Am I making a huge mistake? Becoming a developer

My endeavour and big wish for a long time has been to become more masculine / alpha. And what you do for a living has a huge impact on that I believe.

I have applied to university programs that are mainly focused on software development. I am also learning how to code on my own at the moment.

I am concerned about the kind of people that I will spend 3 years with and then working with. There will definitively be some nerds there and the fear is I will become like them.

What do you say broheems?

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No.

Going that route basically guarantees your economic future. Stick with it.

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Alpha is doing what you actually want. Not what someone else says you should do.

So if you want to work in that industry, do it.

Hit the gym and keep a good social circle to balance out the intellectual side. Contrast game will work for you all day long.

Any university worthy of the name will let you take electives outside of Computer Science and IT. So do some electives in other areas (eg humanities). Also join enough clubs and activities to get variety in your social circle.

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Current developer here however haven't been that for long. I can understand your thought process as some of the guys I've been interviewed by/work with are a bit 'nerdy'. However this isn't the case for everyone working in the industry.

If you don't want to be a 'nerd' simply make a point of making sure you have a life away from work. Get some cool hobbies, get a good social circle, try to fuck some girls etc.

One final point is that unfortunately most of us are going to have to work for a living. It's better to have a good job working in an industry with a relatively bright future than having a shit job.

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Do you not like being able to do your job from anywhere in the world...?

There are tons of 'betas' and 'soyboys' in development...which makes it all the easier to stand out.

You don't need to create the next widely used library or submit pull requests on open source projects. Even for a developer of middling intelligence and capability, there is a lot of room to distinguish yourself in a way that is decidedly masculine:

+ Offer to do workshops or crash courses in a language/framework at a coworking space and lead other men to knowledge

+ Learn to program interfaces, learn a little bit about design, and do presentations at local UX/Design meetups (lots of hot artsy sluts).

+ Write a book or blog-series use case study on a new framework.

+ Speak at a conference.

+ Teach a part-time continuing-ed course at a community college or technical school.

+ Start a Sunday afternoon meetup group that offers to help answer aspiring devs' questions in your domain of expertise.

For what it's worth I've done 2 of the items listed above and it's brought a satisfactory amount of respect, status, and notoriety. If you don't want to feel emasculated by the massive amount of screentime, I'll echo the others: you need to cultivate nontech hobbies and have nontech friends.

Kayaking, surfing, music, dance, photography, art, motorcycling.... Whatever.

A skilled dev with his hand in the product is no more lame than a fatfuck CEO organizing a powerpoint slide deck for a pitch. If product development and programming is where your talent and interest lies, then cultivate it while also building yourself into the man you want to be when you're not in front of the computer.

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No, you're making a great decision.

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No. I don't see why you might be thinking you are making a bad move. Software development is in demand and has been for a while. You have a bright future in that field. Plus the more experienced you get, the more opportunities open up for you to even work from anywhere in the world. I used to be a de developer myself, and never had difficulties finding a job, and my pay has always been very good. Today I am no longer a developer, I switched to the data side of things where I now do predictive models, machine learning and data mining. I know this is not software development per se but closely related, on a regular basis I find myself writing big chunks of code. The point is the job is pretty flexible in terms of where I can work from. I only have to show up to the office on Thursdays.

To recap, just dive in and I'm sure you will love it. It comes with some perks and challenges. Some of the challenges is the constant learning in order to stay relevant. Udemy, Coursera, GitHub and Stockoverflow are your friends. Use them in your free time to brush up on your current skills or to learn new ones.

Best of luck!

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It's a good decision. I went from marketing to software engineering, now I'm making about 6 figures. It was a big boost and the job prospects are bananas. I barely have to make an effort to get a new job. It's never boring. Marketing became the same thing over and over again after 10 years doing it.

However,
Consider that it's not a very sustainable career. You have to be ontop of your knowledge all the time, and its hungry for your time... A lot of knowledge becomes useless in a year or 3. If you like constantly learning, it's good for you. But a lot of that learning is not in a social setting. Don't expect to meet sociable people coding. Being into game and coding are two areas that will probably never overlap. Tech is full of shitlibs and any girls you meet are likely unhinged.

So I'm just being honest... in 5 years, I probably won't be doing this. I'll have something else to devote my time and energy to. For now I'm saving up and enjoying the perks and stability.

The most unrealistic thing is to assume you can leverage programming skills into some kind of business doing it. It probably won't happen because it takes so much time to do software engineering well and very few guys have figured out how to go on their own with it earning any more than they would in a day job. Contract work sucks for its own reasons (done that too) and there's a lot of competition. If you start a business, it'll be because of a great idea, the right connections, and great people surrounding you and less about programming...

If you're in your 20s, just now attending school and aren't going into a shit ton of debt - you'd be an idiot to do anything other than computer science. Being honest there... It's probably the only worthwhile major for a man.

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it's a relatively good career which has a lot of demand and the pay is extremely good.

However, you have to keep on top of your knowledge, technologies as the above user stated.

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Given that you are from Sweden, it doesn't matter what you do, you will be surrounded by women.

The benefit of programming is that it gives you options to start your own business/site with virtually no capital. So you can make your own future. If you are a lawyer you don't have many options - you provide legal services. If you are a programmer you can work in any area you want.

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As a former / temporarily retired DEV, DEVs have to be one of the least 'Alpha' professions out there.

But it's kind of a chicken egg question... personalities who were reclusive and socially awkward tended towards working with computers, or did working with computers make them reclusive and socially awkward?

If your long term plan is to do your own projects and run your own business, then coding is a tool towards that process. But there may or may not be money in that, given that starting your own business has some inherent risk.

But if you do work for a software company where there is money, it's mostly just like any large company, where generally middle management retards with less education than you pretend to understand what you do and order you around. Hopefully you get someone less retarded than most, and you make enough $$$ to embrace the suck when it happens. If you actually enjoy coding and building things, the drain on you from that suck will be less.

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Irrational alpha/beta dichotomy over-analysis. Get the degree and get a job that's 100% remote. Make 6-figures working from anywhere in the world. It's stupid to base your career on whether or not it's "alpha" or if you'll be going to class with "alpha" people. The wealthiest and most influential people on the planet are IT-nerds. Think they made the wrong decision with their careers?

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Thanks guys!

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I can't tell you how many guys in "masculine" fields wish they could work in a setting with more room for growth and better work conditions. And nothing is more masculine than being able to kick the shit out of people, so go box/wrestle/do mma. I'd rather be an ass-kicking male nurse than a miner getting his shit pushed in.

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(03-23-2019 05:46 PM)Phanes Wrote:  I have applied to university programs that are mainly focused on software development. I am also learning how to code on my own at the moment.

I am not sure why you would go to university and major in software development. That field constantly changes and you would have to continue to learn new trends after you graduate. Best to learn how to code and target jobs that reflects your skills.

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OP, of course you're not making a mistake. It's a great career. It pays well and allows for location independence.

That being said, I hate telling girls I work in IT. It isn't masculine, that's true. As others have pointed out, you'll need a hobby to feel masculine.

(03-31-2019 09:05 PM)2 Cool 4 U Wrote:  I am not sure why you would go to university and major in software development. That field constantly changes and you would have to continue to learn new trends after you graduate. Best to learn how to code and target jobs that reflects your skills.

You go to university to learn computer science and core skills. Knowledge on algorithms and data structures will be useful regardless of the language you're programming in.

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(03-31-2019 09:14 PM)Super Average Man Wrote:  You go to university to learn computer science and core skills. Knowledge on algorithms and data structures will be useful regardless of the language you're programming in.

You still need to list on your resume every programming language you've heard of or at least written a hello world program in to please the recruiters looking to check skills off a list.

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If you like it, good. It will yield good money and is a growth industry. But if your heart is not in it, all the money in the world will do nothing for you.

Keep in mind tech is becoming an increasingly affirmative action/ SJW place, and major tech companies have been treating it that way for some time. I imagine you want to succeed based on your merit, but the way things are going, that could throw a wrench in your plans.

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Thanks guys.

I have a choice of the following programs. Which one is most likely to be able to work abroad?

Frontenddeveloper
Basic JavScript programming
Frontenddevelopment - client
Secure communcation over internet
Frontend development - server
Webbframework for JavaScript
Webbsecurity
Agile projectmethodology
Advanced webbdevelopment with JavaScript

Systemdeveloper .NET
Objectoriented programming C# & .NET
HTLM5, CSS, & JavaScript
Agile leadership and communication
Agile sytemdevelopment

Systemdeveloper Java
Objectoriented programming Java
HTLM5, CSS, & JavaScript
Agile leadership and communication
Agile sytemdevelopment

Javadeveloper
Agile projetmethodology
Databasmanagement
Devicetest, TDD and CD/CI
HTLM & CSS
Java EE, JAVA EE4J and MVC-framework
Javaprogramming
Javascript and webbcommunciation
MV*-framework
Webbservices in Java

Webbdeveloper .NET CMS
C#
ASP.NET MVC
Databastechnic
Frontend
CMS-development
Design patterns
Application Lifecycle Management

DevOps engineer
Puppet, Ansible, Chef, Docker, Saltstack, PowerShell DSC
Java programming, installation and troubleshooting
Python; socketesprogramming and grafik interace
Cloudmanagement of services and applications
Scripting for Linux and windows
Windows server

Webbdeveloper e-commerce
Frontenddevelopment
PHP
Digital business
Database technic

Systemdeveloper IoT
Algorithms, datastructures and design patterns
Automation for real estate and industry
Big data
Data and IT-security
Computerkommunication
Digital technology and electronic
IoT and datalogi
Network programming
Objectoriented programming and design
C/C++

Frontenddeveloper geared towards webbsecurity
JavaScript and ECMA-7
Troubleshooting javascript
webbsecurity
backendevelopment node.js
node.js, MV*framework
CRUD

Appdeveloper
Android
Projectmethodology
IOS
OOP, datastructures, algorithms and design
UX/UI
Webbcommunication, API and backend
Xamarin

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I ment remotely.

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I see a lot of devops job listings, but I don't think that would be one where you could work remotely.

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I’ve been thinking about learning to code as well. I hear python is a good programming language to start with and sort of easy to pick up, any advice fellas?

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(05-17-2019 06:27 PM)BortimusPrime Wrote:  I see a lot of devops job listings, but I don't think that would be one where you could work remotely.

Chances are if you're new you won't be working remotely in tech. I'm trying to break into tech at the moment and it's usually the senior developers that get those jobs. My longer term goal is being able to move to exotic places, do work, and then have fun on my off time. Can't do that yet since all my life I have been working location dependent jobs.

(05-17-2019 08:51 PM)JR301 Wrote:  I’ve been thinking about learning to code as well. I hear python is a good programming language to start with and sort of easy to pick up, any advice fellas?

Put in the hours and solely focus on Python. Compared to C++ python is easier but if you want to understand what's going on under the hood learn C++. Zed Shaw's Learn Code the Hard Way series is pretty good.

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@chicagofire thanks man, I’ll start with python and then move on to C++ or JavaScript.

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(05-17-2019 06:27 PM)BortimusPrime Wrote:  I see a lot of devops job listings, but I don't think that would be one where you could work remotely.

https://weworkremotely.com/

Plenty of DevOps listings among other areas.

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