A Month Of Programming

[dinc]

Ugh, I hate compatibility issues, and IE6 is my worst nightmare, but I supposed I'll have to learn sometimes.

Lol, just made my first post about this in my blog (nitroviper.com/blog), and I FULLY PLAN to update it...No really, I'll do it!

I think I've found my sweet spot for learning languages. First, I study the w3schools tutorial once or twice, then I experiment, then I watch the Lynda.com video, then I try to complete a mini-project.

My CSS/HTML mini project is to copy the layout of seagull.net using just CSS. So, I removed tables, fiddled with fonts, and did the best I could. I think the end result is remarkably close to the original.
Original: Seagull Networks
CSS: Seagull Networks

Any advice on cleaning up the code or anything would be appreciated.

[andrew]

The first year to three, learn as much as possible about everything. Find the one you like, and choose it as your primary. Get good at it. Get amazing at it. Don't stop learning that, or related languages.

Don't close your self into just one thing, but don't spread out. Get really good at a specific thing. That's where the money is. Get into new technologies. I've seen a specialized Ruby on Rails senior (known) architect go for $300-400 an HOUR. Sick money. General HTML coder? Let's just say a lot less. Supply and demand.

I am a senior Flash developer myself. The money is great. Note though, I have 7 years experience, community reputation, opensource projects, and a huge Flash product. It's not quite something you can learn in month. Granted all of that 7 years could be condensed into a few, Flash is still a huge ecosystem.

The point is, I'm KNOWN for Flash. That's my "thing". That's almost all I do at my job. If I was just doing a little bit of this and that, I wouldn't be making nearly that much.

So eventually, get specialized. That's the best advice I have, esp in programming.

Good luck!

[Dave Kaminski]

Originally Posted by andrew

The first year to three, learn as much as possible about everything. Find the one you like, and choose it as your primary. Get good at it. Get amazing at it. Don't stop learning that, or related languages.

Don't close your self into just one thing, but don't spread out. Get really good at a specific thing. That's where the money is. Get into new technologies. I've seen a specialized Ruby on Rails senior (known) architect go for $300-400 an HOUR. Sick money. General HTML coder? Let's just say a lot less. Supply and demand.

I am a senior Flash developer myself. The money is great. Note though, I have 7 years experience, community reputation, opensource projects, and a huge Flash product. It's not quite something you can learn in month. Granted all of that 7 years could be condensed into a few, Flash is still a huge ecosystem.

The point is, I'm KNOWN for Flash. That's my "thing". That's almost all I do at my job. If I was just doing a little bit of this and that, I wouldn't be making nearly that much.

So eventually, get specialized. That's the best advice I have, esp in programming.

Good luck!

He's right, if you're looking to make money, specializing is a great way to go.

There are other routes, though. If you learn a bit about a lot of languages that work together you could be an architect/designer or a CIO. It's a different route to take if you don't want to learn just one language/discipline.

[Restrikted]

What ever happened to the month of programming? I was really intrigued with how far you would be able to get with this. Seemed to have stopped at about 10 days however...

Sorry for bringing the post back from the dead, but maybe we'll find out what happened.

[Dave Kaminski]

No good call - i agree, where's dinc at?

I've come a long way since this thread with my Dreamweaver and Photoshop skills. I hope he's doing just as well!

I've learned this - if there's something you want to make or do, there's probably a tutorial or book on it (and if you break it down into steps, there DEFINITELY is one)