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Comment by 999900000999 | Hacker News Reader

I've had to train people on basic programming.

I've experienced two outcomes.

The first where they outright did it wrong, imagine someone not understanding basics like variables and parameters, so they just hard code everything and copy and paste all over the place.

The manager said this was fine, since it made our metrics look better, and I ultimately left over this.

In another case, they basically all listened to me and I got to lead a few initiatives. I did have to help out every now and then, but they caught on quickly.

I think Python and JavaScript are learnable within a month. Wouldn't say the same for Java or C#. Personally I still don't touch the most difficult languages, Rust, C++...

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Knowing how to code is the most trivial part of a software engineer's job. Making sense of vague (or even conflicting) requirements, knowing when and how to make the right trade-offs, communicating effectively up/down/with peers/cross-functionally, etc etc are what separate an experienced engineer from someone who just learned the language. My 14-year-old can code in several languages, but I don't think he's ready to be hired just yet. The job, at the end of the day, is about delivering business value, not lines of code. Writing less code to deliver more value is something that only comes from experience.

I take it your skeptical of boot camps ?

My logic is that if I'm personally reaching someone for a month that'll be more effective than putting them in a classroom for 12 weeks.

I think many (most?) boot camps are money grabs that overpromise and underdeliver. I've also seen great juniors come out of boot camps. Either way, you're now talking about something different than your original question - most jobs out there are not junior-level jobs, so a month or a few of boot camp or self study just aren't sufficient.

You can teach a person the basics of a programming language like Python in a week... but that doesn't mean they'll be able to code effectively. Programming is at its heart a craft, the more that you actively practice it the more you'll improve. Aptitude and an affinity for logical thinking and problem solving go a long way as well.

It's like a foreign language, you can acquire a vocabulary of several thousand words using flashcards over a month, but that doesn't mean you're going to be able to actually communicate.

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