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Comment by fein | Hacker News Reader

I've read the article about 4 times now, and I still have no idea what the point of the title was.

You didn't learn to program in 23 years or 10 weeks. I'm an employed CS grad, and I still don't "know" how to program. Don't mistake this as an "I'm a graduate that can't code" statement, but instead "You (should)never stop learning, and therefore can never concretely know how to program".

Likewise, if you know you like to code, then why didn't you start already? Is this just supposed to be a "look at me, I'm in dev bootcamp for ruby!" attention call? I'm confused.

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That's fair.

The title (and I did hesitate on using it) grabs attention -- enough for you to be reading the article.

I stuck with it largely because I think the decision to learn to program is a culmination of my journey over the past 23 years.

And, I have actually learned to program over the last 3 months. Maybe I should have stated that in the article. I'm currently doing freelance front-end development.

"And, I have actually learned to program over the last 3 months. Maybe I should have stated that in the article. I'm currently doing freelance front-end development."

Good deal! It shouldn't take too long until you start hating ruby, so I'd suggest checking out python and jsp to make you a more versatile webdev. I'm a PHP guy (spare the insults guys... seriously) for personal projects but roll with groovy, coldfusion, and ruby at work. Also start looking into DB's like postgres and mysql. If you're looking for corporate job security, it's .net and mssql pretty much all the way.

"It shouldn't take too long until you start hating ruby..."

Hahaha one of current project leads has been telling me the same thing. He's suggested learning everything I can on javascript, and staying focused on the front end once I get a server-side language under my belt. I've heard great things about Python.

Thanks for the suggestions, fein!

I think a better way to have phrased this train of thought would be:

"How It Took Me 23 Years To Learn To Code"

Better. Taking the advice. Thanks.

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