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Ask HN: What's the best way to make the switch from web-designer to programmer?

2 points by tormentor ↗ HN
What's the best way to make the switch from web-designer to programmer? Obviously it would be to learn to program, but how would you transition and learn to work in a programming environment after being a web-designer?

I know HTML/CSS, Javascript, some PHP, some python, some C. I have very basic programming skills.

I'm wondering how I can leave the web designer/developer field and move in to a programming community. What steps should I take to emerse myself in the programming world. Knowing to program is obvious but what kind of work is out there for an entry level programmer? It seems like all the jobs out there want pros.

9 comments

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gharbad
buy a book. write code.

If you're serious about it, I recommend The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth. You should start with volume 1.

sosuke
Are you trying to turn them away from programming? That book is a little heavy for a designer to learn.

If you're already a web-designer I'd suggest learning HTML and CSS which are used to turn your designs into marked up and styled pages. Then a easy transition is learning JavaScript which is a programming language and will nail down the basics of programming and how they apply to what you are already familiar with.

Then you move on to Knuth books when you want to branch out from JavaScript.

Ronkdar
PHP is also a fairly easy leap from HTML/CSS.

With JS or PHP, learn what they're actually for, and then come up with something useful you can create with it. Doing is learning. Reading alone is useless.

tormentor
My apologies for not clarifying. I assumed all web-designers or at least most of them already know HTML/CSS. I know HTML/CSS, Javascript, some PHP, some python, some C. I have very basic programming skills.

I'm wondering how I can leave the web designer/developer field and move in a programming community. What steps should I take to emerse myself in the programming world. Knowing to program is obvious but how do I find work being an entry level programmer? It seems like all the jobs out there want pros.

fleitz
Craigslist: all those shitty no pay jobs in the gigs section. That is for you.

They want an expert kernel programmer willing to work for $10 an hour? Great! You're an expert and you know the kernel inside out.

Those idea guys where you get 50% and no pay? Perfect, talk to those guys, they will give you all the experience you need.

Once you have a few of those under your belt and some sample code, go show the guys looking for pros.

Alternatively, you can go to the LKML or Google Chrome or Firefox dev sites. Download the source, work on documentation, find some simple bugs to fix, etc. Pretty much any open source project would love contributors, go contribute., worst comes to worst they reject your patch, but keep submitting til the quality is up to par.

Basically, just go do it. Whatever you want to learn, just start doing it. It sounds like you're trying to give yourself a list of reasons why you can't do it.

If your looking to transition from a field where you have years of experience to a field where you have little and expecting to bump your salary all in one go I have to say it's pretty unlikely that's going to happen. However, if you're willing to put in time and effort you will have no problem transitioning over a period of time.

The simple facts are that it takes 10 years of programming to have 10 years of experience programming. I spent 5 years doing PHP / C#. Another 5 years writing C# / Perl.

When I wanted to transition to iOS coding I bought a dev license installed XCode and started coding an app for myself and put it in the app store (it took about 1 to 2 months). I've made $30 bux on that app, but the point was not to retire from the app store but to learn iOS. Whatever you want to do, just start doing it, and see it through to the fruition that people are looking for. (eg. on iOS store all anybody cares about is that you've gotten it into the store).

If you're getting paid anything to learn to code you're 10,000 times further ahead of everyone else who are paying lots of money to learn theory, rather than practice. (eg. How many iOS courses actually result in people putting an app in the store?)

tormentor
Thanks that puts everything into perspective now, very helpful.
fleitz
Also wanted to add: Meetups, go to all the meetups and get involved with the community. Springboard from the meetups to the conferences.

If you're in the decent programmer category who your friends are matters far more than what you can do. (I'm pretty sure this is true at any level in any industry). Plus, who doesn't want more friends?

codeswimmer
You might want to take a look at some of the available online computer science courses (iTunes U, MIT OpenCourseware, Khan Academy, Udemy). Tons of really, really good introductory courses are available that can help with picking up the basics (Stanford's "Programming Methodology" [http://goo.gl/Tbejg] and "Programming Abstractions" [http://goo.gl/RdwLt] come to mind).

As others have pointed out, Meetups are a great way to learn, particularly specialized and cutting-edge stuff, not to mention the networking-with-others potential. Same for joining an open source project and contributing as you learn.

Finally, if there's the equivalent of a Hacker Dojo (http://goo.gl/B2ats) local to you, drop in. People love to help and mentor others.

Good luck to you!