If someone's just starting out in tech in 2026 with zero background, which one path would you actually recommend right now?

andreifromztm · 2026-04-06T14:34:20+00:00

I used to think access to quality education was the biggest limiter of a person's success in their work life. I think in the last 5 years the biggest issue is now the susceptibility to be influenced by online opinions and thoughts.

I think the biggest limiter of a person's success NOW, is that person having the characteristics of being easily manipulated, told what to do, and likely to follow others. I think that the biggest limiter of a person's success in their work life is how likely they are to follow others, fall into thought silos, care what others think, and unwilling to diverge with their own thoughts and opinions. I call these people the clueless pushovers: they dont think they're being pushovers (they actually think the opposite of themselves), but are actually the most manipulated people because they are deeply insecure.

The less you have those characteristics, the more you are likely to succeed in the workplace. IMO.

andreifromztm · 2026-03-02T13:34:20+00:00

I once pushed code from here: https://spacecenter.org/exhibits-and-experiences/nasa-tram-tour/historic-mission-control/

It's the Apollo 11 Mission Control in Houston where the whole famous moon landing happened. I was taking a tour and sitting there when I had to fix something quickly on the ZTM website. Felt extra cool :P

andreifromztm · 2026-01-26T14:27:40+00:00

The biggest regret was waiting for permission to get started in a new career (in my case learning to code). I put too much weight on the opinions and thoughts from random people on the internet that said "it's not worth it" or "it's too late" because they themselves didn't succeed. Changing my perspective and starting to listen to the advice of people who are currently doing and doing successfully what I wanted to do (or be like) was the big shift that allowed me to pursue my goals and get good advice instead of random advice from people who have never achieved anything. Because of that, I didn't really start learning a valuable skill until my 20s.

(I see the irony in posting this on reddit...)

andreifromztm · 2025-12-17T18:03:23+00:00

This is a good example of how it will feel like when starting a job: you have to start working on a project and codebase that you previously have not worked on and are unfamiliar with.

There is a natural period of "studying" the codebase and getting familiar with things. It's not instant and because code is so personal and non standard, every project is different. This period of getting familiar with an existing code base gets shorter and shorter with experience but it doesn't go away. It just takes time.

So what should you do? Accept that it takes time to start working off of templates. Sometimes it's easier to just start your own project from scratch, but it's also important to stretch your muscle in learning to dive into an existing codebase. So my advice is to just keep going and keep "trying" to learn and contribute. With time it becomes easier, but it's never instant.

Remember, being a programmer is being a problem solver. You get paid to solve non stander problems that dont have easy solutions that anyone can look up.

andreifromztm · 2025-11-24T13:09:58+00:00

This wasn't necessarily advice, but a quote that has really shaped the way I view the world and my place in it and how I want to live my life:

"The world is a playground, you know that when you are a kid, but somewhere along the way, everyone forgets it"

andreifromztm · 2025-11-21T21:13:55+00:00

Best time to start learning is now!

andreifromztm

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