a programmer needs. Algorithms and data structures are the easiest ones to learn to solve problems, without this database you will never be a developer. You also need to know the constructions and syntax of the target programming language, library, framework: that is, without knowing JavaScript, you will not get a job in the frontend, without knowing HTML and CSS, you will not get a job as a layout designer, without knowing PHP, you will not be able to make websites. It `s naturally. You should know the syntax and constructions pretty well. In addition, you need the ability to solve the problem. Let it be suboptimal, but true.When you are a beginner developer, a young specialist, June, one thing is required of you: that you learn quickly by solving problems. That is, you take and do a task, it is further transferred to work, and you, having learned, will do the next better.
It turns out that you need to solve the problem at hand. I would also advise not to try to learn everything in the world - this is impossible; and not to wait for the weather by the sea (“I'm not ready yet, it’s too early to look for my first job”): most likely, it’s not too early to look for a job, you are probably ready. You will feel it, or someone will tell you it. If you sit for several years, study, but are afraid to look for a job, you are doing something wrong. It's also important to go to interviews. As soon as you start doing this, you gain experience in interviews, pull up weak points - they are pointed out to you. And you are not afraid of failures. You will stop being afraid that you will come for an interview, and they will tell you there - dude, you don't know anything. There are toxic interviews, but this is already rare. Most likely, they will just tell you: you are missing this, this and this. You say okay come homework out for another month, go to the next interview. One time they will refuse, the second time they will refuse, and by the third time you will have learned everything, most likely, and you will be hired for the first job.
And when you get your first job, the main thing is not to relax. Because you will have to work very hard, you will need to grow and progress quickly - you will never stop learning. This is such a trap. You get into it when you start turning to programming and get your first job. Knowledge here is a bottomless abyss, and you need to know a lot - not in order to start, but in order to develop. You need to try to get out of the Juns, grow in your knowledge, become a confident specialist. Then you will move on and on, and this is just the beginning. It will become more and more difficult for you, but it will not always be so.
âť’ It will be really difficult for you. You must be prepared for this.But when you go this way, even when you just get your first job, you realize that this is an incredible thrill. When you develop, it's great. You need to set achievable goals and go to them. It is unlikely that you will become the prime minister of the planet - such a goal should not be set. Set yourself short milestones, go to them, get internal achievements - this is how you will develop. You need to learn how to decompose complex tasks into simpler ones, decomposition is generally a programmer's best friend. Once you break down a large task into small ones, it turns out that they are much easier to handle. And one day you will notice that several years have passed, and you are all sitting, coding, studying, spending all your free time on it, and you like it.
Here it is, in principle, all the way. Probably, I told about everything that a person who wants to enter IT needs to know.
❒ I'll tell you briefly how it was with me.It was about the same path as I described above, only everything was not so structured, and everything was very blurry, because I did not really understand what I was doing, and it was quite difficult for me. In general, I have been friends with computers since childhood, but this only means that I was poking around in Windows, in the registry, installed Linux, loved hardware, climbed into BIOS - I liked it all. But I've never been a programmer. As a child, I studied at the lyceum of information technology, but “something went wrong,” as they say: my parents ran out of money for the lyceum, and there is such a story - you are either very smart or you study for money. I left the lyceum after the 7th grade, transferred to a regular school with a direction in jurisprudence, and after the 9th grade I went to receive a secondary specialized legal education. Which I don't really regret.After secondary vocational he received a higher legal education, and then went to work in his specialty. For about 2 years I worked in the criminal investigation department. It was fun, it was interesting, it was a wonderful life experience. I do not regret at all that my life has turned out this way.
But in 2014 I came to the realization that I was doing something wrong, and I needed to change something, to do other things. I was about to quit. Over the past few years, I've been thinking a lot about programming, that I once did it, and I've always been drawn to it. I liked it so much that you can spend all day at the computer - I really loved computers, loved to play, spent a lot of time on some kind of MMORPG. And why not waste time on programming in the same way - sit for many hours, try to solve a problem, enjoy it? I then held this parallel with the MMORPG. And I realized that the time had come for this, I quit my job and began to study. I realized that I did not have a school knowledge base, that in terms of technical knowledge and literacy - mathematics, geometry, physics - I was very dull. Got itthat I need to tighten all this up, I began to communicate with the guys. I walked around friends, collected textbooks on mathematics from them for grades 7-8-9-10-11. I read it all for myself, solved the problems. I found several familiar programmers, talked to them and realized that I needed to sit down to study and write code.
Started learning Java - I still think it's the best first programming language. For a number of reasons, the main one being that the language includes all the best and the worst (or at least a lot). It becomes clear how things work in general, how the stories with Java are arranged under the hood. I think JavaScript is too confusing for the former, and C ++ is too verbose.
Several months passed, I started writing in Java for food, as they say (in fact, for experience). My acquaintances began to throw up tasks for which I had to write code, they even paid me some symbolic money. That is, I have already started to work - I felt that I could at least earn something for myself. About 7 months after I sat down to study, a friend had a vacancy at work: they were looking not so much for a programmer, but for a person who would support the sites, add something there and set up advertising. There was PHP and JavaScript - I was not familiar with them at all, but I decided to try it anyway. I went to an interview, answered all the questions they wanted to hear. They realized that I could solve some problems and hired me.
So I got my first official job in IT, after 7 months. I learned PHP and JavaScript there; at the same time I wrote in Java for my acquaintances, when I had free time, then I began to study JavaScript more, devote time to NodeJS - then it was 2014, this platform just started to actively develop, the hype started around it. I still write on it, cool thing. Then I started a series of jobs, part-time jobs; I studied, studied, got a lot of experience. Here, probably, I just became a middlel - a developer who is already beginning to more rationally approach problem solving. Middle begins to solve problems more correctly, he can solve a problem, even if it is difficult, and he initially does not know how to solve it - he will still find a solution. This is how I estimate this level for myself.
Then I had everything, like our hypothetical Petya. I worked, studied, developed - in principle, this is what I am doing to this day. This is probably my whole story.
❒ Small amendment ..Today, before the speech, I looked at the comments on Habré, and there one person wrote this: a success story will not teach you anything, much more useful than a failure story, on their basis you can understand what and how not to do. In fact, I also have such stories. Unfortunately, time is limited - otherwise I could tell interesting stories from my life for 5 hours - but I have friends (and acquaintances of acquaintances) who never became developers for various reasons. Basically, what is happening is that people do not believe in themselves, people are afraid, people listen to their relatives who “motivate” them (where did you go, why, why). Guys, you need to believe only in yourself, trust yourself. If you understand that you are capable of this, you are definitely capable of it. Sit down and do it, don't look for excuses, don't look for excuses. But the worst thing is not that there is no faith in yourself,but what is laziness. People just don't want to strain and think, they want to come home from work and play, or sit on the couch with a beer. This is laziness.
There are several examples. One person works as an engineer, he has been coding for 10 years, he has absolutely normal brains. I often communicate with him. But he is not a particularly successful engineer - in terms of decisions he is normal, technically competent, but in terms of success - well, that is. He codes in his spare time, codes interesting things, but he never became a programmer. He is lazy, he does not want to spend energy on quitting, spending several months on training - investing this time in himself, and finding his first job. Another interesting case - I met a dude who fixes bicycles (I drove my bike to him for MOT). He tried and was tired. That is, he told me that he was engaged in frontend, that he began to study. And three months later we met again, and he said - no, I quit, there is something difficult, I have to think. Well, I will. You have to think there.
âť’ There is also an excellent case: a person calls himself a programmer, he firmly believes in this. At the same time, the devil knows where works, the devil knows what does and has been teaching Java for five years. Five years. Knows nothing, but has been teaching Java for five years. In my opinion, the coolest anti-example. Natural procrastination. You don't have to live like that. If you have already undertaken to do something - do it, it works like this everywhere.
âť’ I would like to devote a few more minutes to what Petya should do if he does not want to be a programmer.Well, IT is big, and not a single programming. We can do a lot of things. I work at Voximplant, and we have more than one programmer here. Voximplant is a platform, it is a business, it is a serious decision. Preparing for this performance, I just decided to see who we need to work. Why not, this is quite relevant. I look - and it turns out that there are a lot of directions. And it's all the same - IT: that is, one way or another you will be spinning in this area, even without being a programmer.
For example, user interface / experience (UI / UX) design - here you need to make interfaces, draw all this, make high-quality what the end user then works with, think through it all. A technical writer writes technical documentation for solutions that programmers write. There are Sales Managers who are involved in sales. Or Presales managers and engineers are those who, even before salespeople, communicate with customers and offer them some solutions; managers here are closer to the business, and engineers are closer to the technical side, and they can tell the client at the pre-sale stage how it will work out and how it will not work out. There are business development managers who find out the client's needs and how we can directly help them. There are also, for example, event and communications managers,who organize events of any level - all conferences, our Intercom conference, for example, or other conferences held by the company; also a great profession. There are project managers, account managers, customer success managers who are directly involved in the management of projects, accounts, and products within the company. There are all kinds of lawyers, HR or just recruiters who are looking for and hiring employees. Content managers, targeting experts, marketers.who are looking for and hiring employees. Content managers, targeting experts, marketers.who are looking for and hiring employees. Content managers, targeting experts, marketers.
Just open Headhunter and see - our company, or some other. There are a lot of professions, there are a lot of open vacancies. You don't even have to change your profession if you are a good specialist in your field, but at the same time work in a company that you do not like for some reason (stagnation within the company, strange leadership, everyone around is old and sick), and you hard in her. You can always find a job to your liking, simply by changing the direction to IT-shnoe. And you will be inside IT, although you will not be writing any code. So - come in, look at the vacancies. I think you will always find something that interests you.
âť’ Regarding what awaits the sphere in the near future.The pandemic has not won the market, and this is the most important thing. It was the market that beat the pandemic. Well, he is still winning, let's just say - but he has evolved, and that's great. We can see this now, because we have not been left without work and have not starved to death. Many areas, of course, suffered - the same restaurants. Look how it was: everything was very bad, everyone closed, but then people realized that the same delivery via Internet technologies solves the problem. Now you can order food from a restaurant for yourself and enjoy the full program, just like in a restaurant, without putting yourself in danger. Therefore, yes, the pandemic has not won the market, and it is safe to say that the business will continue to move to the network. He does it now, and this is a good sign: it means that the business is evolving.And so we will have more and more work to do. There are more vacancies every day, good specialists are more and more in demand - this is logical, because someone needs to solve these problems.
But the most interesting thing is that not only good specialists are in demand. Juniors, novice developers and any of those other professions that I mentioned are also in demand. The market wants people, the market needs people: the market needs money, and people create money. This is a normal cycle, and you need to use it. Specialists will continue to be in demand.
âť’ About the bubble - will it burst or not.It's a good question, no one can know this, but it can be judged by the pandemic. It had a very strong effect on us, but the business still lives on, and the bubble has not burst. We continue to develop, we continue to work. Something bad has to happen on a really global level for the bubble to burst - until this is foreseen, and we can work, study, look for work, make money and be useful. This is my personal opinion, but, again, I just spin a lot in these areas and understand how it all works. I understand that IT will continue more and more horizons, becoming an increasingly attractive area. That is, no rollback is expected in the near future, and there is no need to be afraid of this.
âť’ Let's draw conclusions from everything we talked about today.In 2021, you need to be in IT. Seriously. If you work in a company where there is no IT, and your management or your business strongly resists entering the IT market, I would advise you to change your job. Not to change profession, but work - definitely. The IT sphere will grow and develop, and business will continue to go into IT - we talked a lot about this today, and we all understand that this is true. Interest in the field will grow, the market will be warming up more and more, and we will have work. Our Petya will be able to become a programmer, I believe in him - but only if he really wants to. That is, he will not only want, but also make efforts - therefore, if he does all this, gathers his strength and is able, then he will definitely succeed, and he will find a job. If Petya does not want to be a programmer, then he will get into IT in a different way - fortunately, there are a lot of them now.You need to believe in yourself and not be lazy, then you will succeed.
Q: – , 25 , , ? - – , IT- 10 ? .I can say for myself. I always had an interest, but something always stopped me. Laziness, most likely (you sit on the couch, watch the series - everything is fine) and fear (nothing will work, I won't find a job, I will spend time). I'm not saying that this is bad - but if you do it all the time, then no change will happen to your life. I was 24 then, if I'm not mistaken, and I believe that my brain was already fully formed. Realization, of course, can come at different ages.
That is, it seems to me - it's just laziness, that's all. It is unlikely that a person has never heard of programming: it is 2021 in the yard, wherever you go - programming courses are advertised, you open any video on YouTube - you see an advertisement. If he was never interested in this - well, he took it and became interested. I watched some free video - our today's webinar, at least - and already learned a lot for myself. I realized that this is cool, interesting. Or, on the contrary, I thought: no, that's all bullshit. Therefore, it seems to me that this is quite real.
Q: what kind of literature can you advise for beginners, where is it better to look for it if there is nowhere to ask?As for "nowhere to ask" - I will now make an attraction of unprecedented generosity and just take and leave my telegram. Actually, I have the same nickname nikolasmelui in all social networks, I will ask the moderators to leave a link. You can write to me directly, I can definitely take 5 minutes to chat with you, answer questions and give advice, give some materials for training, based on your needs.
Regarding literature, I have 10-15 books that I can recommend, but for beginners, there is nothing among them. It seems to me that it is better to watch not books, but courses - well, in my case, this is a video, for example. However, there is the Junost project, which I mentioned in passing today - this is the project that the guys and I did when I was still working at Mechanica / ANMEDIO; we made it in order to distribute by grades (junior-middle-senior, and three more grades within each) of our employees. There are teaching materials, including. That is, there is a tag “what you need to know to become a middle” - you go into this tag, there are training materials.
The only thing is that I am now not a direct maintainer of the project for a number of reasons (including, due to lack of time), and some materials there have already gone rotten. But there are great materials there, and we will probably update the project in the near future. I was just gathering materials; inside Voximplant we are also collecting materials for some similar internal thing, and it is also worth sharing these materials externally (in June). So, it will be possible to look there. And so - write to me, and I will answer you, show you, tell you.
Thank you very much to everyone who came. I repeat once again: this path is quite real, and everyone can go through it. We must not be lazy, make efforts and believe in ourselves. Listen to no one but yourself. If you have set a goal for yourself, go to it, and everything will be fine with you.
