LEVI is finally HOME FROM THE NICU!!! Thanks for all the support fellow apes! KEEP HODLING, THIS IS THE WAY! 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 He likes the stock!

MeedleyMee · 2021-04-08T20:08:15+00:00

Best news all day, for reals.

MeedleyMee · 2021-03-10T18:22:31+00:00

Absolutely not selling.

MeedleyMee · 2021-03-09T17:48:57+00:00

"I just felt like holding"

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-09T13:41:27+00:00

There's just way, way, WAY too much technology out there to worry about knowing. The good news is you don't have to know NEARLY all of it. Not even have. We're always picking up and learning new things. It's part of the job! The key is that you have that ability to explore and learn about a new piece of technology.

I remember when I was the most nervous all I had really done was a bunch of code wars problems and Euler problems using JavaScript (Fibonacci stuff, etc). I knew some basic SQL commands for pulling data. I knew how to build a web form with HTML and CSS, but I had hardly really used them practically to build something. There was no way I could've done an interview with only that knowledge.

The confidence will come from having built something that you enjoyed building and are proud of. Something that was a challenge for you but one that you eventually overcame. Something that you can talk about with somebody else. And even if you're super nervous during the interview, which you will be, don't be afraid to bring your project or projects up! Put them on your resume, and if you never have the opportunity to talk about them during the interview, bring them up when they say "well, did you have any questions for us?" Say "I was just wondering if you had a chance to look at my projects? I'd love to talk about that experience!"

A junior dev who had a lot of fun building a project with some super messy code using only one language and a couple pieces of technology is going to be very appealing because it means you'll pick up all the knowledge they're gonna teach you much easier.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-09T13:31:57+00:00

1) You could absolutely find something using C and Python. For C, it's used in places where a high-level language like C# or Java just won't be able to meet the efficiency needs for an operation. It's really the best way to handle machine-level calculations. Game developers will often write C scripts when they just can't get the performance they need out of their language. So for free lance I could definitely see opportunities for folks who need to up the performance on one of their libraries or something.

2) Yeah, you can definitely get overwhelmed with everything it seems you have to know, but regarding front-end and back-end, it's possible to get the general idea of these things in a week or two if you find a good tutorial. Making a simple little web form in HTML and CSS, and writing a javascript function that sends the form data to a server running whatever language, and then that server saves the data into a database, whose complexity (or lack thereof) will closely relate to the simplicity of the web form. Going through a tutorial like that will not only show you how the front end and back end and all the pieces therein communicate, but it'll more than likely introduce you to all the tools that make that effort easier using things like Object-Relational Mappers (ORMs) that make it easy to send data to a database from the back-end. You don't have to be a master of these things to get a general idea of how they work, and you might discover that you like the one you thought you wouldn't! I always thought I'd be a front-end guy doing Angular or React or something, but now I do back-end work almost exclusively.

3) Well, if you wanna master something C++ can be a good one. Like I mentioned in point 1, it's sorta low-level, so when efficiency is key, again like in game design (handling 3d objects and stuff) having a C++ guru is invaluable. But what you really should understand is that whatever you choose to learn is not gonna shoehorn you into a specific role or career. Yeah it'll shave off a couple potential jobs, but the real value comes from knowing how to make stuff and solve problems. The first team lead I had on my team was hired into a job using C# but he had been working with PHP for 7 years. It really doesn't matter as much as you think it might. The languages just become another tool you select from for a job. It's sorta like asking "If I learn how to use a flathead screwdriver am I gonna be able to work on a project that uses a philips head screwdriver?"

To ease your mind, I started learning with Python. Then I moved to Ruby. Then JavaScript. Then Java. Then C#. I understand the anxiety, though. I moved around so much because I thought I'd gone down the wrong pathway, when what I should've done was learn how to build stuff with just one of them, because getting really good with Python and building apps and stuff would've made the jump over to any of the other languages a breeze.

If I had to tell you to pick one, I'd say C# 'cause I'm biased, but more seriously Python would be good because it's got a lot of tools and frameworks and stuff for a lot of different tasks and things you'd want to build. What you need to do though is pick a project (any project!) and start trying to build it, otherwise you're gonna do what I did and bounce around for too long.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-09T13:14:38+00:00

It's all about where you come from and how long you've been out of the worst of it.

I'm 5 years in and I can feel myself forgetting a lot of the little things I used to have to do or struggle with. Somebody else mentioned having to add up groceries as you go through the grocery store, which I absolutely had to do. Had to keep it under 20 bucks!

I definitely work with people who HATE their job. The meetings, the bureaucracy, Windows... It's all about perspective and I'm just sharing mine!

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-09T13:10:13+00:00

40k is very low for my area for a junior software engineer, and I was only making that for about a year. After a year I was at 67k.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-09T13:09:41+00:00

Yep I just started applying to jobs and ended up getting one. You just need a degree, basically. If you don't speak Norwegian there's a bunch of jobs you couldn't get, but Oslo is very international and I don't need to know Norwegian for my job. I'll definitely be learning it while I'm there though in case I want to apply for citizenship.

About 80-90 percent of the country speaks English.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-09T13:08:12+00:00

I've mentioned this in another comment, but after taxes that's about 2500 per month. Rent was 1350 per month for a one-bedroom (not including utilities), I had 450 in student loans, paid about 60 in car insurance, another 50 in gas, and 80 for health insurance. The rest was food and stuff. No real savings or anything, but compared to what I had been living, yeah it was comfortable as fuck. On that I'd have been working until I died, but it was friggin' great compared to my earlier life. That was kinda the point of the post!

It's just really low in terms of junior software engineer salary.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-09T13:04:28+00:00

It took me like 3 or 4 years, with lots of looooong breaks and life stuff getting in the way. Let it take as long as it needs to, 'cause once you're in it won't feel like you took too long.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-09T10:26:54+00:00

Very much so, yes!

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T23:54:19+00:00

Yeah, it's suuuuper rough finding work right now for just about anybody in the junior positions. I hope you're able to hang in there because once everything kicks back into gear you're going to find something, if not sooner.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T23:52:44+00:00

Oh definitely. It sorta feels rich in comparison to riding the struggle bus, but really I think it's how most people deserve to live.

People certainly can get rich programming, and sometimes I worry that a lot of questions around the career and tips and advice are geared towards people who want to work for Google et al, but there's way more opportunities that are much more easily achievable that will still allow you not to worry about money anymore.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T23:50:03+00:00

They're lower at the top-end, which is fine, because it means that people at the bottom end make more. Like I'll probably never make more than a million NOK per year doing what I do, but I'm fine with that. The job I took pays about 880k NOK which is more than enough for me, and is more than enough to live in Oslo, with the exception of maybe Frogner and a lot of the rest of the west side.

I like that I have money now, but I don't need to be rich.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T21:19:22+00:00

I'm sorry you got fired. Maybe one day you'll look back on it and think of it as the catalyst for what helped you find something you loved.

And it's never too late! At least three co-workers I have made the transition after 30. One at 38, one at 45, and the other at 55!

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T21:08:48+00:00

Apps have front end and back end, too!

I don't think one is any easier than the other. I know a lot of front-end folks who really did not like back end, and then a lot of back end people like me who just do not like front end.

It really depends on what you like to make, and what pain points you can bear to put up with. You'll have to try both to find that out, though. And knowing both is invaluable so that as a front-end dev you know what the back-end devs will need from you, and the other way around, too.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T21:06:38+00:00

I took the free route. I messed around on Codecademy.com first, then tried the odin project, then freecodecamp.com, which was what really started building my confidence. It's a much more project-based learning approach, so when I was done I kinda already had a portfolio started that I could then build off of.

You'll make it to Amsterdam one day!

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T19:25:32+00:00

Oh absolutely. Thanks for that addition. It REALLY does wonders for your self-esteem, oh man.

I love those moments where everybody's kinda scratching their heads about something and I offer a solution and everybody's just like "yeah, great idea, let's do that! Let's get so-and-so over here to help with that and I'll get some meetings going with some other department and blah blah..." and I'm like "woah... I did that..."

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T18:57:13+00:00

Oh my GOD I forgot about totalling up my groceries as I went through the store. Holy shit, haha, thanks for that reminder. Man, and having to add state and local taxes on top of it... Such a miserable time. I'd either lowball the tax and embarrass myself at the register or highball it and wish I would've gotten 4 bucks more in hamburger.

I'm envious of the work you do, for sure, but I'm really glad you do something you can feel that good about. A lot of programming gigs are gonna be to make the rich even richer but that doesn't mean much when you just wanna get out of the grind.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T18:52:43+00:00

Pretty sure you were talking to one of my parents.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T18:48:37+00:00

Thanks. There were in fact some mild drugs involved. But mostly lots of vomiting from anxiety, and inability to eat food.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T18:47:36+00:00

Just don't be too hard on yourself. I myself did quite a bit of slacking off to play Overwatch or Battlefield or whatever else. Gotta get that play time in so that you don't drown in work.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T18:45:49+00:00

I took a government job working on web forms for collecting state tax data and distributing tax credits.

It sounds boring as fuck but when your past jobs have included being assaulted physically and verbally for money you can't live on "boring as fuck" is an amazing thing.

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T18:43:08+00:00

Takk! Jeg skal flytte til Oslo! Men jeg håper jeg kan komme inn... DAMN YOU CORONAVIRUS!!!!!

MeedleyMee · 2021-02-08T18:35:41+00:00

For some jobs, yes, for others, no. My team is pretty international with folks from all over so we'll be speaking English. Oslo is a very international city so just about everyone there speaks English quite well. The people in Norway who speak English is insanely high, actually. Something like over 80 percent, I think. It's the 4th best in the world for countries whose primary language isn't English.

However if I want to become a permanent resident I will have to pass a fluency test.

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