Ask HN: How should a 60-year-old get started with programming? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How should a 60-year-old get started with programming?

16 pointsagent008t18 comments

Suppose an able 60-year-old, who has never done any programming but is smart and tech-savvy as a user, wanted to get into some development work - both as a hobby/interest, but also with a look to maybe get some supplemental income from it in the coming years working remotely.

What would be a good way for them to get started? Which area could be a good fit? How could they look for remote work / monetize their hobby in the future if they find they have aptitude for it?

Perhaps one of you has had some experience in this area.

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I'd recommend Python. It's very beginner friendly, there are plenty of tutorials, and there are a lot of advanced libraries. [1]

Don't read the manuals, follow a few tutorial. Try to think a variant of the exercises in the tutorials and try to code the variants too. (Each person has their own style, I don't like reading the manuals. You may like to read the manuals.)

Try to find a problem in your area that is easy to automate. Some thing that is small, repetitive and boring. It's good to make a few toy/small projects that make something that is useful for you.

I don't know how realistic is to expect some side money from this, but if you are an expert is some field sometimes you can use programing to solve exactly what the people in that field needs.

[1] I prefer racket. It has a strange syntax, so sometimes people get scared of it. The advantages of racket are easier to see when you have been programing for a while, so start with Python and then try other languages later.

>Don't read the manuals

I second that.

Until you are more experienced. Then you should ignore tutorials and read the manuals.

Given that even something like building a web page has become extremely convoluted, understanding the basics can be difficult.

My suggestion have a mentor, who is an experienced developer guide you. ( I volunteer, you may contact me...)

>Which area could be a good fit?

This is actually tricky to answer. Almost all areas of software have some demand for people all the time ( I do not have numbers). Your bigger hurdle will be that people will rarely hire if they learn you are 60 years old.

I agree with gus_massa about Python as it is probably the simplest mainstream language but in recent years has moved way beyond being a toy/educational language to major commercial use. Try building something "real" like a simple program to store details of your DVD collection, a calendar/diary or whatever. Most importantly forget about being 60. It's irrelevant.

I suggest installing a basic Linux distro or even Linux From Scratch. Get a taste for command line tools and an overview of the environment that supports programming. Its a vast ocean of possibilities. Start anywhere since its a hobby. Have fun and learn the principles of implementing solutions. There are tons of Youtube videos that spoon feed any language you choose to learn.

If you plan to try to do remote work, you need a network. With all due respect, 60+ is late to build a network for generic programming contracts. I would suggest that you focus on your current network. What do those people need from a programming point of view. Target languages/technologies that match that niche.

If the programming is only for fun, then don’t worry about the network And focus on what is most interesting to you.

I suppose the first question is which type of programming are they interested in? Web pages? Embedded - where you build something with Raspberry PI? etc etc

Is this just to remove boredom in old age, or starting a new career? For pure programming I recommend whichever language they can get a obtain that has a GREAT debugger. If not then you, as their friend get to help them debug.

I'd tell them to go on Indiehackers for the business side of things.

To be honest there are probably tons of problems people in their 20-50s totally ignore that a 60 year old could make lots of money from.

If they have imposter syndrome, send them to www.nocsdegree.com

I'm going with Common Lisp as my first language:

https://oneofus.la/have-emacs-will-hack/2011-10-30-common-li...

Based on what others have said, I figure it'll give me an edge when learning other languages.

(but I'll also work through SICP)

I also ordered a copy of Brian P. Hogan's Exercises for Programmers:

https://pragprog.com/book/bhwb/exercises-for-programmers

Pick your passion. Start with tutorials. RTFM. You need to work through a project.

> who has never done any programming

Suggestion/hope for anyone looking to answer this part--please answer this:

-------- What does the map of the programming terrain look like? --------

I have come across so many articles/tutorials "for beginners" that suffer from the Curse of Knowledge, forgetting that total beginners may not even be able to parse why something like:

"Pick a language, read the manual, and try to do something in it" that jstewartmobile offered is in fact good advice.

Thanks for hearing me out!

As others have said, follow your passion - whether that’s games, Web apps/sites, productivity software, or something else. Choose very small projects.

If you want a specific direction… work through this short, free ebook. It will be useful no matter what you do: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-Programmer%27s_Tutorial_fo...

I would argue the least amount of age bias is in cobol and then c++ and then .net

cobol is also pretty easy to learn. Most of it will be maintenance of insurance and financial software. But basically nobody's looking to get into entry level cobol maintenance.

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Mainframe+Cobol+Programmer&exp...

Its important to consider what their goal project is. Narrow all technologies to their goal product. If they just want to learn programming, I would suggest learning Ada because it is clear and has very good compiler errors. This is very bad advice if they want to build websites.

Have them ask a seasoned industry representative to write a soft syllabus with resources based on their interest

Pick a language, read the manual, and try to do something in it. Grind it out!

If you already have safe money, that's one hell of a runway, so I wouldn't even bother looking for "work". Make a product and sell it. That way you have have equity, so if you get sick, or want to goof off for a few months, checks will keep coming in.

Python, its easy to learn and you can find a lot of tutorials on youtube.

perhaps an easy way to get a taste for building things is with no-code tools

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